The information we are exposed to shapes our thinking and action, whether we like it or not. Our minds are created to process huge amounts of information and develop the ethics we end up with. But what if the information we acquire is either distorted or presented with a bias that we can’t detect on the surface? You know the answer…a distorted view or reality.
If the foundation of our thinking was corrupt or bias at an early stage of our development, we incorporated those distortions into our perception of reality, all the while believing our way of thinking was how life is. I’m still trying to correct those imbedded distortions in my life at the age of 65. Some things are hard to get out of our lives even when we know they’re false.
The bible encourages us in Romans 12:1-2 to become “Renewed or Transformed” in our mind because of such distortion. Without solid truth as a foundation in our lives, we live a life that’s distorted. Remember the movie the Matrix?
For me, I was raised in a non-Christian household and learned to see the world through the bias of no absolutes. This bias was like rose-colored glasses that distorted everything I felt and saw. Like being taught evolution as a fact. The foundation of evolution teaches the “fact” of the survival of the fittest. You live for yourself supremely at all cost or you don’t survive. Morals are what you make up as you go.
One of those who taught evolution to kids like me was Walter Cronkite of CBS. He was such a respected news man, and he created a slide series for kids showing picture of dinosaurs while telling the story of man’s creation. I was ten years old when I saw this presentation and it helped shaped my perception of the world I grew up in. I learned to live for myself at all cost, yet inside my soul there was always this voice that said something is wrong with this picture of reality and purpose. I understand now that it was the Spirit of God trying to get me to wake-up and realize I was deceived. That all of us are made in the image of our Creator and are loved by our Heavenly Father even when our life becomes distorted.
So here’s the thing, one of the most powerful groups in our world is the news media. I confess, I am a news junky. I love knowing what’s going on in the world around me. I do believe they were once among the most respected groups in our American culture. They were charged with reporting facts of what’s happening in the world. They were supposed to be doing their best to let the facts speak for themselves and leave their bias out of their reporting. But we all know, if we are honest, that everyone has some kind of bias, even reporters. Today, I think the bias in reporting is so corrupt that we really need help sorting fact from fiction.
If we look at the new reporters even in the 1800’s we discover that even then they were handing out distortion, calling them facts. Half the nation thought President Lincoln was a hero and half thought he was a demon leading the country to hell. Reporters were shoveling their bias by the wagon load to influence the population and the country was being ripped apart. So unless we have real facts, without bias, to base our perception of reality on, we end up living a distorted life. Sound like today?
I want to confess at the age of 65 I still need my mind renewed. I need the Bible’s wisdom to evaluate the information I get from bias reporters. If I just listen to the news without God’s help, I again get deceived into belting lies.
May I encourage us all on this 4th of July weekend to ask God to renew our thinking so we can be grateful for the good things in our life and be givers and not just takers. Reading the Scripture each day is the only way to keep deception at a distance.
Pastor Dale
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