And then Peter left sitting with the Gentiles when the Jews came into the room. Paul noticed and saw that others followed the same idea.
Galatians 2:11-14
This is a story in the Bible that came from Paul. This story tells of something that we all deal with on some level. Bias. Who are your favorite people to be around? What is your favorite time of the year? What is your favorite type of food? Do you like the beach or a fishing trip more? These are all questions of preference, not bias. We all have them and they make us all so unique. My grandfather loved fishing. But I couldn’t find anything interesting about it. My parents raised me on soul food but I love Chinese food. Almost exclusively.
These are all options that come from self-lived experiences and desires. It’s a part of life. However, there are some things we don’t like and it is not right. Some things we don't like are due to bias, not preference. I grew up eating soul food but also I grew up only around black people. My preference for food has changed. However, when I started middle school my family moved to a more mixed area. I went to school with my dad the first day and we had a meeting with the principal. There was this moment where the principal, who was white, talked to me and I put my head down. I answered but i never looked him in the eye. When we got to the car my dad asked me why I had my head down. I honestly didn’t know. My dad turned to me and said no matter who you are talking to always look them in the eyes.
I honestly had no idea I even did it. The only thing that separated that man from anyone else I’ve ever met was that he was white. Up until that point I had never spoken to a white person personally. I never had a reason to hate a white person. I didn’t know anything about American history and its horrible past with race relationships. I had a bias based on my lack of experience but not because it made sense. This is the problem i see in the world we live in today. We all have biases based on a number of reasons. They usually are based on a very limited worldview and even more so a very limited spiritual view. The bias of some often leads to hate between many people. Many times biased based thinking leads us to hate people and things that don’t even deserve that hate.
Hate in general is too strong of an emotion. Your hatred will always make you worse. It drags you down until there is nothing left. It fuels the weakest parts of our intentions. It hides behind shallow concerns and empty desires. Hating someone will get you nowhere. In the end, your hate will not change them. It will change you. Hate will get nothing from me. It is a dead god who requires too much from the living. I've read a lot about how evil anyone can be behind closed doors. Still, hate is too great to give any time to.
Just like that day in the car with my dad you have to choose to look up past your bias and see people as they are, not as you think they are. You can’t see people looking past them. You cant understand the world focused on your world. The world is always bigger than you. People are extremely complicated. No one, not one person on this earth is 100% right all the time. I grew up with a lot of biases through years of the church. They meant well and they were right on a lot of things but at the end of the day, this world is too big to fit in four walls. The plan of God is too massive for us to think what we think is always right.
Everyone has some type of bias and you might not notice it because you don’t have a Paul to notice your preferences of who you eat with. You might not notice your bias because your dad is not there to see you be awkward and aloof. I would say take some time for yourself. Look at all the people you disagree with and things you don’t think are right. Then ask yourself why? Why do you only eat with certain people? Why do you think a certain thing about a certain type of person? Is it because it’s true or could it be we all have a bias based on nothing more than a lack of exposure?
Jesus is at a well. A Samaritan woman is excited and leaving with the Gospel in her heart. The disciples get there and they are confused as to why Jesus is talking with a woman. Back then women only had one purpose, to have babies. They weren’t meant for deep theological discussions and ideas. That woman goes on to tell the whole town about Jesus and the gospel is received better there than any other place Jesus has been at that time. How did this happen? Jesus never allowed bias to decide how he loved. He ate with the worst of people and loved the people others wouldn’t even try to love. Not because they were evil but because of the bias of religion. The bias of a boys clubs. The bias of groups of people is that they are right about things that don’t mean anything.
We assume only certain people belong in certain places and there is nothing in life that says it’s true except our bias. Especially in America, we are extremely biased because we base a lot of our decisions on the economy, power, and beauty. But Jesus sits at a well with a divorced, outcast woman and starts one of the most amazing conversations this world has ever seen. I’m not saying that you have to make some huge changes. I’m not Paul, I have no place to call you out on specific bias. All I’m saying with this blog is that we are human and history has shown that we often love our bias more than we love people and it’s not right.
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