Reliable Resources

My son introduced me to the internet a few years ago and then to facebook. Pictures of children and grandchildren, touching stories of people paying it forward and commentary on the latest news help to form this library of information, this collection of helpful hints, this battleground of various perceptions of our world. As this election year progresses more and more warriors of words will be battling it out on the small screen using an interesting mix of truth,lies and varying perceptions of the truth.

At this early date I have fallen victim to the "truths" of the internet. When things are posted on facebook from a conservative view I may post them on my page. Certainly a post that looks professionally done and from my perspective must be true, right? The whole truth and nothing but the truth? Unfortunately many of these items may have the basic facts correct but the conclusions the writer has drawn from those well chosen facts do not reflect the truth. What about quotes from well known historic figures? Sometimes the quote is accurate but the wrong person gets the credit. Sometimes the quote has been tweaked to voice the opinion of the person who placed it there. Sometimes the whole quote has been made up. Where can you go to see what is true?

Many times I have gone to a certain website to check the veracity of a post I might want to place on my page. Although I will still use the site I am seeing, more and more people are putting out information that calls into  question the impartiality of the writers. Where can I go to discover the truth? I can hunt down other websites that offer this service but they may be as biased as the first one in a different direction. Even my favorite resources may be peppered with errors.

The only inerrant resource will not tell you who to vote for in this election. The Bible does have the stamp of approval of  God who kindly allowed men to write out the story of His kingdom, Any error will be in the interpretation by the readers and not in the resource itself. What a relief as I am constantly making value judgments about the multitude of information I read on the net. One thing is clear. No matter how fascinating the net may be its truthfulness  cannot compare to God's word. Should that mean that if my computer or my Bible might gather dust, it should be my computer?

The sum of  your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever. Psalm 119:160





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