The Bible says that in the last days there will be doctrines of devils.
1 Timothy 4:1 “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;”
The Bible also says in 2 Corinthians 2 that we are not to be ignorant of Satan’s devices.
2 Corinthians 2:11 “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.”
It is important to know that in these last days we are to be aware of what Satan is doing to corrupt the world so that we do not fall prey to his system.
One of the things concerning the last days that must be understood is that it does not matter how much research people pull up.
This is going to be very eye-opening concerning research as well as empirical evidence. Pastor Kim gives credit to liberal schools for this because this was very helpful for strengthening Christianity.
This can be a basis for understanding how to win arguments.
Research and Empirical Evidence
Concerning research and empirical evidence, there is one thing that cannot be separated. God has always warned about this.
2 Timothy 3:7: “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
People can study in school as much as they want. They can research as much as they want. They can pull up as many hypotheses as they want through observations and scientific experiments.
They can be ever learning, but still never be able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Concerning research and empirical evidence, people can go higher and higher in their research. They can go very far with observations, experiments, hypotheses, and evidence.
But concerning truth, the Bible says they can be nowhere near it: “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
This applies not only to academia and schools, but also to different churches, religions, heresies, and things found online. There is always an element of truth in their statements. But look how small that element can be. It is not always a flat-out lie.
Bias
Why is that the case?
There is one word that explains much of this: bias.
Pastor Kim notices this in debates and arguments. Everyone has this problem.
Where does bias come from? It comes from the heart.
Sometimes people wonder why God does not simply give a clear-cut verse that exposes a heresy and proves their teaching to be right.
Why does He not do that?
Because God is interested in testing the heart. The Bible is a two-edged sword.
Hebrews 4:12: “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
That Book can deceive you, or it can enlighten you to the truth.
Why?
Because God is testing your heart to see how sincere you are in handling the Word of God. The greatest evidence you can think of is the Word of God.
Evidence Can Be Mishandled
Research and empirical evidence are evidence. They do have empirical evidence. They do have research. But just because you have evidence does not mean you cannot manipulate it, misinterpret it, mishandle it, or teach something totally wrong from it.
Something can appear to be rock-solid evidence. It can appear foolproof. But can you teach something wrong from it?
Yes.
For example, suppose Harvard University examined something through 500 participants and used three different measures.
The researchers have evidence. But can they manipulate it? Can they misuse it? Can they misinterpret it? Yes.
There is one thing in research that must not be denied. Pastor Kim studied how to validate and critique research and had to learn statistics, equations, and all those things.
In research methods, there are ways to critique measurements, including construct validity, internal validity, and external validity.
But cutting to the point, what is amazing is that researchers try to cover the weaknesses and threats to their experiments. When dealing with research and empirical evidence, there can be many threats (maybe 12-20). There are many internal threats as well. Researchers attempt to cover the bases and address these weaknesses.
Do Not Simply Trust the Media
This is important to remember when the news media quotes some kind of article. Do not simply take the news media’s presentation of it. Anything that has to do with media (YouTube, Facebook, X) should be examined carefully.
The same applies to teaching. What are teachers teaching? This includes schools, churches, and other sources of information. There is also propaganda from governments and other people.
When the media or a teacher tells you something, they are often going to mention a source. They may say that a group of scientists conducted an experiment.
What should you do?
Take that source and look it up directly. When you look it up directly, read it. Skip through the scientific jargon and come to the discussion point. The discussion section is important because this is where researchers have to mention their weaknesses. Otherwise, they would not be properly presenting their research.
Then look at those weaknesses. The news media may never mention that part.
Why will they still publicize the research?
Because they want to go with what appears to be most significant when weighing the evidence. But nevertheless, a threat is a threat. One threat can potentially overturn an entire conclusion.
Observer Bias
One threat that Pastor Kim sees frequently is particularly interesting.
It is called observer bias.
Why?
Because researchers may already have an idea of what the experiment is supposed to show.
They may move the situation or circumstances in a way that fits their conclusion. For research to be properly validated, the study has to be appropriately controlled and randomized. That is why researchers recommend a double-blind study.
This was particularly interesting because observer bias is one of the weaknesses that much research acknowledges.
It raises an important question: Can you completely trust the conclusion when the people conducting the research may already have expectations about what they want to find?
The Heart Is Still the Issue
Pastor Kim then considers the implications of research conducted by people with particular ideological perspectives.
For example, if a large percentage of teachers or professors in schools are liberals, who is handling the research?
This is not merely an issue of statistics. The issue is emotion. What emotions do liberals tend to be associated with? When there is a lot of emotion involved, what do people tend to do?
The heart becomes the issue. God is never wrong.
It does not matter how strong the research is. It does not matter how strong the logical argument is. It does not change the fact that the issue ultimately comes down to the heart and how a person emotionally responds to truth.
2 Thessalonians 2:10-12: “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
Notice that it does not merely say that they did not know the truth. It says they “received not the love of the truth.” They preferred their own belief.
Confirmation Bias
Dr. Shermer talked about this. Many people are pattern-seeking people. When they see a certain pattern, they connect the dots and come up with a conclusion.
