In a world of fake news, how can we determine what is truth? It seems people are establishing their own standard, believing what they want to believe and turning it into their own truth. That’s a dangerous thing to do.
When Pilate asked Jesus if He was indeed the King of the Jews, Jesus responded, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me” (John 18:37). Pilate responded with this question:
What is truth? John 18:38
That’s a good question, isn’t it? Thankfully, God has given us His Word as a solid, unchanging standard. We may not find exact verbiage pertaining to modern-day issues, but we will always find a backbone of principles that will help us stand straight and walk with confidence. If we know the truth, the truth will indeed set us free (John 8:32).
What is YOUR standard for determining truth?
I remember in college how picky my professors were on the acceptable articles that could be cited in my papers. The articles had to be peer reviewed, from published academic journals, and absolutely never ever from a website with no listed author (hello Wikipedia). We were taught to check who wrote the article and question if they really know what they were talking about. I think that’s important to still do when determining the truth in what we read.
But I don’t think many people do that anymore. As I scroll through Facebook, I see friends posting articles from non-credible websites, claiming them as facts. I even saw one person claim an article from The Onion was truth (The Onion is completely satirical). Does anyone ever look for the credibility in what they read? Are they ever curious about who wrote the article and their credentials on the topic?
You bring up good points in your devotion. If we truly believe in God, we would use the Bible as our truth and never have to question the credibility of the author. The Bible should always be the truth we turn back to.