Jesus said, “Do Not Judge…”, Science says, “We Kind of Suck at it.”
Daniel Kahneman’s, Thinking, Fast and Slow, brings awareness to what is happening continually within the human brain and how it effects our judgements and perceptions. The brain is extremely efficient at processing and interpreting information rapidly, but Kahneman warns that its ability to process information quickly (system 1) can cause misjudgments and wrong associations if we’re not aware of its intuitive nature. Our quick judgements can be wrong.[1]
I’ve always been intrigued by how the brain works. Yuval Noah Harari, in Sapiens, mentioned that the human brain consumes 25 percent of the body’s energy at rest, but only contributes to 2-3 percent of its body weight. The energy sent to our brains each day accounts for our constant analyzing of everything.[2] Did I send that email? What did they mean by that? Is this turkey sandwich still good? What’s the meaning of life? Our awareness and capacity to reason must be one of the characteristics that supports Genesis’ claim of humanity being “made in God’s image.”
Our brain also causes us to do a host of things we’re oblivious too!
Kahneman’s book, argues that our brain’s ability to process information quickly and automatically can lead to error if we are not careful. “Human error” is a dominant theme surfacing in our readings for this program. Tom and David Chivers in “How to Read Numbers,” give us good reason to keep a healthy suspicion with stats in the news and media. [3] Kathryn Schultz humbles us all by giving multiple cases of human fallacies throughout history in “Being Wrong”. Land and Meyers, in our reading on “threshold concepts”, explores the idea that new arenas of understanding are always available for us to cross. We never seem to “arrive”. [4]
This must be one of the many reasons Jesus said, “Do not judge…” especially when it comes to people’s actions and motives. We suck at it because of our limited perceptions.
It would be arrogant for any of us to think we are not missing something, even something big, at the moment in any area: biology, religion, relationships, science, etc.. History has proven human’s propensity for error time and time again. In the book mentioned earlier by Katheryn Schultz, Being Wrong, there is “no guarantee that we aren’t as wrong about a basic perception right now as most people were for most of history about the nature of the night sky.” [5] (57)
At this point in the journey of my NPO I am attempting to help build a bridge between local churches in my area and higher education regarding the Bible. Many within my faith community, like me, were taught the Bible from a certain perspective which created unnecessary tension down the road. However, many of these ideas have been challenged and reexamined in seminaries and universities through higher criticism over the last two hundred years. These discussions do have moral, political, economic, and theological implications, so they are viewed as a threat for many in my area.
The goal is not to prioritize one view over another but legitimize this method of biblical interpretation in more faith communities for the sake of integrity to best discern the book that holds so much influence in our communities. The aim is also to create better relationships and conversations between people who do not see eye to eye on major issues.
Kahneman notes how automatically we reject, or mis categorize information that is foreign, complex, or uncomfortable. I’ve observed and experienced educators in academia devalue the transformational experiences and worldviews of those within local churches. Spiritual experiences can quickly be associated with superstition, delusion, or primitive thinking. I’ve also observed Christian leaders, missionaries, and congregation members disregard valuable discussions and information within higher education. Automatically categorizing this much needed information as dangerous, secular, or compromising. There are automatic responses and judgments on both sides.
This is not just about who is right or wrong. It is about listening to others for the sake of growth and integrity. No matter how uncomfortable it is. Johnathan Haidt, in The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, agrees with Kahneman in that “intuitions come first, strategic reasoning second.” He gives an illustration of how the brain works with morality. We “feel” something is right or wrong first in the subconscious (system 1), due to multiple influences, a lot of it likely social conditioning, then our logical mind (system 2) comes along with reasons for why it is right or wrong. [6]
Here is an example from my church growing up. Women wearing pants at church is wrong! (System 1) Reason 1, Reason 2, and Reason 3 of why it is wrong! (System 2)
He compares our brains to lawyers who are given a case first, then they search for evidence to support it, regardless of right or wrong. He also argues that IQ does not determine accurate judgements or discernment. It more determines how well a person can argue what they already hold as true, not so much the reality of what is true. Once again, these are all humbling ideas.
What is the best strategy in perceiving reality after reading all these books about how much we don’t’ know!? Throw our hands up and say, “Guess we will never figure it all out!” Hopefully not. I think that approach keeps us lazy (As Daniel mentions), lacks curiosity, and keeps us stagnant during times when innovation is needed. I think we do our best to articulate what we hold as true and keep putting ourselves around people and ideas that are different than our own. Then we listen, keep an open mind, and try our best to engage system 2.
[1] Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking, Fast and Slow. 1st pbk. ed. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013.
[2] Harari, Yuval N. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. First U.S. edition. New York: Harper, 2015), 9.
[3] Chivers, Tom, and David Chivers. How to Read Numbers: A Guide to Statistics in the News (and Knowing When to Trust Them). London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2021.
[4] Land, Ray, Jan H. F. Meyer, and Michael T. Flanagan, eds. Threshold Concepts in Practice. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers, 2016.
[5] Schulz, Kathryn, Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error, (New York: Ecco, 2011), 57.
[6] Haidt, Jonathan, ed. The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. (Vintage books ed. New York: Vintage Books, 2013).
