SOMETIMES I’D LIKE TO SMACK A LIAR, to shut them the dickens up. They’re usually on TV, though, so it would be counterproductive.
I’ve chased the truth for all of my career. First as a newspaper journalist. Then as a writer of Christian material.
I’m not the guy who wants his preconceived notions stroked. I want to know if I got it right or wrong…or if I have to live in the maybe, since we can’t know everything.
In recent years, lying has become not only acceptable in our culture. God help us, it has become believable.
People are believing the invented history they are hearing.
Even if the facts are clearly presented, people continue to believe the liar who keeps lying.
As a former newspaperman and now a Bible history researcher and writer, I can tell you that the source of the stuff we let our brains feed on is everything.
Everything.
Life is too short to read, listen to, or watch sources that distort the truth or fabricate history.
You’ve probably read recently that Russia is getting accused of launching fake news to drive people like cattle in the direction they want the people to go.
If they are doing that, they aren’t the only ones.
Christians should be people who seek the truth.
I say “should be” because it has been my personal observation that some Christians want nothing more than to be assured they are right. Especially when they are wrong.
God’s people are supposed to act like they’re part of his family.
Here’s God when it comes to lying.
“God can’t stomach liars” (Proverbs 12:22).
“God hates…he loathes with a passion…a tongue that lies” (Proverbs 6:16-19).
In our current culture that feeds on misinformation, the words of a prophet seem pitifully descriptive.
“Our wrongdoings stare us down; we know in detail what we’ve done:…Spreading false rumors, inciting sedition, pregnant with lies, muttering malice. Justice is beaten back, Righteousness is banished to the sidelines, Truth staggers down the street, Honesty is nowhere to be found, Good is missing in action” (Isaiah 59:12-15).
Tips from a newsman & Bible researcher
Here’s how I try to avoid getting taken in by fake news, twisted truth, and opinion passed off as fact.
- Buy a newspaper and read it. The reporting in most major dailies is usually objective, except for the writing of columnists and the material on the opinion pages.
- Download free news apps such as those from the Associated Press, Reuters, and the BBC. Again, these news reports are generally even-handed and an honest reporting of the truth as it’s best available.
- Do not spend much time watching broadcast news. Many of the Big Boys are not objective. If the reporter is telling what he or she thinks, it’s not news. It’s an editorial. The worst offender I’ve seen is Fox News, which doesn’t let the truth get in the way of their agenda. It strokes conservative viewers and inflames progressives. MSNBC is heavily slanted the opposite way, but it doesn’t usually serve their audience a diet of fictional stories, as Fox sometimes does—the “Birther” lie, for example, which said the president wasn’t born in the USA. Some people in my own church actually believed it.
- Do not listen to radio programs that say bad things about people, but don’t back up their charges with documented facts. By “documented,” I mean from reliable, professional news outlets like those I’ve mentioned. There are lots of others, including the major newspapers.
I practice what I preach.
I read the Bible plenty, which is probably why I hate lies so much. But every day I also read what’s going on by checking out the news sources I mentioned. And I subscribe to my local newspaper.
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