I am biased by my humanity by Kelley Barton

As we embark on the series “Blessed are the Question Askers” I think about how some of us are still wrestling with the biases that undergirded what we have been taught about faith in Jesus for years, or even decades. We may have a blind spot to our own biases, as I have noticed in myself.

After Jesus rose from the dead, He appeared to a frighten group of disciples. He begins to explain to them how his death and resurrection fulfilled the Law and the prophets. But before Luke continues Jesus’ more detailed explanation, he inserts this one phrase:

“He went on to open their understanding of the Word of God, showing them how to read their Bibles this way”

Luke 24:45

It seems to me that Jesus needed to reframe the lens, the biases, that his followers had. And Luke wanted us to know about it. My spiritual journey over the past several years has also been one of doing the same. Has yours?

I belong to a City Church book club with great books and lively discussions. Here are two quotes that speak to the issue of bias.

“Regardless of our racial or cultural heritage, we all have biases – lenses through which we interpret the Bible. That’s not the problem. The problem is pretending that one group of people doesn’t bring any biases to their Scripture reading while everyone else does. “

Better Ways to Read the Bible by Zach Lambert, page 30

“Most conservative pastors are biased toward a punishing interpretation of the text – by their upbringing, by their culture, by the same institutional pressures that I was under as a pastor. Yet they remain completely oblivious of their bias, oblivious of the way that they are pressured to conform to evangelical dogma on hell.

I am also biased. I read and interpret the Bible with the assumption – the bias – that “God is love” (1 John 4:8). I am biased against hell, because I can see the harm and disconnection this doctrine causes. I am biased by my humanity.”

HELL BENT by Brian Recker, pages 74 & 75

Will you join me in keeping the thoughts of these two authors in mind while we go through our Question Series? Our bias may need to be adjusted, or we may have just the right bias. Either way, it may be important for us to acknowledge our bias, both to ourselves and others. I especially want to remind myself to be biased by my humanity, as Brian wrote.

P.S. Everyone is welcome to join our book club reading Hell Bent as we still have 7 chapters left to read.