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How We Check Facts
In a recent post we mentioned that we see a lot of today's hot topics being decided by fact checkers who usually lean heavy left or right, depending on who is being fact checked and who the fact checkers work for. We mentioned also that they use data bases from the wisdom and influence of men (people), and current social trends and the current laws on the books. That means we can't necessarily put our faith in what they say.
We all know there are laws in our society that legalize things that go against the laws and intentions of God Almighty. We know social trends may be real, but the Bible doesn't sway with the trends. We know man is smart, and there is a wealth of wisdom found in many places, but none are as smart as God. So as Christians, when we do our fact checking, where do we turn?
Well, we do normally turn to the internet, and try to find trusted sources to gather our information. When we are researching many of the things out there that we want to confirm as true or rule out as false, we look for those answers wherever we can find a basis for our inquiry. If we are looking for Spiritual answers, we need to be especially careful. Beliefs from every angle imaginable are out there trying to give you the answer(s). Can we depend on them?
When we look for answers to things concerning morality, many things that our world says are OK, God says are not. There are immoral and sexually immoral things that the laws of the land says are OK between consenting adults, that God say "NO" to. There are so many things that we see daily, that most people sort of assume are OK, at least they are "legal" and yet God has said we must not participate in them, or promote them. If we were to consult man (the fact checkers) for the answers to some of these, even people who claim to be religious might inform us incorrectly, as their answers might very well not be in line with what God has said.
The world we live in has developed a standard, and it has been adopted by many who claim to be religious. Yet it varies greatly from the standard we will be judged by, we will be judged by God's standard as revealed in His Word. Let us be very careful not to draw the line on things where humans draw it. It doesn't matter what they say, it matters where God has drawn our lines, and we must live within what He has to say, no matter how distorted it may have become in religious circles. We can not depend on the viewpoint of others, even those who would claim to be ministers of the Word. We can certainly view their ideas, and we can talk to people willing to help us as we seek spiritual information and spiritual guidance, but truth demands that we confirm (fact check) what they say with the Word of God.
When it comes to our lives, our conduct, when it comes to what we develop as our moral code, when it comes to us deciding how to live and what is good and pleasing and righteous before God, our first resource is His Word. Let us pray for wisdom from God, that we need not rely on the wisdom of man(kind) for anything related to our spiritual lives because God has given us everything we need. (1 Peter 1:3)
