It Must Be True! I Read It On The Internet.

We can access more information in minutes on the Internet than our parents could in their lifetime. Anything you want to see, read, study, watch, learn or believe is a few clicks away.

Sadly, many folks reading the Internet take what they see and read as truth. Many people searching for meaning in their lives consider the Internet a source for exploring and defining their beliefs, ethics, morals and attitudes towards people.

I believe three factors influence what people regard as truth from online news:

1) Online media (count TV, radio, newspapers and magazines as well) limited by time and space, never tell the whole story or share background information to explain context. They reveal minimal details. News they report is often premature and false or misleading.

2) In my opinion media pursue two priorities: a) being first to “break” a story; and b) giving the most play to the most sensational details. The most violent, most corrupt, most amoral, most scandalous news. If you listen carefully you realize they editorialize their reporting. That allows media to put its own spin and interpretation of the news. Media believe, in my opinion, that we viewers are too stupid or too busy to understand truth ourselves. So we get the media’s unreliable, bias version of truth.

3) We have become a culture of lazy, gullible information consumers. We thrive on 24/7 information. Our truth becomes what we hear and see on the Internet.

Even if what media reported was truth. It is not truth that matters.  The only truth that matters is the Word of God. I would rather study and learn God’s truth than trust online media.

No sound bite, even if true, will impact the Truth God reveals to us in His word.

Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth forever. Psalm 119:160 (KJV)

Where do you get your truth?

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15 (NIV).