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Seeking Riches, the Scriptures and Confirmation Bias
To my fellow religious friends (others are welcome if they want)
I have come to love to people watch and there are few places that are fascinating for me. Sporting events are one of these (ever wonder why the refs are against you for every single game?).
Sunday school depending on the topic can be an interesting place to watch people.
Whenever we are on scriptures that talk about money (which is actually quite a bit although that may be a surprise to you). Confirmation Bias is on full display. I recently just uploaded a video describing confirmation bias if you want to see it here: https://youtu.be/GBi5Cj21b1I and we talk about it quite a bit in my classes at school.
The basic Idea is that our brain ignores things that go against our opinions or reinterprets disconfirming evidence to mean something different.
So the scriptures are abundantly clear that we are not to seek riches, it's a waste of time and a distraction at best and corrupting at worst. (By the way science, and the field of positive psychology agree on this. It's called the hedonic treadmill. I made a video on this as well here: https://youtu.be/ktB7PwbPy08 )
"lay not up treasures on earth", "You cannot serve god and Mammon (an aramaic word that means wealth)" There are many, many other scriptures in the Bible, and Book of Mormon
Now this is an extremely inconvenient teaching in today's greedy society and our greedy culture in the church.
Hence confirmation bias kicks in to avoid the inconvenience
Most scriptures about money are for the most part avoided in sunday school. If they are one of a couple of different topics in the lesson then they will be ignored altogether. Many times the parables, stories, or direct quotes and scriptures are completely skipped over.
If it can't be avoided then they are generally reinterpreted to mean the opposite of what they clearly mean. Those who are obsessed with politics and see everything through that window think I'm teaching liberal politics, but it has absolutely nothing to do with politics and everything to do with what we value.
Hugh Nibley talks about this in his book Approaching Zion when he is talking about the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. Luke 16:19-31
When the rich man in hell begs Abraham to be able to go warn his brothers what will happen to them if they don't share their riches, Abraham informs him that they already have the scriptures and don't need someone to visit them from the dead.
Nibley says this "Note it well -- on this very matter of whether to seek riches or not the scriptures have spoken so clearly and so much that we are out of order in asking for more revelation on the subject. We are already swamped with instruction; we have to maneuver skillfully to avoid it. No doubt the five brothers would immediately protest that the scriptures are being quoted 'out of context.' That is what populations think today"
What Nibley is describing is confirmation bias. It happens all the time in the scriptures. We get them to mean what we want them to instead of repenting on this and other subjects. I am guilty of this as well.
Note:
I've recently felt prompted to teach more. Teach more parenting and relationships to everyone. Teach more to my fellow members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Teach more to everyone about what is going on in my classes at school. The environment has gotten ugly and we all hate each other, so I will teach as it is what I do.
Just so everyone knows when I teach at school or in secular settings I do not teach religion or politics.
Another Quick disclaimer, I had a discussion with my sunday school teacher this morning who had read this post. I wanted her to know that I wasn't talking about her specifically, she does a great job, I'm talking about 25 years of experience in Sunday School, including when I was a Sunday school teacher and people thought I brought up money too much.
You can find the original Facebook post here November 18, 2023
Worshipping our economic system is leading a lot of people to do things that are contrary to the gospel. Many are also preaching things as righteous that are contrary to the gospel as well.
A series of posts on different aspects of this
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