John 8:32, Leviticus 19:11, Mark 10:17-22, and Romans 14:12. Greenville, SC January 2017

Transcription

1 Does Christianity Have anything to Say to the Post-Truth World John 8:32, Leviticus 19:11, Mark 10:17-22, and Romans 14:12 By John Roy Pelham Road Church Greenville, SC January 2017 The Truth shall set you free (John 8:32). But let your Yes be Yes, and your No, No. For whatever is more than these is from the evil one (Matthew 5:37) Do not lie. Do not deceive one another (Leviticus 19:11). The editors of the Oxford English Dictionary picked post-truth as the 2016 word of the year, defining it as relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief. It is an over-statement to write that we stand at a crossroads in human development. These are not the worst of times. Yet, as we move into tomorrow we need to acknowledge the truth has become an endangered species. It may not have started with the word spin, but it certainly accelerated when spin found its way into our everyday vocabulary. After a political debate, the supporters meet the media in the spin room. Spin is shorthand for OUR version of the truth. Can there be two or more versions of the truth? 1 P a g e

2 Now we have baptized the word post-truth. While this will barely be a footnote in the evening news, this should be of great concern to people of values. The people of God have always championed the truth. We have read our scripture; we understand the disaster that awaits people who make decisions based on lies, or people who spread falsehoods. We frown on lying. You can rename it spin or rebrand it post-truth, but it is still the same old sin in a new format. When it comes to politics we have always had lying. Yet, today s post-truth is different from what he have dealt with in the past. What happened in 2000 to John McCain we would write off as politics. In South Carolina George Bush was fighting back after a New Hampshire defeat. A campaign which involved an and some Kinko style pamphlets spread the rumor that John McCain was the father of a black love child. Of course, this was untrue. These claims came from the Bush campaign office, it was rumors and speculation, like I said politics. But what we face today is different it comes from fake new sources and sometimes it gets repeated from a real news agency. While there is a later retraction, the point was to appeal to emotions and make facts secondary, mission accomplished. Someone introduces a story to social media where there is no vetting of the truth and before you know it what justifies my feelings is regarded as the truth and it may not contain one hard fact. It s been a hard year on the truth. Facts are disregarded in preference to our feelings. The definition of post-truth includes phrases like objective facts are less influential and appeals to emotion. Jerry Falwell once said, "[T]he pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative 2 P a g e

3 lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way all of them who have tried to secularize America," I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'" This was his explanation for the tragedy we describe as 9/11. Appealing to our emotions, appealing to some people s already established belief system, this is a prime example of a post-truth world. It is a lie, but enough people already believe it that they will accept it as the truth. Our belief is no guarantee that it is true. Now, let s be clear, I don t want to participate in the post-truth movement. I don t think Falwell is saying that lawyers for the ACLU piloted the plane. He is implying that fighting for equality (which I think is an American value) and not outlawing secularism (which are constitution would not allow) played a part in paving the way for those who did fly the plane. Falwell s words, however, are an example of post-truth. His appeal is to emotions (someone needs to be blamed) and personal belief (the ACLU is liberal thus must be guilty), not to any facts. From the 911 report to the most effective reporting of the day, to now 15 years of history we can say factually, the ACLU and feminists had nothing to do with 911. The facts, as written about by history.com, The Wall Street Journal, The Dallas Moring News, and The Washington Post go as follow. On September 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-qaeda hijacked four airliners and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Over 3 P a g e

4 3,000 people were killed during the attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., including more than 400 police officers and firefighters. The attackers were Islamic terrorists from Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations. Reportedly financed by Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden s al-qaeda, terrorist organization. Allegedly acting in retaliation for America s support of Israel and our continued military presence in the Middle East. The 19 terrorists easily smuggled box-cutters and knives through security. So the truth, neither gay people or secularist were involved on 911. I m guessing here, not a fact, but I think all 19 people were straight, they were anything but secularist, they were Islamic extremist. They were mostly from one of our trading partners Saudi Arabia and financed by a man that we have since killed. Their motivation was hate and ignorance and our loyalty to our allies. They were aided by airport security that was more fitting for the 1980 s than the 21st century. I suspect the appeal to post-truth is that it is a neat untrue sound bite the pagans did it is more appealing than the truth which announces we need to do a better job at airport security, at vetting those who enter our country and holding our allies to account for their actions. Post-truth sounds like words on the evening news; the truth sounds like hard work. What I as a minister fear is that --- We will not know the truth---and not be set free. Or that we will justify telling lies and promoting untruth. Do not lie. Do not deceive one another (Leviticus 19:11). 4 P a g e

