Season 3 Episode 6 Confirmation Bias

[Dr. Shane]

This episode has a lot of touching, but made up, story lines.  Tamar and Mary Magdalene have a touching scene.  Mary learns that Tamar's family was killed in when her village was invaded.  Zealots hunt down Simon Z.  Atticus meets with Pilate.  Peter discovers his wife, Eden, has a miscarriage.  And, Gaius starts to realize that Jesus may actually be who He claims to be.

The one scene in this episode that was Biblically-based was Jesus healing and answering the questions from John the Baptist's disciples.  I think the producer, Dallas Jenkins, missed an opportunity here.  One of John's disciples should have been Matthias in this episode which could have later shown up again at the end of the series when he takes Judas' position.  Nonetheless, Jesus makes a point in His answer.  John was the greatest prophet and yet still struggled with believing that Jesus was the Messiah. 

I believe what was going on with John the Baptist, and Jesus' own disciples, is what psychologists today call confirmation bias.  They had already decided that the Messiah was going to overthrow Rome.  Thus, John the Baptist began to doubt his Cousin was the Messiah because John was dying in a prison.  Rome was not being overthrown.  Jesus disciples, in the same way, were discouraged after Jesus was crucified.  They hid with the doors locked.  No matter how many times Jesus told them He was going to die, they didn't get it because they had already decided what they were going to believe.  That is how confirmation bias works.  That is why so many Sunday Christians reject the seventh-day Sabbath message and so many other points of truth.

Confirmation bias teaches that it takes very little evidence to convince someone of something they already believe is true.  However it takes an incredible amount of evidence to convince someone of something they do not believe is true.  For the disciples,  it took the risen Savior for them to believe.  Ellen White gives testimony that John the Baptist's faith was stronger than Jesus' disciples.  When the messengers returned to him with Jesus' answer, John recognized the words from Isaiah and he accepted the truth as Elijah heard the still small voice.  The question for us is how much do we let confirmation bias impact our understanding?  Are we more like John the Baptist or Jesus's disciples?  

You can watch The Chosen here -> The Chosen