People of truth.

BIBLE VERSE FOR THOUGHT

Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look and take note! Search her squares to see if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth, that I may pardon her.

Jeremiah 5: 1, ESV

DEFINITION FOR THE DAY: truth

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/truth

1. a. the body of real things, events, and facts

b. the state of being the case

c. a transcendent fundamental or spiritual reality

2. a. the property of being in accord with facts or reality

b. fidelity to an original or to a standard

3. a. sincerity in action, character, and utterance

b. fidelity, constancy

God sent his prophet Jeremiah through the streets of Jerusalem in search of one man who practiced justice and sought truth. His promise was to spare Jerusalem if even one faithful, obedient, and upright man could be found. Of course, the people of Judah had abandoned their historic faith and adopted evil and wicked ways o neighboring and threatening nations. They were eventually defeated and many of them, including Jeremiah, were taken into Babylonian captivity. My purpose in this context is not to recount the history of God's people. It is to provide an example from Scripture of the value of being people of truth. Jeremiah was sent to find just one!

My Christian worldview acknowledges that God's people in the New Covenant are to be people of The Truth, that is, the truth of the Christian Gospel--Christ's birth, perfect life, vicarious death, glorious resurrection, and imminent second coming. Under that purpose, however, there is the expectation that we be people of truth, a population of humans devoted to the pursuit of honesty, decency, and sensibility. My personal submission to The Truth should awaken in me a deep, abiding commitment to the joys of upright behavior, including how I respond to the fake news that disguises truth and hinders it. People of The Truth should not be people of lies, rumors, gossip. fictitious data, and misinformation. Our mission to speak The Truth in love should always condition us to communicate truth in every contact. Truth should be a distinguishing mark of those of us who hold to The Truth. Sadly, that is not always the deal!

There is an article by Ed Stetzer titled Being People of Truth in a World of Fake News published in The Exchange by the reputable Christianity Today magazine. If you would like to read this article, click here. The closing paragraph is challenging and inspiring---

Ultimately, remember that we follow a Man who claimed to be the Truth. He told Pilate

that He came to testify to the truth. Pilate then asked, “What is truth?” That is the

question of our time. The truth will be clearer if it isn’t hidden among the clickbait in

our lives.

This is a matter of spiritual discipline. In my mind being resistant to fake news is possible only as we know matters of truth and practice them. Useful to me on a daily basis are the words the Apostle Paul wrote to the Roman believers---

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,

that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable

and perfect.

Romans 12: 2, ESV

Being informed begins by being transformed and resists being conformed. And, that transformation should position us to be being people of truth.

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Be informed.

BIBLE VERSE FOR THOUGHT

Do not despise prophecies, but test everything: hold fast to what is good. 1 Thessalonians 5: 21, ESV

No, kids! Americans are not stupid. Go surfing in the waves of educational data and walk away confused by the statistical results and opinions presented by scholastic experts. I mean, don't forget the context thing. Like most other questions posed on such a broad scale, it depends on who you ask. So, let me cut to the chase. Our topic is fake news. If we're not intellectually short-changed, why is fake news such a big deal in our communication systems? Some would presume that believing and transmitting fake news is prima facie evidence of a lower intellectual capacity. Not me. No, basically, we're just uninformed. And, the information super highway that delivers us so much bogus data is the same expressway that can give us the final answers.

Of course, my basic context is a Christian worldview. Scripture is always the final answer in determining my basic approach to life. And, what to do with fake news is a consistent theme in the Bible. You see, people of faith in redemptive history have always been expected to recognize what is false and what is true. Over and over the authors of Scripture were inspired to warn readers about being deceived. Yes, I know the context is usually about the dangers of believing false prophets, priests, and teachers that may threaten biblical belief systems. Those people lived in a real world too, with cultural influences, political intrigue, economic systems, philosophical schools, relational challenges, and all of the other side-bars of human drama. In all of it, however, they were expected to identify falsehood and resist it.

Fast-forward thousands of years. How can I resist the lure of the juicy tidbits so available on the information super-highway, especially the fake ones. Here's a start---

1. Pray for wisdom.

In a broad sense wisdom is what we do with our knowledge. In Scripture practical James wrote, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him" (James 1:5, ESV). Fake news is a complex reality, Ask God for the wisdom to recognize and ignore it.

