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Our yeartext for 2023
is Psalm 119:160, which says:
“The very essence of your word is truth.”
Well, that’s true.
Jehovah has truly benefited us
by giving us his precious Word of truth.
That Word is the ultimate standard
for what is true and what is false.
Well, now, today we live in
what’s often called the Information Age.
Before, it may have taken many hours
or even many days
to find certain information.
But now using an Internet search engine
—after just a few minutes or, in some cases,
maybe after just a few seconds—
we can have the information
that we are seeking.
But just because
there’s so much information available
and it’s so easy to access
does not mean that
that information is accurate,
that it is reliable,
or that it is based on truth.
It’s interesting that in late 2016,
Oxford Dictionaries
selected “post-truth”
as the word of the year.
Now, what does this word
“post-truth” mean?
Well, it’s said that it is defined as
“relating to a situation
“in which people are more likely
to accept an argument
“based on their emotions and beliefs,
rather than one based on facts.”
Well, what does that mean?
It means people choose to believe
according to their feelings, their emotions,
or according to their own personal beliefs.
Well, that means it’s very easy
for people to be manipulated
by false information,
especially if that information tends to agree
with their own personal ideas.
Now, let me give you an example.
Here are three headlines.
Now, which one seems to be true to you?
“Drinking Three Cups of Coffee a Day
May Lead to Stomach Cancer.”
Here’s the second:
“Regular Coffee Drinking Linked to Longevity
and Lower Risk of Stroke.”
Here’s the third:
“Study Says Drink Tea Instead of Coffee
and You’ll Avoid Heart Disease.”
So did any of these headlines
seem to be true to you?
Well, it’s interesting that most people
tend to believe the story
that matches with their own personal ideas.
So if you like drinking coffee,
you might have chosen the story
that says drinking coffee is good for you.
And if you don’t like drinking coffee
and perhaps you even think it’s dangerous,
well, then, you might have chosen the story
that says coffee drinking is dangerous.
And if you prefer to drink
some kind of tea instead of coffee,
well, then, you might have chosen
the last story.
Well, which one is true?
Well, actually,
none of these headlines are real.
I made them all up just to try
to illustrate this simple point,
that it’s very easy to believe
what we want to believe.
Well, how can the Bible benefit us?
Obviously, the Bible does not touch on
every matter that’s involved in life.
But it does give us principles
that can help us to evaluate information
so that we can discern
whether something is true or it’s false.
Now, recently we had
a very excellent article on the website
entitled “Protect Yourself
From Misinformation.”
Let’s consider a few of the Bible principles
that were outlined in that article.
Here’s the first one:
It’s Proverbs 14:15.
It says: “The naive person
believes every word,
but the shrewd one ponders each step.”
Well, now, what does that mean?
What does it mean
that he “ponders each step”?
Well, one reference work says
that this is a figure of speech
that means “to be cautious,
alert, or aware,
“with the sense of being careful
not to be misled by untruth.”
Well, that’s very, very good advice.
There are so many false reports
that are out in the world.
In fact, now there’s even something
called deepfake videos.
Have you heard about these?
So this is where they take
video of a politician
or perhaps some other well-known person
and using technology they manipulate it
so that the person
seems to be saying something
that they never ever said.
Frightening.
We have to be truly careful
that we do not accept information
at face value,
especially if it tends to support
some personal idea that we have.
Now, let’s go to the next principle.
It’s 1 Thessalonians 5:21.
First Thessalonians 5:21 says:
“Make sure of all things;
hold fast to what is fine.”
Well, how can we make sure
that something is true?
Well, here are two questions
that we can ask ourselves.
Here’s the first one:
What is the source of this information?
Be careful.
A website might look very impressive.
It might be beautifully formatted;
it might have a very impressive name.
But none of those things
make the information true.
Here’s the second one:
Is the content current and accurate?
See, look for dates in the information.
Look for verifiable facts
and strong evidence
that the statements being made
are actually true.
But, now, be careful
because often the evidence
that’s provided for a certain statement
may be a list of other websites
that are all carrying
the very same misinformation.
So be cautious.
What about statements like this:
“3 out of 4 doctors
support this product”?
Hmm.
What does that actually mean?
See, for example, say it meant
that they had surveyed 1,000,000 doctors
and 750,000, or 3 out of 4,
all agreed that this product
was good and reliable.
Well, that would be significant.
But it could also mean
that they talked to eight doctors
and six of them agreed
that the product was accurate, or good.
Are those two things the same?
Well, obviously not.
Make sure of what you’re actually reading.
And then, too,
what type of doctors were they?
There are doctors of history,
doctors of philosophy, doctors of law.
There are even doctors
of veterinary medicine.
Be careful.
Information can be packaged
so that it sounds believable
and authoritative.
Make sure that you have the facts.
Let’s go to the third principle.
It’s Proverbs 28:26.
Proverbs 28:26 says:
“Whoever trusts in his own heart is stupid.”
Wow!
That’s pretty strong language, isn’t it?
But that’s what the Bible says.
The website article says:
“We tend to trust information
that confirms what we want to believe.”
Well, that means
we have to ask ourselves this question:
‘Do I trust this information
just because it’s what I want to believe?’
Here’s the fourth and last principle.
It’s Exodus 23:1.
It says there:
“You must not spread
a report that is not true.”
That’s very strong language, isn’t it?
Very clear!
What’s the point?
We have a very important responsibility
not to share information
unless we know
for a certainty that it’s true.
In many cases, it’s far better
to hit the delete key
than to hit the send button.
Well, what did we learn this morning?
God’s Word really is the source of truth.
It is the standard
of what is right and what is wrong.
Of course, it doesn’t touch
on every subject in life,
but it gives us principles
that we can use to discern
whether information is true
or whether it’s false.
Jehovah truly teaches us
to benefit ourselves
by helping us
to utterly reject misinformation
and cling to what is true.

Mark Sanderson: Protect Yourself From Misinformation (Ps. 119:160)