(P)Review Bible Study: Luke 16:19-31...I Spy With My Little Eye....Exactly What I Want To See

 

    The brain is an amazing thing, just ask any Zombie, they always seem to be talking about them.  Did you know that your brain is capable of 10 to the 16th processes per second?  That makes it the fastest computer on the planet. The MDGrape-3, built by the Japanese company RIKEN, has a theoretical maximum speed of 1 petaflop (1 guadrillion operations per second).  I say theoretical, because it is so fast there isn't anything to measure it against.  Yet it is still only a tenth as fast as your brain. This leaves only one question worth asking:

Why does it seem like humans are always so dumb?

    Let's face it, we all have those moments when we look at the throng of humanity around us and wonder if any of them really have thought their life decisions through all that well.  I often have that moment when shopping in Wal-Mart.  What is it about Wally-world that brings out the fool in certain people?

   OK, so maybe I am picking on the Wal-Mart experience too much, but it does seem that humans are prone to dumbness on an astounding level.  Please understand I am not talking about people lacking intellectual prowess or possessing blank ignorance. I am talking about people who seem able to make mistakes even when the solution is presented to them in a readily understandable fashion.  Worse yet, there are those who seem prone to make the same mistake, or at least the same sort of mistake, over and over again. IF our brains are so powerful what is the problem?
    Psychologists call it "cognitive bias".  Cognitive bias is a fatal flaw in the way we process information.  There's a dozen different kinds of cognitive bias but the long and short of them all is that we tend to believe things that already agree with assumptions we have about life.  If one is hunting wild game with a bow and arrow while living in a grass hut in the deepest, darkest part of Africa, a thousand years ago, this sort of cognitive strategy is helpful for making quick decisions in predictable situations.  Your brain is taking a shortcut to the most obvious solution to save time and maybe keep you from getting eaten by a tiger.  The problem is life is a good bit more complex than that...and most of us don't get eaten by tigers anymore.  

    We humans really struggle with this.  The modern world does so much to make the problem worse too.  Have you ever noticed that when you search something on Google or Bing, or peruse your Facebook feed that stories and articles that confirm your ideas and beliefs always seem to pop up?  There is a reason for that: those web sites are designed to do exactly that.  There are complex algorithms in  place designed to learn your preferences and tailor your online experience to exactly those preferences. It creates what is called the "echo chamber effect" in which we hear only opinions that echo our already existing ones.  This is a cognitive bias called the "confirmation bias".  Unfortunately humans are inclined to ignore anything the falls outside of our "confirmation bias".

     

    Yep, our brains can be a pain that way.  All that immense processing power cut down to size by a simple logical shortcut designed to make it easier to process information faster. 

    In the Gospel of Luke Jesus refers to exactly this problem when he tells the parable about the rich man and the poor man (Lazarus) who find themselves on opposite sides of the fence between heaven and hell in the afterlife:

Luke 16:24-31 He called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.' But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.' He said, 'Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father's house--for I have five brothers--that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.' Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.' He said, 'No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"

     Even someone who has come back from the dead can't get through the thick skulls of certain people, Jesus says.  There is a bit of humor going on here.  I have always wondered if Jesus is giggling to himself a bit as he says this knowing that when he himself actually does come back from the grave the stubborn people he is talking to right now won't listen or believe.         

    Confirmation Bias.  They are so convinced of their own opinion, so narrow minded and thick headed, they simply would not believe...no matter what. There you go, humans being human.  Fortunately for us, Jesus is pretty stubborn himself. He knows that there are people who will not let their minds be clouded by the insistence that the only way that can be the right way is the way they are most comfortable with.  He knows that there are people who will pause and listen with open minds and he knows that those people will probably have the least to lose and the most to gain. 

    So which kind of person are you?  Be honest.  Most of us have a bit of confirmation bias going in our lives.   Can we be open to the mind of God knowing that God knows things we cannot even fathom?  Can we allow for the possibility that God is doing something in our lives so novel, so new, so unprecedented that all of our presuppositions about what can and cannot be might need to be abandoned?  In short, are we willing to let God be God?  Is it possible that God is speaking in your heart right now telling you things, and calling you to things that your personal experience tells you is impossible (like the dead rising from the grave... resurrection style...not zombie style)?  Maybe we need to listen to that voice.  

    After all, one of the most astoundingly incomprehensible things in all the Bible is the fact that more than anything else God loves you.  God loves you so much that he was willing to sacrifice himself for you in order to ransom your life back from death and destruction.  God loves you so much that he comes looking for you every day of your life hoping that this day you will turn and see his love and grace.  Is that too much to believe?  Well someone came back from the dead to tell you exactly that... so do you believe him?