I was listening to the news this morning and was surprised by the comment a pastor made in reference to the current social unrest we’re seeing in some large cities across the USA. The journalist asking the questions is known for his liberal slant, even though he claims no bias, but the response he received from the pastor of the church surprised me in that it seemed to fit precisely into his biased narrative. The pastor offered up precisely the kind of thing he had repeatedly “reported” for the past few days in regard to the protests, riots, looting, and general violence. The comments revolved about how the officers in charge of the death of the black man revealed deep divides in our nation, and how the violent response was to be expected, etc.
But then, at the end of the interview, he revealed the pastor’s name, the name of the church and the denomination. And, as you can imagine, it was by far the most liberal church in the most liberal denomination in the nation. Now you can take the word “liberal” that I used the past several times and replace it with the word “conservative’ and I would write the same blog. This bias is not “reporting” or finding the truth or real news, it’s more like looking for confirmation for what you’ve already decided is true.
And that is what scares me about the media today—- a lack of objectivity and a fear of unearthing the truth if the truth runs counter to what the journalist want too believe and are pressing for us to believe. But it is also what scares me in regard to a lot of churchgoers. Sometimes there appears to be a greater appeal for holding on to what you want to believe and the Christian faith than to explore for the truth and perhaps find out that you’ve been mistaken.
From the corrupt ancient kings of Israel until today, we’re all guilty of “self fulfilled prophecy”. We describe things like we hope they will be and then look for evidence, or worse, we cause things to happen to fulfill or prognostications. But oh the freedom and clean feeling that comes from seeking the truth and finding it. That’s why I think it’s so much easier for a young person to come to the Christian faith than an adult. Their minds are not yet full of what they want to believe and they yearn to learn and know truth.
But as we get older we learn that if you say the truth you might be attacked or mocked, so we develop a fear of saying the truth and we’re conditioned to speak acceptably and “correct” in reference even to our opinions.
I apologize if my opinions and convictions expressed in these blogs offends you—-God knows that’s not my purpose or my intention. I am looking for truth and hoping to expose deceit—-first in my own life, then, with God’s help, in the lives of those I love. But I would suggest that truth is often tough and not immediately pleasing. We live in a fallen world and the enemy never tires in his attempt to sow discord, untruth and a perversion of what is good. He is the father of lies, (deceit and deception) and will stop at nothing to bring mankind away from any attempt to seek, (seek) or honor God.
I pray that He is mightily disappointed in the USA and all across the globe as we agree that truth, no matter how it upsets our apple carts, is better than the sweetest sounding lie or most sought for mirage. Open our eyes Lord! (And yank our buried heads out of the ground!)
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