You cannot trust anyone or anything these days. It pains me to even have to say this. And yet every mainstream outlet we have has proven that in this day and age, it is completely normal and good to spread lies, mistruths, and falsehoods, as long as it accomplishes your agendae. This means that we cannot trust any such outlets to contain truth. Trust has been broken by all of the lies that have come to light of late.
Why am I on my bully pulpit about this? Simply due to getting sucked (briefly) into a social media debate on climate change. There are reputable scientists on both sides of the spectrum who claim it is either true or false. Fact is, there is enough uncertainty over global warming that it can really only be classified a theory and nothing more. And yet the same people time and again, upon citing evidence one way or another, are dismissed outright by the "other side." The dismissive arguments are worded smoothly to be sure, but few, if any, are actually taking the data at hand and attempting to develop a real working hypothesis out of both historical and current data and modeling. And so we cannot trust social media. Nor can we trust science. (I could go into great detail on the scientific theory of "evolution of species" - also treated today as fact in spite of the overwhelming volume of evidence that FAILS to support the theory).
The fake Russian dossier, along with the rigging of the Democratic primaries a year ago, the "Russian collusion" which is looking more and more like internal collusion to steal an election, the hordes of sleazy harrassment charges across the boards (can't trust Hollywood either), the extreme bias by agents of justice that are supposed to remain neutral in matters, and the like tell us that we can no longer trust our own government. Frivolous lawsuits (remember the infamous McDonald's cup of coffee?) also mean we cannot trust our own legal system.
The media spins every story, and I mean every story. News outlets fail to report good news, and focus only on negativity, even when said negativity is misplaced. This too is across the boards and not limited to a particular political leaning. It's extremely fashionable today to post intentionally false stories on the internet, which are then picked up as truth and spread like wildfire. There is no truth in reporting at all, nor can anything on the internet be taken as truth without exhaustive fact checking. We cannot trust our media outlets at all any longer.
Trust is only one letter away from rust, and it appears that truth today is becoming very rusty. I recall years ago finding it incredulous that an older man got his news only from short wave radio, and yet I now understand that much better. In fact, I would even question whether his sources would be reliable and unbiased, actually reporting truth and not a slanted, partisan spin designed to achieve a specific outcome. It leaves me tired and weary, because everything must now be checked, and even the so-called "fact checkers" are themselves unchecked and able to perpetuate the lies and mistruths.
Seems like the perfect time to renew our trust in Christ. Since no one can or is able to believe another these days, take the words of Jesus to heart: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me." (John 14:1). Even if you fail to find any credibility in Jesus as the Son of God, whose blood is given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sin, the message of Christian love and truth would overwhelm the dishonest lies coming at us from all corners of society today. And they are everywhere: from books where the author admits "embellishing" things to sell the book, to the rush to publish a story before finding out if it is true, to the general make-it-up-as-you-go-along internet, where if it's posted there, it's likely false.
And how do we know we can trust the Bible? Simply because if it, too, was a lie, it is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on humanity. It has withstood the test of time for well over 2000 years for some parts of it, and it has led to the greatest good humanity can offer.
Give it a shot. You can't trust anything else, so what do you have to lose? Who knows? It might just make the world a better place once again after all.
