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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Timothy Rucinski
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Re: Biases

Post by Timothy Rucinski »

One of the reasons that I read the book was realizing that the author's approach to the material was strictly through Jewish, not Christian, mysticism. Having read a lot about the mystics, Kabbalah, the several mystics mentioned in the text, the Zohar, and other aspects of the materials, I came to the page with the same biases. And I was delighted as the materials stayed on point with references to the Hebrew Bible and Jewish history. That doesn't mean that I bought into any of this, but it made it easier for me as a reference point.
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Post by 63tty »

cd20 wrote: 08 Mar 2021, 19:22
63tty wrote: 07 Mar 2021, 01:19 My bias before I started the book was having different opinions from the authors. Also, when I was reading, I somewhat had a closed mind regarding some topics. I had to conform and be more compromising and now I think the author s did a great job with it.
I can see that. I still have a closed mind to some of the things in the book and wonder why they put some things in, but I am almost done, maybe it will all make sense in the end.
Hope if makes some sense to you in the end. I'm not completely convinced with everything but I liked the challenge to how I thought of the Bible and the world.
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Post by cd20 »

63tty wrote: 10 Mar 2021, 01:26
cd20 wrote: 08 Mar 2021, 19:22
63tty wrote: 07 Mar 2021, 01:19 My bias before I started the book was having different opinions from the authors. Also, when I was reading, I somewhat had a closed mind regarding some topics. I had to conform and be more compromising and now I think the author s did a great job with it.
I can see that. I still have a closed mind to some of the things in the book and wonder why they put some things in, but I am almost done, maybe it will all make sense in the end.
Hope if makes some sense to you in the end. I'm not completely convinced with everything but I liked the challenge to how I thought of the Bible and the world.
I finished the book yesterday and not everything did make sense. But, that's okay. It was a book that made me think.
Real life is dreadfully tedious, the way it interrupts reading. -Things We Didn't Say by Amy Lynn Green
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Post by rondanoh1 »

I must admit that my bias was toward the Bible, but I have always been one to think that in Creation, a day did not mean 24 hours. I am also aware there is much symbolism in the Bible. Not everything can and should be taken literally. I grew up in the West, so my thinking is more analytical and scientific. The Bible was written in the ancient East, where their thinking was less scientific. I also think that religion has gotten in the way of being a believer and understanding the Bible. There is a difference between having a relationship with God and having a relationship with a religious institution. The latter is human-made and is very flawed. This book brought the spiritual and scientific into better focus for me.
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Post by Ochieng Omuodo »

My bias was that any attempt to marry science and religion will inevitably be contrived. This changed somewhat, but not entirely, because the authors present a compelling case for the validity of measuring time in different ways.
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Post by Kansas City Teacher »

I came to this book with an open mind and was pleasantly surprised to see that the timelines do seem to work out. I always felt that the timelines in the Bible were not to be taken literally. I had just finished a similar book that seemed accusatory and intense...this one has a more matter-of-fact feel. The author did a nice job of presenting his information in a convincing and calm way.
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Post by Fliesie01 »

I agree with, especially with this genre, I do not trust the author in the beginning. But with The Biblical Clock I found myself trusting in what the author wrote and ended up enjoying the book and giving it a good rating.
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Post by Huini Hellen »

Whenever I read such books, I always approach them from an unbiased perspective. This is because my experience with religious books always require me to discard my initial reservations, to get the most out of the book.
The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting. The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way. - Marcus Aurelius
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Post by cd20 »

Mstrtim wrote: 09 Mar 2021, 09:18 One of the reasons that I read the book was realizing that the author's approach to the material was strictly through Jewish, not Christian, mysticism. Having read a lot about the mystics, Kabbalah, the several mystics mentioned in the text, the Zohar, and other aspects of the materials, I came to the page with the same biases. And I was delighted as the materials stayed on point with references to the Hebrew Bible and Jewish history. That doesn't mean that I bought into any of this, but it made it easier for me as a reference point.
I had no idea it was from a Jewish approach and I had never heard of Kabbalah, so I learned a lot about that. I am still not sure what all I "buy" into with the book. I think it had some interesting points, and there were some things I think could have been left out, but an interesting read nonetheless.
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Post by cd20 »

rondanoh1 wrote: 10 Mar 2021, 15:02 I must admit that my bias was toward the Bible, but I have always been one to think that in Creation, a day did not mean 24 hours. I am also aware there is much symbolism in the Bible. Not everything can and should be taken literally. I grew up in the West, so my thinking is more analytical and scientific. The Bible was written in the ancient East, where their thinking was less scientific. I also think that religion has gotten in the way of being a believer and understanding the Bible. There is a difference between having a relationship with God and having a relationship with a religious institution. The latter is human-made and is very flawed. This book brought the spiritual and scientific into better focus for me.
I also have a bias toward the Bible, but yeah, there has always been the debate if a day was a literal day or a thousand years. And, yes, there are things that are literal and things that are figurative in the Bible, and a ton of symbolism. I agree that there is a BIG difference between religion and a relationship with God. Religion and the denomination outside the Church doors sometimes hinder people's relationships with God. Denominations don't matter, what matters is the relationship.
Real life is dreadfully tedious, the way it interrupts reading. -Things We Didn't Say by Amy Lynn Green
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Post by cd20 »

DavidOchieng wrote: 10 Mar 2021, 15:18 My bias was that any attempt to marry science and religion will inevitably be contrived. This changed somewhat, but not entirely, because the authors present a compelling case for the validity of measuring time in different ways.
That is an interesting way of going into it. I used to believe that science and religion did not go hand in hand, but I have become more open-minded to the idea. I can see how they can agree in certain areas. I agree that the author did present the validity of measuring time in different ways, but I'm still trying to process what I think of that.
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Post by cd20 »

Kansas City Teacher wrote: 10 Mar 2021, 23:49 I came to this book with an open mind and was pleasantly surprised to see that the timelines do seem to work out. I always felt that the timelines in the Bible were not to be taken literally. I had just finished a similar book that seemed accusatory and intense...this one has a more matter-of-fact feel. The author did a nice job of presenting his information in a convincing and calm way.
I found it fascinating the way his timelines worked out, but I am not sure I quite believed them. But, I came to this book with a bias against science, so I don't know. I was also looking at the author's references and he lists Wikipedia quite a bit, so again, not sure. I know they can have accurate information, but I was always taught not to use them as a source (which created its own bias!). I do agree that the author did present his ideas in an engaging, matter-of-fact way.
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Post by cd20 »

Fliesie01 wrote: 11 Mar 2021, 04:42 I agree with, especially with this genre, I do not trust the author in the beginning. But with The Biblical Clock I found myself trusting in what the author wrote and ended up enjoying the book and giving it a good rating.
I wasn't sure if I trusted the author either, and I wasn't sure which way the book would go. I don't agree with all of his ideas, but I definitely learned some things.
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Post by cd20 »

REIGNING20 wrote: 11 Mar 2021, 06:36 Whenever I read such books, I always approach them from an unbiased perspective. This is because my experience with religious books always require me to discard my initial reservations, to get the most out of the book.
That's an interesting way of looking at it. I try to approach books from an unbiased perspective, but I was biased with this book before I started. I am still trying to process my thoughts on this book.
Real life is dreadfully tedious, the way it interrupts reading. -Things We Didn't Say by Amy Lynn Green
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Post by jaym_tan »

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.
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