“But I just don’t know what to believe anymore.” A pastor said this on Facebook after being called out for a disgusting and shameful video posted during the midst of New York City’s worst moments with hospitals over flowing and fleets of refrigerator trucks storing the dead. The post was from citizen reporters who had uncovered the “truth” about the pandemic. Contrary to the mainstream media, New York City hospitals were idle and they had the video to prove it. The virus was a hoax, fake news, and the suppression of this truth a grand conspiracy against our nation.
Yet the truth was just 15 seconds away. An easy one-click google search could have quickly revealed the creator of the post’s true colors. She was a well-known conspiracy theorist and this was just one in a long series of outrageous and false claims. On a scale from 0-10 where 10 denotes a difficult decision, this judgment was a 0, as easy as it gets.
During this covid season, I’ve responded to a number of people’s questions ranging from the science behind covid treatments to the veracity of outlandish truth claims. People are stressed and looking for answers, trying to make sense of the challenging times. There’s no shortage of answers and without the help of truth’s traditional guardrails, they get lost and truly don’t know what to believe.
Brief Recap of Previous Posts About Truth
In the past four blogs I’ve provided four different perspectives that influence what we know to be true. I started with Galef’s metaphor how some of us (actually most of us) pursue truth through a “soldier” mindset where our goal is to defend our side. It drives us to rationalize our beliefs and filter our vision so that “we see what we want to see.” A second option – and the road much less traveled – is to pursue a “scout” mindset when our priority is to survey the territory without preconceived ideas so that we can draw as accurate as a map as possible.
In my second blog, I posited what a scout mindset looks like using Wolfe’s book “Epistemology: The Justification of Belief.” He contends that all of our assertions and opinions arise from un underlying belief system or interpretive scheme. He calls us to examine how we believe something is true because only those truth claims that survive robust and open critique can be considered “warranted,” or validated. Sheltering a scheme from such critique or constructing our “facts” from a prejudged set of sources may neutralize opposition but it also trivializes its truth claims. Surviving open criticism means that our belief system must actually correspond to reality and can’t be selectively applied. In Wolfe’s terms, it must be: (1) consistently applied without contradiction, (2) coherent (i.e., logically consistent) (3) comprehensive throughout experience, and (4) congruent (i.e., best fit) to the data.
In the third blog I started with the century old debate between Lippman and Dewey on the correspondence vs coherence vs theory of truth. Do we believe reality is knowable through an unprejudiced analysis of facts or are we constrained by a limited set of prior beliefs or upon people we know or trust? I then introduced several lines of research that show how Lippman got it right. We know by how we feel and those feelings are an outcome of our prior values and sensibilities. We’re more soldiers than scouts, prone to project values onto our perception of facts, exchanging “what is” for “what it ought to be.” In the words of Lippman, “for the most part we do not first see, and then define, we define and then see.”
I then show how values are a two-edged sword. They are essential to the flourishing of society, serving as a beacon or lighthouse to help us determine right from wrong. But watch out when people violate our moral code. Especially when amplified through a culture war fueled by media-driven outrage where malice and distain become the norm. It creates a binary world that turns us into soldiers with the goal of defending our team’s beliefs. And the more people moralize about politics, the more partisan bias, distance, and animosity they exhibit. Truth becomes one-sided, coloring one’s perspective of the world.
I expand upon the truth and values theme in the fourth blog by cautioning against having incomplete values. Although we may be virtuous at heart, our goodness gets transformed through a culture war incompatible with the cross. Through the heat of the battle, with apocalyptic outcomes at stake, our virtuous nature gives way to vice. We become affectively polarized through a diet of outrage and fear which means that our partisan dislike surpasses most other affections. The fruits of the Spirit yield to the works of the flesh as our inner self becomes disformed. And with the loss of those fruits comes a loss in our truth claims because we are merely soldiers for someone else’s cause.
Hope or Hopelessness
Marietta and Barker in their book One Nation Two Realities paint a hopeless picture for America. So do an increasing number of pundits across both sides of the aisle. Day after day, malice, distain, and outrage are amplified through the infinite feedback loops of our echo chambers. And of the many causalities from this war, there are none more profound than truth.
