We have all probably heard the term “fake news” used so much in the last year or so, coming from both the conservative and liberal sides, that we are sick of hearing it. Fake news is nothing new. Fake news has been around ever since human beings began communicating with one another. Fake news has an old name: It is just a lie. Fake News stories, as they currently exist in all forms of media, may be intended purely for the sake of psychological manipulation. To the originator of the “news”, it matters not whether the story is true. What matters is the effect that it has on the hearer, or reader. If someone wants you to think a certain way, they invent a story that is intended to elicit a certain response, or better, reaction from you.
I heard on the radio recently that in Germany, they are implementing strict laws that impose harsh fines on media outlets that do not take down news stories that have been proven to be false. From what I understand, social media will be monitored more closely, and if a fake news story appears, the media outlet will be notified, and the story must be taken down within a designated timeframe, like 12 hours, or something like that. Many people would argue that these are going to be laws that are difficult to enforce, and will be subject to abuse. I tend to agree with that. There is a lot of gray area, and too much room for subjective interpretation.
Admittedly, this is a slippery slope. In the United States of America, Freedom of Speech is one of our fundamental constitutional rights as free people. If you read the history of our country, you will soon find out that “Fake News”, has been around for a long time. Political parties have been slandering each other ever since the beginning of the electoral process. False news stories go all the way back to the time the country was formed. Whigs, Federalists, Jeffersonians, all were guilty of making up slanderous stories about oppositional candidates. Then, as now, many times false news stories were circulated for the same reason they are circulated today, psychological manipulation. Plant the thought seed in someone’s mind, regardless of whether it is true or not, and people form opinions and begin to take sides very quickly. This runs rampant in our times on social media. People just read something, not bothering to research to find out if it is factual or not, they react, rant, and repost. The seed of the lie that gets planted grows into a huge, nonsensical reaction against something that is not even real.
It seems to me that if we, as a society, want to continue enjoying living in freedom, fake news is just something we will have to learn to tolerate. In fact, that is exactly what we have been doing for a long time anyway. Today is no different. Think of the alternative: A government controlled media. Even if you like the idea of government controlled media as a safeguard against fake news, the problem is that the government lies too.
As human beings, we love to be able to explain things in complex, complicated terms. It gives us the feeling of intellectual superiority. It feeds into our pride. Intellectual pride is an insidious disease. At the core of this “fake news” dilemma we find ourselves in, the truth is very simple. Something is either true, or it is a lie, plain and simple. Our minds seem intent on constantly inventing new and elaborate lies to justify doing what, at the core of our beings, we know to be wrong.
Everything has a beginning. Fake news, (the lie) has a beginning also. The Scriptures refer to Satan as “the father of lies.” The lie, as it relates to human beings, was birthed in the Garden of Eden, when the first man and the first woman chose to believe a lie that was told to them by Satan. Where did Satan come from, and how did he become the “father of lies?’ The Scripture does not explain this exactly, but there are a lot of things implied that give us a pretty good idea.
Before God created the Earth, celestial beings, which we refer to as Angels, existed. We really don’t know that much about them, but apparently Satan was one of them, and he chose to rebel against God.
Think with me for a moment. If God is the source of all good, and all truth, and all life, anything that involves moving away from God, is bad. If God is the source of all life, moving away from God means moving away from life, which means moving into death, the absence of life. If God is the source of all good, moving away from God means moving away from good, which means moving into evil, or sin. If God is the source of all truth, moving away from God means moving into the lie. Satan moved away from God, and he became the father of lies. You know the old saying, “Misery loves company.” Satan was not satisfied in just his own abandoning God, he desired to move others away also. We cannot escape the fact that we are relational beings. We cannot change this. It is how we are made. Even in evil, we desire company. Satan is no different. His desire was for others to join him in his misery. Most theologians agree that the Scriptures seem to indicate that when Satan fell, he drew some of the Angels with him. This is probably where the demon spirits mentioned throughout the Bible originated.
In Genesis 3, we read of how Satan birthed the lie into the human race. God had shown Himself as nothing but Good to Adam and Eve. Then along comes the “Fake News”. “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” Notice that this is NOT what God said. That is often how a lie gets started. There may be an element of truth in it, but it is twisted. God did speak to them about eating from the trees, but He did not say they could not eat from any of them. He only put restrictions on one specific tree. This is how cults get started. Part of what they say may be true. But it is not the total truth, and it is interpreted the wrong way.
A person’s words may be taken out of context, and this is also how fake news gets started. For example, I may have said: “Hitler believed that all Jews must die.” While it is true that the words “all Jews must die” came out of my mouth, when you divorce those words from the entire statement, they mean a different thing altogether.
Satan intentionally misquoted God to make it seem as if God was being unreasonable. That is another tactic of fake news. It brings into question the integrity and intent of another. This is what is known as innuendo. When you insinuate something, you are not directly saying something that is untrue, but you are intentionally presenting it in such a manner that the hearer may likely come to the wrong conclusion.
Satan was insinuating that God’s intent was bad. Then comes the flat out lie: “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Notice, there is a partial truth here. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they did not immediately physically die. They moved away from God. Remember what I said previously. When we move away from God, who is the source of life, we move into death. The process of death began in their bodies.
There is a very important truth we need to see here. Often, when we commit some wrong action, we do not immediately see the negative consequences of that action. The consequences usually take time to manifest. Just because we do not immediately see the consequences of that action does not mean that there are no consequences. The other side to that is that when we desire to see justice served, just because we do not get the immediate satisfaction of seeing that justice served, does not mean that justice is not going to be served.
Because of the sin Adam and Eve committed by disobeying God, and choosing to believe the words of a lie, the process of death entered their bodies, causing them to pass from the immortal state in which God intended for them to live, into a state of mortality, and they passed that curse onto their offspring, you and me. The process of death starts the moment we are conceived. This is what is known as Original Sin, the bend in human nature that leads us away from God, into death.
Fake news ruined us, and continues to ruin the human race. That is why the world is, and always has been, in such a mess. What we see happening in the world today, with all the wars, political strife, crime, drug abuse, murder, etc., is nothing new. It is merely a variation of the same theme that has played out during the entire history of our existence.
The good news in all of this, is the Good News. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, who, as God incarnate came to pay the penalty for our sin for us, and offer to us again, eternal life, He has opened the door of life to us again and given us a second chance!
Danny's Stump 