About the Author
Adam Harris
I am currently the Associate Pastor at a church called Godwhy in Hendersonville, TN near Nashville. We love questions and love people even more. Our faith community embraces God and education wholeheartedly. I graduated from Oral Roberts University for undergrad and Vanderbilt for my masters. I teach historical critical Biblical studies at my church to help our community through their questions and ultimately deepen their faith. I love research, writing, learning, and teaching. I oversee our staff and leadership development. Before being at Godwhy I worked as a regional sales coach and director for Anytime Fitness. I've been married for over 13 years to my best friend and we have two amazing boys that keep us busy.9 responses to “Jesus said, “Do Not Judge…”, Science says, “We Kind of Suck at it.””
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Couple things that I absolutely loved Adam…
1. How you jumped from “is this turkey sandwich still good?”…to “what’s the meaning of life?” Gosh, if that doesn’t feel like my life right now!!
2. The link you made to Jesus’ words of “do not judge” is a brilliant connection. Brilliant. How many times, I mean, how mannnnnny times, have we (collectively, me and every one else) judged something or someone prematurely (or at all) only to be dead wrong? Too many times to count, sadly.
3. As I read your post, and a few others in our cohort, I keep being reminded of Malcolm Gladwell’s “Blink.” In it he unpacks the concept of “thin slicing.” In psychology and philosophy it’s used to describe the ability to find patterns in events based only on “thin slices”, or narrow windows, of experience. I have touted my ability to “thin slice” over the years; read some a situation or person pretty quickly – Gladwell says in 8 seconds, if I recall correctly. I don’t want to forsake that, perhaps God-given ability/discernment, but Kahneman certainly has opened my mind to other possibilities.
Thanks John, Ha, yeah that’s how my brain works as well! I’m glad you appreciated my lists of questions! It’s so true and weird. It’s a humbling book and I agree, I believe we can get a quick “sense” of situations or people that can be spot on, and on the flip side, missed initial judgements of someone or a situation because we quickly put them in a familiar category or box. Love Gladwell, I have not read “Blink” yet, thanks for the heads up on that one, sounds great.
Adam, I loved this post. Here’s a couple of things that stood out: 1. I was not aware of Johnathan Haidt’s book, but that sounds like a book I’d like to put in my library, in part because of the way it sounds like he is using a different grid to process why people process differences in religion and politics. I am thinking of my own denomination’s right and left “sides.” This would be helpful for some things actually being addressed in our region, right now.
Second, you wrote, “I think we do our best to articulate what we hold as true and keep putting ourselves around people and ideas that are different than our own.” In your opinion, what percentage of time should someone spend on actively putting themselves around those voices vs. rolling with one’s current context (work/community) and processing the ideas in front of them? Does that make sense? (Sort of like, how much energy does a leader give to creating a network or feedback loop versus going with something already in place). Or maybe there’s a better way for that question to be asked…though I am asking about moving toward system 2 processes.
Thanks Travis! The “Righteous Mind” is one of my top 5 favorite books to date. It really makes you think and makes sense of the world and human psychology. Highly recommend it!
As far as your question, personally, our church is pretty diverse, but I can still find myself in an echo chamber so I participate in a group once a month of guys from very different backgrounds who discuss the big questions. The one I attended last month had agnostics, a Buddhist, Christians some conservative politically some progressive. Everyone is very respectful so it makes for some enlightening conversations and challenges us all.
One of the things our pastor does every morning is listen to a news station that leans more “right” politically, then one that leans more “left”. I think that’s pretty cool. To answer your question, I would say as much as possible since it is natural for us to already be in our comfort zones. That is my tendency. One of the reasons I love Haidt’s book is that it challenges me to intentionally get around other perspectives not just ones that reinforce what I already believe.
I love your title! And dang, yeah, maybe this IS why Jesus said do not judge! We are going to get it WRONG! Thanks for linking this book to Jesus’ words. Helpful sermon fodder…..
Thanks Kally, sorry but I just got the title patented! Ha Feel free to use it, couldn’t help but think about that throughout the reading. Not as insightful, accurate, or discerning as I think sometimes. I’ll do my best to leave certain judgements to God!
Hi Adam, Nice read.
I just bought the Haidt book, I think it will have some nice messages for my NPO.
Human error (welcome to my world). Tim Clark asked if pastors Blink(S1) or Think(2). Since God created both, I gather they are part of how we work things out.
My wife (Trudy-the smart one in this household), reminded me of the the Dignity of Causality. C.S. Lewis reminds us that we given the “Dignity” of impacting both the physical and spiritual realms. Paul writes, Pray Unceasingly.
I wish (and pray) that I engage with Him before me S1 blink or my S2 think start rolling. Too often I blink/think then I pray.
Oh wow, hope you enjoy it. It’s a book that will stretch you for sure. It’s one of my favorites. I’m with you on the blink and think. I know we are all guilty, I’m glad we are becoming more aware of how we process so we can continue to grow in wisdom and discernment.
A lot of this information moves me to prayer, glad you mentioned that. It’s a humbling process to know how fallible we all are!
As Jason likes to say the bigger our island of knowledge becomes, so does the shoreline of our ignorance! I appreciate how you are relating this book towards church and our way of making a declarative statement and thus utilizing verses to back up our beliefs! Why is the modern church so scared of being wrong? In your studies ( I honestly don’t remember too much from history classes in Seminary ) but I’m pretty sure it’s always been this way, what do you think? Are we as a faith community more like S1 and less like S2? In South Africa, I remember how the pastors stated that they don’t make decisions until they have consensus. What do you think this type of group think would do for our American style churches? Just curious?