Hey guys…
I am re-blogging something here from Jeanne Hedrick. This is seriously relevant content. I encourage you to check it out, and all of Jeanne's content by the way. Her depth and sincerity will bless and challenge you.
Scott
(From Jeanne's note in the last few weeks)
Dear Friends,
Long before we had the Internet people knew how quickly a lie can spread. In 1710 Jonathan Swift wrote, “Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it.” Today we're experiencing a deluge of false information. Some call it fake news, which can mean information that’s completely false or just not 100% true.
The reasons fake news spreads more quickly than well-documented news stories are pretty easy to figure out. It’s more interesting and provocative. It appeals more to our emotions than to our logic. And often it addresses deep seated fears and biases, which trigger our response to pass it on before checking its accuracy.
Psychologists teach about the illusory truth effect, which is essentially this: The more often people hear something, the more likely they are to believe it’s true. Repeated often enough, even blatant lies become believable. So passing them on — knowingly or unknowingly — hurts everyone. I hope George Orwell’s famous quote doesn’t prove prophetic in our generation. “The very concept of objective truth is fading out of the world. Lies will pass into history.”
For Christians, being able to discern truth is critical. We are (or at least should be) people of truth. We represent a God who speaks with perfect and eternal truth because He cannot lie. So truth is in our spiritual DNA. How committed are we to preserving and passing on His unchanging truth? This is what I’ll be exploring in next month’s “Adventuring with God.” To quote Orwell again, “In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” We’ll look at how valuable God's eternal Word is in this age of relativity and deception.
As always, I welcome your input, comments, and any questions you might have related to this topic. Feel free to share Adventuring with God devotionals with friends and family as you see fit. Watch for a shorter email with a link to the audio version and WordPress blog site, as well as an attached hard copy of the devotional around the first of August. I’m so grateful for your partnership in spreading the truth of the Gospel!
Love in Christ,
Jeanne