First Believe, Then Look
I hear some theists say that first you have to know the one true God and only then will you find evidence for his existence. It’s basically “Presuppose, then look”.
I am a part of a Facebook group, where theists and atheists can debate with each other and share their thoughts. One post I read was written by a Muslim, who claimed that without knowing the one true God, one couldn’t find him. In my comment under his post I asked which one he found more logical: Presupposing and then looking for evidence, or looking and then drawing a conclusion? — He answered that by confessing and humbling yourself to God, He would lead us to the truth. I was pretty confused since that wasn’t my question whatsoever.
Confirmation bias is very much a thing and if we were to first believe and only then look for evidence to back up our beliefs, it can be a trap to fall into.
If I told you that there are fairies in my basement, how would you react to it? Would you believe me and then look for the fairies or would you ask me to prove it to you first? The human brain is very interesting. It can trick us all the time, regardless of the situation.
I had a conversation with my step mum once. She said that she could feel God’s presence every time something good happened to her. She knows it was God behind those things. I told her that I didn’t see God behind the things that happened to me. In fact, I never feel his presence. — So, who is right?
We are both biased. I am biased because I don’t believe in the existence of a God, and she is biased because she does. It’s hard not to be biased unless we have no specific goal in our research. If we just look, but don’t expect anything in particular, we will find something — something random.
Although people like to believe that they are rational and logical, the fact is that we are continually under the influence of cognitive biases. These biases distort thinking, influence beliefs, and sway the decisions and judgments that people make each and every day. […] Attention is a limited resource. This means we can’t possibly evaluate every possible detail and event when forming thoughts and opinions. Because of this, we often rely on mental shortcuts that speed up our ability to make judgments but sometimes lead to bias.
So confessing, repenting and only then chasing the truth doesn’t work. For that one has to be convinced of God’s existence already, which will make them find evidence for him anyway. However, isn’t that bias? Why not look and then draw conclusions? If God exists, he will show us the truth — hopefully. And if he doesn’t, well then he doesn’t, no matter what we believe.
Let’s be open minded as much as we can. The truth won’t disappear just because we question it. How exciting and mysterious is it to find something unexpected. Something we haven’t even thought of — there is no “has to”. Nothing “has to” be the case. It either is or it isn’t. So, let’s find out!
