Introduction
When Pontius Pilate asked Jesus whether he was a king, he answered, "You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, was probably annoyed when he asked, "What is truth?" (John 18:37-38).
Some 2,000 years later, political leaders are still asking this very question. Since Donald Trump's electoral victory on November 8, 2016, many pundits cynically use the word "post-truth" to label this supposedly new era of fiction, lies, half-truths, and "alternative facts." Even the Oxford Dictionaries attested to this newfangled term "post-truth" by declaring it the "Word of the Year" in 2016. Millions of people across the globe have responded with fear, anxiety, hatred, and hostility toward what they assume will happen. Political commentators are quick to throw out phrases such as "fake news," "alternative facts," and "post-truth." However, they never establish any truth and cynically dismiss every absolute as relative. Everything is questionable, and the truth is little more than the majority rule.
Discerning the Fake News
In his gospel, John linked truth with freedom (see John 8:32). He then contrasted a slave's role in the Roman Empire versus that of a son. Whereas the son will always belong to the household, the slave will never have a stake of their own (see John 8:34-35). In other words, merely going through the motions of the Christian faith will not result in salvation but ultimately fall short. God wants us to worship him "in the Spirit and in truth" (John 4:23-24) rather than hold onto our grievances. It is no coincidence that John's gospel features the most definitive verses about truth. He included many notions that contrast truth with fallacy. When Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for refusing to accept his claim as Messiah, he said their teaching was "fake news:"
You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44).
Rejecting the Fake News
That accusation is harsher than today's paper's "fake news" accusations. While many pundits compare their perceived enemies with Adolf Hitler (1889–1945)—whose wickedness goes without question—Jesus went right to the source: Satan. Even the infamous führer of Nazi Germany had a master eviler than himself. We do not have limitless free will; we must choose between devotion to Jesus or slavery to the evil one. For this reason, he taught us: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6).
In his first letter, John also wrote, "Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son" (1 John 2:22). The antichrist spreads the "fake news" that Jesus never came as God incarnate.
In Simply Good News: Why the Gospel Is News and What Makes It Good (HarperOne, 2015), biblical scholar N. T. Wright (b. 1948) discusses how the word "news" is not just about a story and its definition implies some change in life as we know it, whether subtle or radical. For example, Trump's win was "good news" for conservatives but "fake news" for liberals.
Finding the Truth
The good news of Jesus does not fit into our news categories. It is neither "good" in the way we might define the word, nor neither is it "bad" or "fake." The true news is both therapeutic and corrective, healing and lethal. For this reason, Jesus wants to redeem us from our sins, but our salvation requires us to undergo an extremely painful makeover. We must die to our misdeeds, lusts, passions, etc. The good news is that we gain peace and eternal life through this process of suffering—as contrary as that sounds:
Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life (John 4:13-14).
Let us "go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation" (Mark 16:15).
Prayer
Blessed are you, LORD our God, King of the universe; we pray that you will lead the world's nations in the way of righteousness and guide and direct their leaders so that your people may enjoy the blessings of freedom and peace. Grant that our leaders may impartially administer justice, uphold integrity and truth, restrain wickedness and vice, and protect true religion and virtue. Amen.
Bibliography
The Book of Common Prayer. Huntington Beach, CA: Anglican Liturgy Press, 2019. p. 110. https://bcp2019.anglicanchurch.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/BCP2019.pdf.
Wang, Amy B. "Post-truth Named 2016 Word of the Year by Oxford Dictionaries." The Washington Post. Washington, DC: WP Co., 2016. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/16/post-truth-named-2016-word-of-the-year-by-oxford-dictionaries.
Wright, N. T. Simply Good News: Why the Gospel Is News and What Makes It Good. San Francisco: HarperOne, 2015.
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