Information versus Truth

Dr. Derek Carlsen

We are living at a time where very few, if any, would claim that there is a dearth of information available to us. Rather, we are overwhelmed by information. However, could this also be said about the truth? By no means! Thus, we are immediately confronted with serious questions:

1. How scarce is truth within the mountain of information that is dumped upon us daily?
2. Is it even possible to find the truth within this dump, and if so, how?

By Every Word

The article “By Every Word” showed that the God of Scripture is the only true source and foundation of truth. What the present article attempts to do is show how to apply the fact that God is truth to the dusty details of our lives in the light of this information overload.

Information Warfare

At the outset, it is vital to realize that information dumps are part of information warfare, and that this warfare is relentless, which means that if we love truth, then we must be eternally vigilant—discerning, checking and challenging everything. If we stop doing this, it is because we have stopped believing in the source of all truth who has revealed the tactics that darkness wields against the light.

Eve

When Satan approached Eve in the Garden (Genesis 3), he presented to her information about the world, herself, and God. Satan denied that God had created the world, he denied that Eve was a creature of God, and instead said she was a potential god herself, and he denied that God was the source of truth. The information that Satan dumped on Eve persuaded her to eat the fruit from the tree that God said she must not eat. This was information warfare, designed to deceive.

Messiah

Likewise, the extremely learned religious leaders in Jesus’ days rejected Him because the information that they embraced about what the Messiah would do when He came, did not reconcile with what Jesus was doing—again, they were deceived by wrong information.

Blinded

Paul talked about people “whose minds the god of this age has blinded” (2 Corinthians 4:4). How does Satan blind peoples’ minds? With wrong information. Satan constantly attempts to bury the truth with information and the moment we drop our guard, we are floored by the right-hook of deception.

What Is Truth?

Piles of information either bury the truth or make people skeptical about its existence. When Jesus told Pontius Pilate that He had come to bear witness to the truth, Pilate scoffed at the possibility that there was such a thing as absolute, universal truth, saying, “What is truth?” (John 18:37-38). Pilate then demonstrated that self-serving expediency was the standard for life, because after personally testifying to Jesus’ innocence, and knowing that the religious leaders envied Jesus, he allowed the crucifixion to go ahead (Matthew 27:18, 24).

Relentless Assault

What areas of life is Satan relentlessly assaulting by dumping information into them? Every area—politics, economics, religion, education, medicine, archaeology, history, media, science, environment, etc. Hence our need to be eternally vigilant and to not become weary in pursuing and verifying the truth in every area of life.

Truth has to be Mined

There are some fairly simple disciplines that can assist us in mining for truth. The starting point is to ask why we should accept some particular information as being true? Does the information provider have demonstrable character, integrity, and impartiality? It’s vital that we research information providers and their claims.

Media

If your research of a media outlet, for example, reveals that they sensationalized a flood by having a reporter stand in a depression in the ground so that the water was past his waist when everywhere else it was ankle deep, then you have witnessed their lack of integrity. All of their future reporting ought to be even more deeply scrutinized. It is extremely naïve, in this day and age, to trust the main-stream media and accept their reporting at face value.

Science

Other questions to be asked about information providers are, what are they not reporting and showing? For example, “I trust the science” is merely a slogan and not science if the claims are not based upon substantial scientific studies. If an “expert” says, “Wear a mask, trust the science,” our first response ought to be, “Refer me to the study that proves the efficacy of these masks.” The official narrative in such situations needs to be investigated by digging for counter arguments (you usually have to dig for them), while also realizing there is a lot of scratching each other’s backs with governments, corporations, universities, international organizations, etc. Co-ordinated, multi-pronged/supported deceptions are not uncommon.

Mere slogans are used to sidestep the need for real evidence, which ought to raise a red flag in our minds about what we are being told. Slogans are not science, no matter how many people repeat them.

Space

No matter the discipline, whether it be the news media, archaeology, history, oceanography, outer space, etc., we must not tire of asking why the “authorities/experts” show what they show, but more importantly, what more could be shown that is not being shown? For example, why isn’t there a 360-degree camera stream from the International Space Station? Instead, we only see a narrow view of things along with the “best of the best” scientists in the world doing ridiculous things like backflips and explaining how to brush your teeth in zero gravity—why? Spending billions of dollars for such insulting “entertainment” does not make sense. These narratives need to be challenged because what’s been peddled appears to be an information dump designed to hide rather than reveal the truth.

Summary

The source of all truth has revealed that, “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12). He also revealed that we are to be, “casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

There is no aspect of life where the battle is not raging, which means that all information must be challenged. Since truth is one unified whole encompassing every aspect of God’s creation, darkness, in order to undermine this unified whole, wages war against every aspect of it. Thus, we must be suspicious of and challenge all information dumps in every area of life. Remember, the Devil is at war with all truth because he is a liar and thus hates truth (John 8:44; John 3:20).

We are to know the truth because it is the truth that makes us free from every nuance of bondage and deception (John 8:33). John said, “I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.” (1 John 2:21). God’s children have been called to contend for the truth by exposing the lies.