Nena Arias | August 30, 2021
“A fool will believe anything; smart people watch their step.”
(Proverbs 14:15)
We know that children ask the most questions starting at the age of two years old. But really it should not be just a child thing to ask questions. If we do not ascertain the truth about all matters, we will believe anything. We should never cease to question everything throughout our entire life. What is needed is the use of analytical thinking through the building of a good and trustworthy filter to process information to arrive at either truth or falsehood.
We have been blessed to live at a time when we have a world of information at our disposal. This is an opportunity past generations did not have. By the same token, we are responsible for verifying everything that we hear, see and read regardless of the source. Even if we admire those expressing revolutionary ideas whom people call “experts” it is of vital importance to verify everything that is crucial. The primary sources of teaching that shape the minds of individuals and societies come from philosophy (love of wisdom), ethics (moral conduct), psychology (the study of the mind), sociology (study of society), biology (study of living organisms), history, law, politics, economics and Theology (science of God). No person escapes from the positive or negative effects of the ideas of their worldview. It is evident that not all interpretations agree; divisions inevitably lead to greater conflict of interests as seen throughout history.
The quote from Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839, “The pen is mightier than the sword” perfectly applies to our times in the era of fast and advanced communication by electronic means. The “pen” is used to propagate ideas to accomplish agendas. Many who took the time to pen their ideas are still impacting lives today from their grave. What we are witnessing in the United States of America is a collaborative plan to destroy it deliberately. The nation has too many internal enemies that have multiplied since her birth. The irony is that they labor to create a different society that will resemble failed ones recorded in history. Why would any sane person want to do that?
When the mainstream media selectively controls the storyline of what people are being exposed to in efforts to accomplish their agenda, they are being biased. In America, like most other nations, groups ranging from progressives/leftists to those with economic power, have a goal to misinform the public by controlling the information and swaying it in the direction they want it to go.
There are those who are hellbent in eroding our nation from her original biblical moral foundation not with debating facts but with intimidation. They have no other recourse because they are not on the side of truth. In the twenty-first century they have perfected their special formula of intimidation against the opposition by calling them: racist, bigots, xenophobic, homophobic, Islamophobic, sexist, and the most recent term, “basket of deplorables”, and irredeemable. When they see the success of their attacks, they accelerate the rhetoric savoring what seems to be an unstoppable approach toward total victory.
When people fail to question the integrity of the information received and just take it at face value, they are frequently in the wrong. Sadly, most times it is too late to reverse the destructive social effects and we seem to be seeing a lot of that lately.
When the mind is filled with falsehoods and error yet doesn’t engage in critical thinking it will fall for anything. All the heap of disinformation we face daily, if not questioned or debunked, it will become the only “truth” people know. And that will take center stage in society producing the chaos we now have.
The core foundation of truth that all the others must build upon for success, is Theology (the science of God). Keep in mind: The Bible reveals the character of God and how he is historically working out the restoration of humanity. The Bible is not without those who misinterpret its content using their abilities to give the interpretation that suits their understanding for their ends. Also, we must keep in mind the Bible is not written in a complex language rendering it incomprehensible, rather, it’s written to be understood by all. The Bible is not a human document that changes with time or trends.
People who say the Bible is hard to understand is because they have not really taken the time to immerse themselves in its content. From the dawn of history, people have twisted the Word of God to say different and contradicting things. The prophet Jeremiah condemned the “lying pen”:
“How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us’? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes has made it into a lie. The wise men shall be put to shame; they shall be dismayed and taken; behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord, so what wisdom is in them?” Jeremiah 8:8-9
When things look bad it’s because they are; it is up to us to discern the cause and that includes the responsibility to check facts. We should not take all we see and hear at face value. Idolizing anyone without vetting them just because they come across as wise is very foolish, divisive and destructive, that is a hefty price to pay under any circumstance.
We have a task that must not be ignored or left for others to tell us what we must do. This will require a deep desire to be knowledgeable, understanding, and wise. The good news is it can be done.