Editing Fast Fridays: 30 Minutes for God (section)

== Friday, Aug 9: Confirmation bias ==
We have been thinking over what it means to be "childlike" in terms of being believing in a -- the Father, which as we encountered over the last two weeks is the essence of childhood.

We will briefly review the last two weeks' thoughts, with this addition about "the Father" and "Our Father"

* Note: the Old Testament speaks of the 'living God" (as we discussed about the "Jesus prayer", "son of the living God") but not of "the Father," to whom the Son introduces us. God's revelation is incremental and must accommodate our biases and sinful nature (which we will discuss today). However, there is a hint in Exodus, as God calls Israel his "first born son" ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/exodus/4:22 Ex 4:22]: "So you will say to Pharaoh, Thus says the L<small>ORD</small>: Israel is my son, my firstborn.") 

This week we will encounter the things that get our intellect in the way of our childlike faith, including

* concupiscence
* limits of reason
* Three-fold sins, sins of 
** the flesh
** the eyes
** pride

How we separate ourselves from childhood when we sin, as if we are the Father.

=== casuistry ===

* = self-deception through insincere reasoning or sophistry
* from [https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/flipbooks/catechism/150/ CCC 579]:

<blockquote>This principle of integral observance of the Law not only in letter but in spirit was dear to the Pharisees. By giving Israel this principle they had led many Jews of Jesus' time to an extreme religious zeal. This zeal, were it not to lapse into "hypocritical" casuistry, could only prepare the People for the unprecedented intervention of God through the perfect fulfillment of the Law by the only Righteous One in place of all sinners.</blockquote>

=== scripture to consider ===
We have been discussing Matthew 11:25 and the confirmation bias of the pharisees that led them, even though "wise and learned" to hide God from themselves. God does not hide things from us: instead, what we don't see is hidden, hidden by our concupiscence and biases 

** The easiest example in scripture is when the pharisees see a plain miracle by Jesus and then complain he did it on the sabbath, as in
*** [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/11:6 Matthew 11:6], [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/12?2 Matthew 12:2], [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/3?2 Mark 3:2], 
** or when Jesus goes home and was rejected by the people he grew up with: [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/4:15 Luke 4:15]
** the Apostles, too, are blind to the Lord before them (many examples) 
* But the Lord himself warns us directly about not seeing him. In the quasi-parable of the "Judgment of the Nations" ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/25?31 Mt 25:31-46]), Jesus tells of the Son of Man "upon his glorious throne," sorting out the goats from the sheep, and tells the goats, Jesus tells "those on the right" (the sheep), 

<blockquote>Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  'For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.'</blockquote>Then "the righteous" sent to the left (the goats)  will protest <blockquote>‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’

And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’</blockquote>The limits of their reason, they biases and sinful state kept them from seeing God in every brother and sister.

=== Session recap ===
We did a little catching up for a new member, and so reviewed the ideas of the last couple weeks regarding "the Living God",  "the Father," "Childlike," and "Wings of Faith", all of which were the foundation of our discussion tonight. 

Childlike = having a father, thus when we are arrogant and "independent" we are actually orphaning ourselves from God.

Another big idea was that God is everywhere, and puts no limits upon us -- we place those limits upon ourselves. So when God "hides" knowledge from the wise and the learned, he is not hiding it from them, they are unable to see it due to their arrogance and pride.  The "childlike," instead, are open and curious and so can see what Jesus was showing them. This brings up a question: can someone be only childlike in faith and have no reason?  No!!  That's called my dog. The Lord wants us to reason, he just wants us to reason 

We discussed how, as the sense of pain signals danger, God's "curses" are not imposed by him but upon ourselves. God didn't punish Adam and Eve -- by disobeying God they punished themselves. 

We wrapped up discussing how our "concupiscence"  and pride get in the way of seeing one another as brothers and sisters, all of us as children of God.