Yet I think of Keith or Eva, both whom I’ve mentioned in earlier blogs: or our friends Dave and Karen, or Steve my former pastor. And other friends along with thousands and perhaps millions of others like them that refuse to subject their heart to a divisive message. This remnant of people, like Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego of old, have chosen not to bend, bow or burn the pure gospel for a counterfeit message that the culture war demands.
It’s because of this remnant that I chose hope rather than hopelessness for our nation. They serve as examples, as signposts in a hostile culture (a part of which is evangelical-based) of a different way to be human. Three aspects of their lives stand out as a possible roadmap for others to escape from tribalist rabbit holes to be part of a movement that brings hope to our nation.
Step 1 to Hope – Establish Road Markers, Make Yourself Guideposts
The Hebrew prophet Jeremiah said: “Set up road markers for yourself; make yourself guideposts; consider well the highway, the road by which you went” (Jer. 31:21 ESV).
It’s a theme found elsewhere in scripture such as Proverbs 4:25-27 “your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.” And it serves as our first step towards hope.
- Don’t blindly trust your intuitions. Be on guard against the unconscious power of our cognitive biases that drive us to look for causality at all costs, picking and choosing data (or even making up data) to confirm existing beliefs. And then recognize that no matter how much we guard against those biases, we need external accountability as those biases are built into our neurology and we can’t escape them.
- Don’t blindly trust your tribes and especially their media outlets. Be on guard against the power of tribalism to hijack our identity, imputing certainty on our truth judgments that they now control. To wit: unless we break free our media echo chambers and purposively and seriously question the narratives in those chambers, our understandings of truth will remain fettered.
- Don’t blindly embrace “new” ideas. Be on guard for our human susceptibility to the “medium lie” which opens the door to another lie and then another until we will accept anything. In a like manner, be vigilant against the lure of a soft Gnosticism, with its itchy ears for “secret knowledge” that too often leads people down YouTube rabbit holes. In my past Pentecostal tradition, we were always on the lookout for fresh revelation, new insight that no one else had ever seen. It too often led us down wrong paths.
- Don’t blindly hold tight to your opinions. Be on guard for our human need for certainty. The antidote is humility that welcomes uncertainty as it exchanges a “soldier” mindset of defending tribal beliefs to a “scout” mindset where accuracy is the goal.
Step 2 to Hope – Seek Wisdom Like a “Scout”
The quest for wisdom is characterized as a passionate call for insight and understanding. Scripture likens it to looking for silver and searching for hidden treasure. It’s a journey of discovery that depends upon virtue through a humility and openness to counsel.
- Honor the Bible as the story of God rather than a collection of proof texts that we can pick and choose to fit existing narratives. As NT Wright has said, each word in scripture must be understood within its own verse, each verse within its on chapter, each chapter within its own book, and each book within its own historical, cultural, and indeed canonical setting.
- Honor the Book of God’s Works – his created universe – by honoring peer review science as the hands and feet that uncovers those Works, consistently applying such science through an objective weighing of valid evidence and expert judgement across the spectrum of issues, whether they are partisan or not.
- Honor the wisdom of a diverse crowd as there is “safety in the multitude of counselors.” Being embedded in diverse communities with a practice of listening, goes a long way to keep us on the straight and narrow.
- Honor the wisdom of diverse counsel from those with proven expertise both inside and outside of your guild.
Step 3 to Hope – Choose Virtue
Philippians 4:8 says “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things;”
Mom would often quote those words as this was the second of many Bible verses I memorized as a young boy. I never forgot it because the older I got, the more she reminded me of this verse. We still need this wisdom and here’s how that would look like using a passage in Galatians that I’m sure mom would approve of. Especially as a contrast between the nine Fruits of the Spirit with those Works of the Flesh which arise through the heat of America’s culture-war battle.
Towards a joy arising through an undivided heart with affections affixed upon Christ: an outcome of a 2 Cor 3:18 life passion for Christ shining through us, independent of situation and culture.
