I can see your bias

Events occurring and how they relate/affect Anabaptist faith and culture.
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Bootstrap
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Re: I can see your bias

Post by Bootstrap »

And that's where the rubber hits the road ...
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MaxPC
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Re: I can see your bias

Post by MaxPC »

Wade wrote:I have a bias. My bias is that bias is good.

"Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners." - 1 Corinthians 15:33

"...for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?" - 2 Corinthians 6:14b

The perplexing part of it all is that I will always in this life only ever have a partial perspective.
:up: That's a good way to look at it. Holding firmly to our bias against evil.

Your last paragraph reminds me of [bible]1 Corinthians 13,12[/bible]
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Max (Plain Catholic)
Mt 24:35
Proverbs 18:2 A fool does not delight in understanding but only in revealing his own mind.
1 Corinthians 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is folly with God
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Bootstrap
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Re: I can see your bias

Post by Bootstrap »

MaxPC wrote:That's a good way to look at it. Holding firmly to our bias against evil.
Bias can get you in trouble here. Some people think their sin doesn't stink. Those people can be very loud in denouncing others and praising themselves. Self-righteousness usually expresses itself by seeing sin in others.

Fighting evil starts with the log in my own eye. Admitting when I'm wrong, apologizing when I've done wrong, learning during the course of a conversation, paying attention to and responding to the details of what the other person is saying.

According to Hebrews, we need constant training, not just a bias:
Hebrews 5 wrote:12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
And we need to look to Jesus, not to ourselves. And look to the brethren for correction.

As Proverbs tells us:
Proverbs 1 wrote:1 The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:

2 To know wisdom and instruction,
to understand words of insight,
3 to receive instruction in wise dealing,
in righteousness, justice, and equity;
4 to give prudence to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the youth—
5 Let the wise hear and increase in learning,
and the one who understands obtain guidance,
6 to understand a proverb and a saying,
the words of the wise and their riddles.
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.
And that's a great way to measure: does the person participate in pursuing learning, or despise wisdom and instruction? As the OP points out, bias is not our friend in that.
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Wade
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Re: I can see your bias

Post by Wade »

And:
1 Thessalonians 5:21 -
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."

Can we go too far in proving all things though?
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Bootstrap
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Re: I can see your bias

Post by Bootstrap »

Wade wrote:And:
1 Thessalonians 5:21 -
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."

Can we go too far in proving all things though?
Yes, I think we can. Most of the things we read about in the news aren't central to the Kingdom, and we don't have to take a stand on every possible issue.

So I think the first principle is to pick our battles, and my own personal righteousness before God is the biggest battle each of us has to fight. The log in my own eye is a much bigger obstacle than the speck in yours. On the spiritual front, I think we can agree that the Bible is authoritative, and I don't think you can go too far in bathing yourself in Scripture as long as you are also taking the time to live it out.

To me, credible faith is vulnerable to God's leading. But I think we can also go too far if we fall into self-condemnation, because God is there to convict us and make us holy, not to condemn us. People who fall into self-condemnation can easily get to where it's hard to focus on others because they are so busy worrying that they aren't good enough.

And we can also go too far when we aren't using our knowledge to live out our faith. That's the real test. If we spend all day working out theologies and fine arguments but don't serve others, it's time to get up and do something.
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Bootstrap
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Re: I can see your bias

Post by Bootstrap »

Wade wrote:And:
1 Thessalonians 5:21 -
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."

Can we go too far in proving all things though?
Also: we prove things in different ways. Some are more scholarly, some more intuitive or emotional. Some people prove things by looking to Jesus and asking if it is Christlike. The Holy Spirit speaks best to the gathered community, and does that best when we recognize and embrace all of the gifts, not just the intellectual ones - but including those as well.
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gcdonner
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Re: I can see your bias

Post by gcdonner »

Robert wrote:
gcdonner wrote: You are misconstruing the definition of bias in your explanation. Tires are only referred to as "bias plied" as opposed to "radial" tires. The vast majority of modern tires are radial. Unfortunately, your analogy has broken down and not due to bias, but due to a lack of understanding of the construction of tires. It has nothing to do what so ever with the wear of tires over time, though radial tires tend to wear more evenly than bias ply tires. The way a car pulls is most often determined by alignment, which in your analogy is unrelated to the topic at hand... :ugeek: :mrgreen:
Stick with electronic a cyber illustrations and leave the mechanics to those who are definitely NOT biased in any way, shape or form, since we are well rounded and not lopsided as bias ply tires tend to be, especially early in the morning after having set in one spot for an extended period of time. :D
Your response to my bias analogy is biased because you think it has to be literal instead of conceptual. I am biased to believe that if I would have been able to prove that biased tires were around in 70 AD, you would have supported my analogy. :P

Now back off, or I will show you my tire bias as I drive across your lawn!! :wave:

Added the wave so I could act like I was being nice and I make idle threats. Now I can deny that I was being harsh and blame it all on your uneven tire wear.
The tires in 70 AD were mostly wood, except for the top end models that may have had metal spokes, some even had "spinners"... :up:
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gcdonner
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Re: I can see your bias

Post by gcdonner »

Bootstrap wrote:
MaxPC wrote:That's a good way to look at it. Holding firmly to our bias against evil.
Bias can get you in trouble here. Some people think their sin doesn't stink. Those people can be very loud in denouncing others and praising themselves. Self-righteousness usually expresses itself by seeing sin in others.

Fighting evil starts with the log in my own eye. Admitting when I'm wrong, apologizing when I've done wrong, learning during the course of a conversation, paying attention to and responding to the details of what the other person is saying.

According to Hebrews, we need constant training, not just a bias:
Hebrews 5 wrote:12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
And we need to look to Jesus, not to ourselves. And look to the brethren for correction.

As Proverbs tells us:
Proverbs 1 wrote:1 The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:

2 To know wisdom and instruction,
to understand words of insight,
3 to receive instruction in wise dealing,
in righteousness, justice, and equity;
4 to give prudence to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the youth—
5 Let the wise hear and increase in learning,
and the one who understands obtain guidance,
6 to understand a proverb and a saying,
the words of the wise and their riddles.
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.
And that's a great way to measure: does the person participate in pursuing learning, or despise wisdom and instruction? As the OP points out, bias is not our friend in that.
You are biased by your theological bent, therefore you can't be objective in your response, therefore you will use circular reasoning to arrive back at the point at which you began, never mind injecting a strawman or making mountains out of molehills, which all originated in the plain...speaking of planes, how much lift will bias add to a flying object? 8-) :shock: :o :ugeek: :mrgreen:
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gcdonner
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Re: I can see your bias

Post by gcdonner »

Dare I come back into this thread and speak seriously?
How much bias do we bring just because of our orientation and life experiences and how much bias do we see because of the variously colored glasses that we wear?
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Bootstrap
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Re: I can see your bias

Post by Bootstrap »

gcdonner wrote:You are biased by your theological bent, therefore you can't be objective in your response, therefore you will use circular reasoning to arrive back at the point at which you began, never mind injecting a strawman or making mountains out of molehills, which all originated in the plain...speaking of planes, how much lift will bias add to a flying object? 8-) :shock: :o :ugeek: :mrgreen:
Could you please diagram that sentence?
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