Jon Noyes discusses how admitting our biases rather than stifling them helps us to better understand and have conversations about the truth.
Transcript
Jon: In my opinion, our goal is to become as unbiased as we possibly can when looking at things.
Part of being unbiased on certain issues is recognizing our bias. When I come to an issue, I am always going to come to the issue from the perspective that God exists, because until I’m shown otherwise, that has been shown to me as true. So, I’m not going to just shun that idea. I’m not just going to get rid of God in order to evaluate something. I’m going to be honest, though, with my bias. I’m going to—with myself and with the person I’m talking to or whatnot—I’m going to be forthright: Well, this is my perspective.
Nobody just reports the facts, but we try to, and as long as we’re upfront with our bias, it makes things easier.
So, can an institution or person really eliminate and control their bias? I mean, I don’t think so. I think, not in an ultimate sense. But you can be forthright and honest with it. You know? You can let people know where you’re coming from, in other words, and just be honest.
Or is some sort of new bias simply being formed and established as the new standard? Yeah. I mean, you should be always evaluating what you’re believing. You know? So, new biases, new standards, are coming in and out of your life constantly. But when you hold—like, you know, “Test all things, holding fast to that which is true”—when you find the truth, you hold on to that. It doesn’t mean you stop examining it, but you hold on to it, and you hold on to it tightly. And then, when that truth is rocked, then you can go into, kind of, a reformation process. Right? You dig into it, and you take it out, and—the idea that you’re holding as true—you can examine it from all sides and allow these new things that, maybe, caused you to question it to weigh in on it.
So, your biases—even then, your bias is going to come into it. And the bias is formed through life experiences, through what you read, through what you study, through what you feel, and stuff like that.