Articles
Fake News
We live in a time where access to information is unfettered. A bottomless pit of information
is available at your fingertips. The issue is not getting information. The issue is sorting through
the vast sea of information to determine what is right and what is wrong. It is a dangerous thing
to have access to data without the ability to determine what is fact and what is fiction. However,
this is not a new problem.
Sorting fact from fiction started way back with Adam and Eve. The original fake news was,
“You shall not surely die” (Gen. 3:4). This has continued to be an issue in human history. Even
Paul warned Timothy, “O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and
empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called ‘knowledge’ which some
have professed and thus gone astray from the faith” (1 Tim. 6:20-21).
Like Timothy, we must guard what has been entrusted to us: the message of Christ; the pure
healthy teaching from heaven. If it is corrupted, the outcome changes. Like the sacrifices of old,
the message must remain pure in order to be effective. If we become loose stewards or allow
other information to mingle with what has been given to us by God, how effective is the
message? We can see in this passage the outcome of changing the message.
Paul mentions different sources of corruption. The first is the worldly or heathen influence.
Those things that are profane and counter to the very nature of the gospel of Christ. Peter writes,
“For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those
who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom while they
themselves are slaves of corruption” (2 Pet. 2:18-19). Another is labeled “empty chatter” or
noise. Elsewhere Paul warns against “worldly fables fit only for old women” (1 Tim. 4:7). Also
“morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy,
strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind
and deprived of the truth” (1 Tim. 6:3-5). Lastly, he mentions arguments based on false
knowledge. From the Earth being flat to salvation by faith only, there are many who fall into this
category.
We, as stewards of truth, must guard what has been entrusted to us. If we allow it to be
tainted it will no longer be the effective cure for sin. We start by knowing what truth is and
comparing every other thing to that standard. If we allow false knowledge to creep in, we will
start down a path that will lead us astray. We don’t want to be found trying to live by “another
gospel, which is not really another” (Gal. 1:6b-7a).
~Josh Blackmer
via Harrisburg church of Christ, Harrisburg, IL
