A Roadblock to Discernment

Occasionally I will teach about discernment and some of the obstacles that roadblock our ability to discern God’s will for different situations in life. One of those obstacles is a phenomenon that psychologists call “confirmation bias.”

Even if you’ve never heard that term, I’d bet the farm that you’ve seen confirmation bias at work. One article defines it as “the tendency of people to favor information that confirms their existing beliefs.” If you’ve ever tried to convince someone that a wild story they read on Facebook is false, but they just didn’t seem to hear your reasons or evidence, you may have been banging your head against the wall of confirmation bias. They favored information that confirmed their views—and were more likely to reject your conflicting information.

This becomes an obstacle for Christian discernment the moment God tries to tell a person something that they don’t want to hear. Confirmation bias will lead you to favor your preferred (comfortable) take on a situation and downplay any hints the Lord is dropping about a new (uncomfortable) way of seeing or doing things.

We saw an example of this in Micah at a Bible study last week at Eastlawn. Micah delivers a harsh warning concerning the idolatry, greed, and injustice in Israel and Judah, and then he records this reply:

“Don’t say such things,”
    the people respond.
“Don’t prophesy like that.
    Such disasters will never come our way!” (2:6)

The prophet laid out his case and spoke with the authority of the Lord himself, and yet God’s people simply cannot hear the message he brings. They’re like the people 2 Timothy describes, who “look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear.” (4:3) They favor information that confirms their existing beliefs. They’re blinded by confirmation bias.

Of course, the real problem with confirmation bias is that is doesn’t just affect other people: it affects you and me, too. Though, naturally, we have a hard time seeing it. ‘I’m not biased! My beliefs are just correct, and yours are wrong!’ But confirmation bias is a part of the human condition. You and I have itching ears, too. We, too, are disinclined to hear what the prophets would preach to us.

There’s no easy way around this mental roadblock. I think that being aware of the phenomenon—and aware that it’s at work in my mind, too—is an important place to start, but there will still be a struggle ahead to overcome it. 

A struggle to listen more (James 1:19). 

A struggle to be open to correction (Prov 12:1). 

A struggle, perhaps, to loosen our grip on some firmly held opinions so that we can hold tighter to “Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2)—maybe some of the things we argue about so vehemently shouldn’t take up so much of our time, attention, and energy in the first place.

But, Christian, do not bypass the struggle. “Taking up your cross” is not comfortable or easy, but it is how Jesus described discipleship (Luke 9:23). Doing this well will challenge us, but it will also make us more ready to hear what our neighbors are trying to tell us and to hear what our God is trying to tell us.