Away from factions and the division that breeds an affective polarization which distorts and divides our heart. Where our enmity towards the opposing side exceeds even our affection for those around us.
Towards a peace born of His Spirit, marked by forgiveness, and sustained through Philippians 2:13 type of trust that God is working in us and giving us the means to do His will.
Away from dissentions and conflict borne of a culture war that is destroying our church and country. Where a passion for political power exceeds a passion for the cross as it changes the gospel witness in this world.
Towards patience, putting others before us as we forbear with the inconveniences of the world. Although not blind to injustice, patience refuses to punish others for the difficult, unfair, and painful nature of life.
Away from discord from fighting in a world that blames the other as it unleashes the dogs of war. Fed by fear, it relies upon a highly divisive populism marked by “we the good” and “they the enemy.”
Towards kindness irrespective of the individual: whether poor or rich, liberal or conservative, gay or straight, city dweller or rural, immigrant or citizen, or whether in or out of my group. I am Christ’s reflection in this world and that is what He would do.
Away from group rivalry and its binary world that’s a zero sum game where somebody has to loose. Such tribalism changes our identity and alters our perspective us as it binds and blinds us against the other side.
Towards goodness through a life marked by virtue, humility, empathy, and putting others first rather than seeking our own advantage. Where we are kind, full of mercy and passionate about justice.
Away from a selfishness that sees people different than us and foreign to us as violators of “our way of life.” Whipping us up into a fear-based state of alarm despite the Biblical call to welcome the stranger.
Towards a faithfulness in character that arises from a pure and undivided heart. Marked by a consistency between beliefs and actions, and where faith is confirmed through deeds and not just words.
Away from great zeal of a partisanship that competes with a gospel-centric faith and leaves us doubleminded. From an upside-down world where mulligans are given out because the end justifies the means.
Towards a gentleness in spirit witnessed through a meekness of character, being kind to one another as we forgive one another. Strength under control with a softness in speech and a tenderness in action.
Away from fits of rage arising from a steady diet of malice and outrage. Where fears are stoked and outrage enhanced and then again and again through an echo chamber-led feedback cycle.
Towards self-control marked by a self-awareness and empathy towards others. Quick to listen and slow to speak, giving ourselves time to think before we act.
Away from the impurities formed by innate cognitive biases which causes us to instantly respond without considerate thought. It leads to predictable errors in judgement which are very difficult to overcome. It taints our truthfulness, relationships, and our consistency with gospel verities.
Two Hypotheses:
My primary audience in the last four blogs have been both the Christian and evangelical communities, an estimated 70% and 25% of the American population, respectively. In the last two blogs I focused on the fruits of the spirit, the gospel-centric metrics for our external actions and internal attitudes. They tell the true story about the faith we affirm and help shape the story of our truth proclamations.
H1: The division in America could swiftly change if the Christian church heeded the calling of 1 Peter 2:21 “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.” NT Wright put it this way: “Jesus came to earth to bring something new, through the launch of a kingdom that was not of this world. As citizens of that kingdom, we are to be instruments of God’s new creation, planting signposts in hostile soil that show a different way to be human.” The early church changed their world through being faithfully present to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. We could too.
H2: The truth crises in America would swiftly change if the Christian church, the ekklesia, would:
- Heed the scriptural admonition to “establish road markers…make yourself guideposts” by refusing to: blindly trust our fallible intuitions, blindly trust our tribes and media outlets, blindly embrace “new” unwarranted ideas, and blindly holding tight to our opinions.
- Seek knowledge and wisdom like a “scout,” like a hunt for hidden treasure encapsulated by virtue, humility and an openness to diverse counsel.
- Taking to heart the calling of Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
There’s never been a time where the scriptural injunction to “Be on your guard and stay awake” is more needed for the discernment of truth and the avoidance of deception. In fact, none of this truly works without first establishing boundaries as it’s nearly impossible to follow the rest when entwined in a partisan or populist worldview born of our culture wars. So, let’s be on guard, honor wisdom’s diverse foundations, and then commit to the core of the gospel: dying to self, putting others before us, being attune to the Spirit, and with a singular focus on Jesus.