My son plays on two club basketball teams. By chance, a few weeks ago these two teams met in a tournament. Let's call them Team A and Team B. Forced to make a decision, my son chose to play on Team B, his school based club team. With friends on both sides, it was an interesting game to watch. I cheered positive plays for both teams and it was a good game, but our side (Team B) prevailed with a score of 68-65.
While watching the game, something occurred to me. When you are watching a team that you are cheering for, rarely do you see things objectively. You want all of the close calls to go your way and should a controversy arise, you are always biased on what is right and fair.
I discovered that while I passionately cheer for Team A when my son is playing for them, this passion waned when he switched to Team B. Not only was I less passionate, but I wanted all calls to be in favor of Team B. Even if Team A had a bad call against them, I could care less. If it was in Team B's best interest, to me, that was all that mattered.
I think Christian church people are like this. We aren't interested in Truth, we are interested in our version of the Truth. As long as the calls favor our team, we are fine. But when a controversy arises we want our Truth to prevail, even if the replay shows otherwise.
No place does our bias rear its ugly head than in the realm of apologetics. Most Christian apologists start out to defend Biblical claims by doing what - quoting the Bible.
In my opinion, the only honest way for Christians to view their faith is from an outsiders perspective. They must become skeptics of themselves if the goal is Truth, rather than which team they wish to win.