2. Know your personal values and beliefs.

Everybody has a personal worldview, that is, a system of values and beliefs. Each of us should know those basic ideals that guide us. Confused about yours? Click here for a simple explanation of the the prevailing worldviews by the people at Ligonier Ministries.

Knowing our most cherished beliefs is foundational to testing everything.

3. Be informed.

It is amazing to me how many people are unaware of what is going on in our world. This is especially true in testing the accuracy of received news. We should know that the information super highway bringing fake news into our communication systems can also be our guide to the truth about that news. There are many sites that specialize in

verifying news stories. Click here for a great article from Bridgewater State University with a listing of these sites. More simply, just Google the news stories that you receive.

4. Be accountable to someone.

Accountability partnership is a dynamic spiritual discipline. This involves having time with someone to coach and counsel your growth, especially in keeping commitments, reaching goals and aspirations, and deciphering what is happening in the world around us. This person should be someone you trust that shares your worldview. Remember Solomon's counsel---"Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken" (Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12, ESV). Another set of eyes is always useful when reading the news.

The truth about fake news is that it can be recognized if we choose to be informed. More tomorrow.

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Me, myself, and I.

BIBLE VERSE FOR THOUGHT

You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways.

Job 22: 28, ESV

DEFINITION FOR THE DAY: context

Merriam Webster https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/context

1. the parts of a discourse that surround a word or passage and can throw light on its meaning

2. the inter-related conditions in which something exists or occurs

Every human communication must be interpreted contextually. This is because senders and receivers exist in a set of circumstances that define the transmission of data. Now, I don't have an office over in the hermeneutics department and my understanding of the contextual elements of communication is limited. It seems to me that these contextual influences would include the particulars that give us personal identity. There are many underlying life elements that you can read into just about any exchange of information. They must include our biases, prejudices, leanings, personality, personal strengths, faith, and maybe which side of the bed I woke up on that morning. Developing the context of any news bulletin is step one in identifying fake news.

The foundational principle upon which my entire contextual situation is constructed is what I like to call the "me, myself, and I" thing. We humans are basically self-absorbed and we tend to favor "me, myself, and I" in most decisions or life actions. I don't always have a relational context with those who send me information. So, who and what they are, unless revealed to me by circumstances or events, cannot be the final interpreter of the data they have sent. Take a breath, please. You know, there is profiling, even in coming to grips with news, fake news especially. It's not always accurate, to identify people by their cultural profile. Still, information from candidates, political parties, news media outlets, people on every angle of social and cultural issues, and just about any person with an agenda, should raise out interest when interpreting their news. Their position on an issue could move the item to the fake news category.

Here's the point. You and you alone must be the interpreter of the news in your life. Others will try to shape your thoughts, influence your decisions, get your vote or money or whatever, with their slant on what's happening out there. Everyone one of us, however, should filter what we read and hear through our own personal worldview, values, beliefs, and ideals. "Me, myself, and I" must be able to analyze what we see and hear and decide how to interpret our world. It is our mot significant context.

There was a man named Job. The evil one came after him and destroyed everything that Job loved and valued. The Bible book that is named after him has many lessons about fake news. Job wrestled with his own thoughts, doubts, and fears. His three friends gave him pages of advice, some good, some not so good. The above Verses for Thought came from his friend Eliphaz the Temanite. It is a "me, myself, and I" verse, the reminder that he needed to decide on the troubling matters of his life and that the decision, shaped by his own faith, ideals, and beliefs would bring light to shine on his ways. His decision to never blame God for the horrible circumstances of his life was his personal worldview resisting the fake news of those around him. His beliefs were his most potent context.

And, that's a lesson about dealing with fake news. Tomorrow we'll review the blessing of being informed about what is happening in the world around us, resisting the weight of those who would influence us, and the joys of knowing with certainty our own personal values and worldview.

Fake news? It's real and will become more prevalent as we move into the 2020 political cycle. Everything around us will explode with fake news. In the final analysis, it will be "me, myself, and I" that must decide on what is really important.

"Me, myself, and I", the basic context.

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