Biases

Use this forum to discuss the March 2021 Book of the month, "The Biblical Clock: The Untold Secrets Linking the Universe and Humanity with God’s Plan" by Daniel Friedmann, Dania Sheldon
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cd20
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Re: Biases

Post by cd20 »

jaym_tan wrote: 12 Mar 2021, 03:59 There is a reason why some of us have biases because some views about certain things have been ingrained in us, but eventually we unlearn them once we do research or explore more. When the author mentioned that he had biases, I was interested to read what they were so I can see how they developed pass that.
True, we all come to a book or situation with biases from the way we were raised, including things our parents taught us. I thought it was great that the author took the time to explain what his biases were before beginning to dig into the content of the book. As you read through the book his biases do become clear as well.
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Anusha Thatavarthi
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Post by Anusha Thatavarthi »

I belong to a different faith from the one the author has presented in this book. So, I was obviously biased against everything being predicted in the Bible. I don't think it didn't change my ideas much but I have to appreciate the author's research and I must say that it can help people who are struggling between the bible and science.
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Post by Myladysarah »

VernaVi wrote: 01 Mar 2021, 23:55 My biases when I began this book were a basic mistrust of any author until I could read more and discern where the story was coming from and what the foundational knowledge in the presentation was based upon. This mistrust is an ingrained thing that helps me and sometimes can hinder me in some studies. But, overall, it gives me the discernment and patience I need to spend time researching and learning with any book life presents to me. Great question!
I also have to agree with you. I began reading the book with mistrust in the author. As the book progressed, I knew I could believe him regarding the Torah, but not for other information he supplied. I found the book to be a very enjoyable read though.
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cd20
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Post by cd20 »

anua24060 wrote: 13 Mar 2021, 00:45 I belong to a different faith from the one the author has presented in this book. So, I was obviously biased against everything being predicted in the Bible. I don't think it didn't change my ideas much but I have to appreciate the author's research and I must say that it can help people who are struggling between the bible and science.
I also come from a different faith than the author. I agree that it can provide some clarification between the Bible and Science, although I do not necessarily agree with everything the author stated. It is hard reading books from a faith that is different from yours, and hard to not be biased before you begin. I did not realize that this book was going to be mostly from the Jewish faith or I probably would not have picked it up, but I did learn a lot about the Jewish faith that I did not know before, so all was not lost.
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Post by D reviewer »

I like to be open minded when reading. That way I tend to see and accept facts while easily dismissing certain half truths and false statements. The author didn't cloth himself in gold here. Especially his views on the Bible. They are not only biased, they are almost all false
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cd20
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Post by cd20 »

D reviewer wrote: 13 Mar 2021, 13:01 I like to be open minded when reading. That way I tend to see and accept facts while easily dismissing certain half truths and false statements. The author didn't cloth himself in gold here. Especially his views on the Bible. They are not only biased, they are almost all false
I try to be open-minded when reading, but I did come to this book with biases. I also tend to dismiss half-truths and false statements. I am still trying to determine how I feel about certain parts of this book as I am still processing it. I think most of his views came from the Jewish Torah, which is similar to the first 5 books of the Bible, but I agree he came across as biased. Which views from the Bible did you see as false? I am not contradicting you, I am curious.
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Post by Mtibza eM »

I am agnostic, I simply believe that we as humans can never fully know whether God exists or not. So when starting this book, I can say that I wasn't biased. But after reading this book, my agnosticism was strengthened further because throughout the pages of the book, it assured me that indeed no matter how you approach this issue, we can never fully know the exist of God.
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Post by cd20 »

Mtibza eM wrote: 14 Mar 2021, 03:23 I am agnostic, I simply believe that we as humans can never fully know whether God exists or not. So when starting this book, I can say that I wasn't biased. But after reading this book, my agnosticism was strengthened further because throughout the pages of the book, it assured me that indeed no matter how you approach this issue, we can never fully know the exist of God.
That's an interesting perspective. I was also biased going into the book, but I am Christian, not Jewish, so I don't necessarily believe everything the author talked about either. Although I did learn a lot about Judaism. I see things differently, I look around and I can't help but wonder how people don't believe in God and His existence. I do not believe the author gave evidence that God does not exist. But, everyone is entitled to their own opinions and beliefs. Books like this are good to broader our perspectives, whether we agree with everything or not.
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Post by Caroline Anne Richmond »

I am quite an open minded person and have an interest in both science and a more historical interest in the Bible. I wondered if the author would be biased in one particular direction but I felt his opinions were well rounded and researched.
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Post by cd20 »

jaym_tan wrote: 12 Mar 2021, 03:59 There is a reason why some of us have biases because some views about certain things have been ingrained in us, but eventually we unlearn them once we do research or explore more. When the author mentioned that he had biases, I was interested to read what they were so I can see how they developed pass that.
I agree with you. We all have biases that have been ingrained into us. I think it is important to understand an author's biases that they bring to a book in order to understand the content matter better. I like that you try to "develop" past the author's biases. Did you end up enjoying the book? Did any of your biases that you came to the book with change?
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Post by cd20 »

Cazrichmond wrote: 15 Mar 2021, 16:01 I am quite an open minded person and have an interest in both science and a more historical interest in the Bible. I wondered if the author would be biased in one particular direction but I felt his opinions were well rounded and researched.
I try to be open-minded but sometimes I am just not. It almost depends on my mood. I am not interested in science so books like this are hard for me to read and wrap my head around. Sometimes, like in the case of this book, I simply did not understand some of the content matter. I feel like for the biases he had his opinions were fairly well-rounded. I thought he was very heavy in Judaism, so to me, I would have liked to have seen more research outside of that realm. However, I understand that our biases will also affect our research, so at least we knew his going in. Did this book change anything for you?
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Post by Mvictoria »

cd20 wrote: 05 Mar 2021, 15:38
I am not a history lover or science lover, but I do like and appreciate clear facts. I do believe that the Bible and science can go hand in hand. However, I do not feel that the author portrayed that well. His biases led him in a slightly different direction and most of his work came from the Kabbalah and Talmud. The author also states that the Talmud is critical to understanding the phrase "that it was good," and I do not agree with him. I had never heard of Kabbalah and the Talmud before reading this book.
I had never heard of these books either and this book opened my eyes to the vastness of Jewish texts and scholars! It was my previous understanding that the Old Testament was the main Jewish book. I think it would be really interesting to read these books for myself and clarify the meanings in the Old Testament. I especially want to read the Kaballah after reading this book!
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Post by Mvictoria »

I have a lot of biases about the idea of Creationism in general. I personally believe, like the authors of this book state, that one "creation day" was many thousands of years for us. I had that bias coming in, but I was also willing to open myself to a good argument of creationism. I loved the explanation of the cosmic cycles and the different creation days corresponding to a period in history. I thought that was a great argument!
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Post by jeanmtdb »

My religious education is Roman Catholicism. As I've grown older, I came to think that God's time is not human time and so, reconciled creationism with evolution. I began this book with a degree of skepticism about how this explanation would close the gap. The research and explanations seem to really prove his point to me.
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Post by Deval Sodha »

I did not have any biases when I started the book. But my trust forthe author's knowledge grew stronger as I read the book. He has deeply studied both the aspects and presented the facts logically.
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