5 Knowing the truth and sharing the truth involves more than a matter of thinking clearly or having access to reliable information. It is also a matter of being a certain kind of person. Virtuous people are humble enough to admit their mistake and change and charitable enough when they are correct to hold the truth gently. In other words, when people are post-truthers they are unreasonable and do not practice moral virtue in other areas of their life. Or as my mother in-law was prone to say if someone will lie to you and mislead you, they will steal from you, malign you, and if they could do it and get away with it, they would kill you. Truth telling involves having the humility to be corrected and the humility to join in a shared public world of debate. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote an essay What Is Meant by Telling the Truth? which needs to be dusted off and read again. To speak truthfully, one s gaze and one s thought must be directed toward the way the real exists in God and through God and for God. Bonhoeffer who was leading the German resistance was saying the only way to keep from defining self-interest as truth was to root truth in something beyond the daily news. For him, and for me, and I hope for you truth should be rooted in the values of God. But what does it mean for truth to be rooted in God when we get all of our facts from humans? How does this function in our world? When we are lost, find the north star. Treat others the way you want to be treated Pray for your enemies Welcome the sojourner from another country 5 P a g e

6 God s directions become the foundation. Go back to Falwell's statement. While you will never find People of the American Way mentioned in scripture, does scripture ever mention that blaming a third party for any dispute is a reliable practice? No. I am responsible for me, and you are responsible for you. But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. Matthew 12:36 So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God. Romans 14:12 If we know this, if we have found God as the source of truth then we know everything that follows from Falwell's diatribe is wrong. Unless he is going to insert the words Saudi Arabia, Islamic Extremist, and poor airport security, then it is all wrong. A more current example of post-truth comes from the Brexit campaign. Brexit was a vote this summer to determine if the UK would stay in the European Union or leave. One argument the leave movement made was plastered on the side of buses. The ad campaign said that Britain sends the EU 350 million pounds weekly and a vote to leave would allow that money to be used for national health care in the UK. There was a problem with that factoid, however: It was transparently untrue. It appealed to emotions but not facts, thus post-truth. Margaret Thatcher's hardnosed negotiating in the 1980s assured the UK of a large rebate, worth about P a g e

7 billion pounds, which never leaves Her Majesty's Treasury. The Brits also benefit from billions in assorted EU public sector subsidies. When you count up the benefits and the rebates the U.K.'s net contribution comes out to about 9.9 billion pounds, just over half the total emblazed as truth on the side of the bus. However, the post-truth world bears within it a genuine insight: facts do come to us embedded in larger narratives about how the world works. The people of Britain believed (does not mean it was fact) that they were paying the EU too much. So the bus ad-supported what they believed, so the facts became secondary. What we have done is surrendered our narrative (God s values) to political parties, CNN or FOX news. They sell another narrative, and I cannot deny it is real but it not based on the truth we hold most dearly. We Christians have a larger narrative. We identify with the Christian narrative which is about humans as both valued and broken, and about the world as God s good and generous creation and we the caretakers of what has given us and that God loves us and we are called to love all the others. The 2012 Oxford Word of the year was GIF. A GIF is a created file to share on the internet. It contains an image or video that is related to an event. Usually, it is on a loop. More than a logo but not a full-length video either. Somewhere in the middle. Since 2012 the number of GIF s has steadily increased. In 2015 the Oxford Word of the year was VAPE. To vape is to inhale or exhale the vapor from an e-cigarette. If you look around while you are waiting in traffic, you will notice them. While they have been around for several years, being selected as the WOY can only mean bigger business for those in the vaping business. 7 P a g e

8 When we return to 2016 s word Post-truth, we can only hope this word will not grow in practice and usage as its forerunners. An abundance of GIF s well that s a nuisance. A profusion of VAPEing devices is a growing health concern. I fear what might become of a society that can no longer separate truth from a lie. A culture built on lies will soon fall. The truth needs a champion, even if it is painful. Jesus on occasion had this encounter, As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said to him, Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments, DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, Do not defraud, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER. And he said to Him, Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up. Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me. But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property (Mark 10:17-22). Jesus told the truth, and there are at least two lessons to bear in mind 1. We cannot tell the truth, exchange ideas, converse about what matters without having love. Jesus loved the man so that he could speak the truth. Truth cannot be heard if the love cannot be felt. 2. Some people will walk away from the truth, but it is better, to tell the truth with love and have people walk away than to foster decision-making processes which rely more on emotions than facts. 8 P a g e

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