Calvin and Hobbes has been one of my favorite comic strips over the years. One episode illustrated a bias that many of us hold in one way or another: Confirmation Bias.
In the first block, Calvin and Hobbes are in a field under a tree and Calvin explains, “The teacher didn’t believe my leaves were from an alien planet.”
In the second box Calvin continues, “She said it was obvious I did the whole thing last night and I made a mockery of the assignment. Well, she’ll be sorry when the aliens send her to the plutonium mines.’
The third box Calvin continues with his argument, “She just won’t admit it was a pointless project. Who cares about leaves?!” What useless knowledge!”
The final block, Hobbes suggests, “I believe that’s poison sumac you’re holding. Calvin, looking quite concerned at the leaves in his hand, replies, ‘This?? What makes you say that?”
Calvin still believed he was right even when the evidence clearly said he was wrong!
Confirmation Bias!
What is confirmation bias?
It was only a couple of months ago that I ran across this term. I pondered on what it meant and to what it was referring? So, I did a quick internet search and found this definition:
“Confirmation bias, or the selective collection of evidence, is our subconscious tendency to seek and interpret information and other evidence in ways that affirm our existing beliefs, ideas, expectations, and/or hypotheses.
Therefore, confirmation bias is both affected by and feeds our implicit biases. It can be most entrenched around beliefs and ideas that we are strongly attached to or that provoke a strong emotional response”.
https://durhamtech.libguides.com/infolit/bias
Said another way, Confirmation bias is our selection of pieces of information that makes us feel good because they affirm our preconceived presuppositions and prejudices. Confirmation bias imprisons us to our previous conclusions around a subject or issue.
A TEST ILLUSTRATING OUR CONFIRMATION BIAS…
Now, let’s do a test – the squares marked A and B – are they the same color? Are you sure? Be really sure … Don’t peek and skip down the page – be honest! Have you already made up your mind? Would you argue against your friends?
The above image was put into public domain by the copyright holder, and may be reproduced and distributed freely. Copyright © Edward H. Adelson 1995. http://persci.mit.edu/gallery/checkershadow
When it comes to the Gap of Biblical Geography, I fear many believers have preconceived ideas and they use any means to confirm their belief that the gap does not exist or the gap is irrelevant.
How Can We Begin to Overcome Our Confirmation Bias Against the Gap of Biblical Geography?
1.Burn an image of the topography of the land into our minds, memorizing the contours of its hills and plains, its rivers, wadis and seas. The student needs to review what has been studied. A constant gazing at an atlas will help the student to gain a mental image of the relationship between mountains, valleys, roads and rivers. The more the student has this information in his mind, the more the Bible will open to the student.
2. Identify the regions of the land, describing the character of each. Seek to perceive how its location and topography would have affected the lives of the people who lived there. It makes much difference if an event takes place in a valley or on a mountain top. How much more the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal means as it takes place on the Carmel Mountains near the Mediterranean Sea and the story of David and Goliath as they meet in the Elah Valley with its deep ravine in the middle, preventing either side from attacking directly the enemy.
3.Learn the locations of biblical sites, identifying them on our maps and in our minds. This is quite similar to number one above. However, this point emphasizes the need to know where Bethlehem is located in relation to Jerusalem. It helps to know where Jericho is located when the student reads the story of the Good Samaritan.
When one considers where the towns people of Nazareth wanted to push Jesus off the cliff of Nazareth and what Jesus could have seen from that site, it will touch the heart of the student. Jesus could see Beth Shean where Israel’s first king, Saul, having been killed and his body nailed to the city walls of that magnificent city. Jesus could see down the valley towards the Mediterranean Sea and remind himself of the great battle between Elijah and the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel. He could see Megiddo, Armageddon, the scene of the worlds’ last battle according to many Bible students.
4.Mentally scan the perimeter around each major site we study, reflecting on what the people who lived there would have seen. Would they be looking at the great Western Sea? The Dead Sea? Jerusalem and its great valleys? Would they see places that had been significant in their religious history? What was growing in the region? What kind of animals lived in the region? What was the housing like?
5.Trace travel routes, reflecting on what we would observe as we would travel from point to point. The student needs to imagine walking across the land of Israel with Jesus or David or another of the great biblical persons. What kind of effort would it take to make it from Jericho to Jerusalem or vice versa? What would Mary and Joseph have experienced on their trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem? Can the student place himself with them in the caravan? What were the smells they would encounter?
Oh, by the way – see the comparison ladder below to see if your bias was true or not? Notice that A and B are EXACTLY the same colors. What happened to your previous bias? Do you believe your eyes? Are you open to learning new things? I pray so.
The above image was put into public domain by the copyright holder, and may be reproduced and distributed freely. Copyright © Edward H. Adelson 1995. http://persci.mit.edu/gallery/checkershadow
I pray you find this information more valuable than identifying leaves as an assignment in school.
EXTRA INFORMATION TO YOUR INQUISITIVE MINDS:
Have You Ever wondered “Just How Do We Know Where Ancient Places Were Located?”
One way for the biblical student to know the location of ancient cities, bodies of water, roads and other geographical features originates from the biblical record itself. Toponymns provide the biblical reader with valuable information. The biblical author may make a statement about a place by both its older name and its more recent name.
For example, Genesis 14:2 mentions a place called, Bela and then it states that this is called, Zoar. Genesis 14:7 is another location with two place names: En-Mishpat which is said to be Kadesh. This allowed the original reader to have both the older name and the more relevant, modern name for study and reference. The point of this seems to suggest that without this information, the reader will miss the significance of full narrative.[ii]
Other passages include geographical details worthy of the reader’s attention. For example, the familiar story of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17: 1-3 relates several places that the biblical student can locate on an atlas: Succoth belonging to Judah, Socoh and Azekah, Ephesdammim and Valley of Elah.
There are passages among the prophets as well. See Isaiah 6:23 which mentions the invasion of Tiglath-Pileser III. Three geographical features are mentioned: the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, and Galilee of the Gentiles.
2 Kings 13: 29 provides hints to identify what is meant by these statements. This “way of the sea” is known as the road between Panias (Banias) and Tyre on the coastline. “Beyond the Jordan” is “Gilead” or Perea in the Herodian period.
The “Galilee of the Gentiles” is the Jezreel Valley. Other biblical texts are not so straight forward about the geographical references. Joshua 15: 20-62 lists the geographical divisions of the tribes when they entered the Promised Land. These are a kind of bureaucratic list of geographical sites.
[i] Hulbert, “Introduction,” Exploring the Old Testament in its Geographical Context, CD (2003). .
[ii][ii] Hulbert, Introduction, Walking in their Sandals. CD.ND.
21Ansen Rainey, The Sacred Bridge, p. 12.
Truth-Travelers 