For example, imagine looking at a tree and seeing what appears to be a face in the pattern of the trunk. Then you see somebody in the room who has a similar-looking face.
A pattern-seeking person might connect the two and come up with the conclusion that this person is somehow related to the tree.
That is obviously a humorous example, but the principle is important.
People must be careful with what they watch online. They also have to be careful with schools. People are not always told that there are pattern-seeking individuals who see a pattern and then come up with a conclusion.
When Pastor Kim heard Dr. Shermer talking about this, he immediately thought about evolution. Dr. Shermer is an atheist and believes in evolution.
How do they prove their theory?
According to Pastor Kim, they do not have proof but are engaging in pattern-seeking. They see certain animals with similar structures and then connect the dots.
They may look at similarities between animals such as a zebra and a horse and then construct a theory involving millions of years of evolutionary development.
Pattern-seeking can lead people into conclusions that go far beyond what the evidence itself establishes.
Pastor Kim is against all lies regardless of the source.
Proof Bias
Atheists and evolutionists will often say: “Evidence. Evidence. Proof. Proof.” But that’s not true.
In research terminology, researchers cannot simply say that something has been “proved” in the absolute sense. Even when empirical evidence or research is available, there can be many threats to the research.
When an atheist critiques someone and says, “Where is your proof?” the response should recognize that evidence can be affected by bias. This applies to cults, different heresies, and anyone else involved in an argument.
When someone insists that evidence automatically settles the matter, remember that bias can change the interpretation of evidence.
A Case of Different Conclusions From the Same Evidence
Consider an example involving the FBI investigation into Trump. When the FBI investigation came out, different political groups reached different conclusions about it.
Republicans said that the Federal Bureau had conducted a satisfactory and thorough investigation. The democrats said that it was unsatisfactory and contained loopholes.
Think about that.
If the evidence was completely self-interpreting and produced only one possible conclusion, why could intelligent people with degrees and positions of authority reach totally different conclusions from the same evidence?
It is called bias.
The evidence was in their hands. Yet they interpreted it differently.
Evolution and Creation
Whether someone likes evolution or not, evolution involves faith. Creationism also involves faith, and creationists do not deny that.
But Pastor Kim’s argument is that evolution is not something that can simply be described as absolutely proven.
When scientific data are examined, creationists may interpret the data according to a catastrophic event, a relatively recent date, or intelligent design.
An evolutionist may look at the same scientific data and interpret them as evidence of millions or billions of years and natural selection process.
Two groups can take the same data and arrive at two completely different conclusions. That is the bias and the issue of interpretation.
Bias Cannot Be Completely Escaped
Students sometimes ask how to get rid of bias.
The reason research continues despite this problem is that bias cannot simply be escaped. There is always an element of faith that cannot be escaped.
Thus:
“For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
You can have all the sight and evidence you want, but people can still arrive at different conclusions. Everyone has faith somewhere. But this does not mean that there is no such thing as right and wrong. Nor does it mean that faith has no evidence.
Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Faith has evidence. But remember: just because you have evidence does not eliminate faith. There is still faith somewhere.
Weighing the Evidence
Researchers and people who are skilled at critiquing evidence weigh the evidence. Research has many potential threats. If those threats are identified and addressed, the research is strengthened.
That is how evidence should be examined.
Pastor Kim then asks a question:
What religion has a book that has been critiqued so intensely and heavily, with people trying to find as many criticisms against it as possible, and yet continues to receive logical, mathematical, historical, and scientific answers to those criticisms?
Pastor Kim’s answer is Christianity and the King James Bible.
Why do people not apply the same level of scrutiny to Islam, homosexuality, liberalism, or their claims about global warming?
If research is strengthened when weaknesses are identified, then searching for weaknesses should strengthen the research.
Why Does God Allow Questions and Difficult Passages?
Pastor Kim says he now understands why the Bible does not state everything in a simple, straightforward manner. Sometimes it appears to contain contradictions and difficult passages.
Why?
Because God wants people to work on it themselves. He wants people to search it out and examine their own hearts.
The fact that a person personally searches the Scriptures, handles the text, uses logical reasoning, and comes to his own conclusion is part of the process.
There is no other book like the Bible. There is no other religion like Christianity. Think about how many criticisms have been directed toward Christianity.
Now imagine applying that same level of criticism to liberalism, Islam, Catholicism, charismatic doctrine, and other systems.
Pastor Kim argues that the weaknesses of those systems would become apparent under the same scrutiny.
This is why Christians should actually be thankful when atheists criticize Christianity. They are doing some of the homework. They are identifying criticisms and weaknesses. Christians can then study the Bible and find the answers.
Test Everything
But there is another question to ask:
Why do they not apply the same process to their own beliefs?
The way to strengthen something against bias is to try to disprove it.
Try to find a contradiction. Try to find a weakness.
When you do that, you can discover the weaknesses and determine whether the research and empirical evidence stand. This is how research can be validated and strengthened.
The authority of our faith is the Word of God.