From Darrell's Desk
By Rev. Darrell Maguire
I am awaiting with great anticipation the arrival of a new book I ordered entitled The Sin of Certainty. It was recommended to me by a good friend who said that it helped her begin to come to terms with the claims of certainty in the ideas or concepts that are in fact downright lies or falsehoods. This is particularly a serious issue considering the continuing farce that Donald Trump's presidential race is creating.
Many years ago, I stumbled upon a very old quotation that has so much truth in it that I have never forgotten it. C. H. Spurgeon said in one of his sermons: “If you want truth to go round the world you must hire an express train to pull it; but if you want a lie to go round the world, it will fly; it is as light as a feather, and a breath will carry it. It is well said in the old Proverb, ‘A lie will go round the world while truth is pulling its boots on.’” The original proverb has been attributed to many famous people but whoever coined it was on to something.
I think the situation is far worse than in Spurgeon's day, given the prolific use of social media. It is shocking to me how many times in each week someone will say with great conviction that they heard something or read something on Facebook etc., that is true because it sounds true. Or better yet it is something we want to be true. Advertisers on social media have picked up on this. They will post an article about some famous person doing something or having their career implode, all to get us to click on their entry portal to what they are selling. The only clue we have that it's an advertising gimmick is that sometimes there appears a little box that says “sponsored content”.
We used to be warned when I was younger that we need to be careful of rumours or hearsay. The moment we heard, “I heard it from a friend who heard from another friend's second cousin once removed”, we were to dismiss the story. Urban legends have their source in such rumours. The stories sound so believable that they must be true even though they are not. Some of these stories have persisted for decades, with the location being the only changing variable. Like the one where an angered wife whose husband left her for another woman, at her husbands request sells his fancy sports car for $100 dollars. We love these stories because it seems like the bad behaviour of someone is getting punished in a creative way.
Certainty in anything can be very detrimental to our spiritual health, physical health, and financial health. A cursory trip to YouTube and you can find videos of reporters talking to right wing Trump supporters who when faced with contrary truths about Trump or his opponents, may pause when faced with the contradiction, but will most often maintain the fallacy. In political speeches, outright falsehoods are being pointed out, but people gobble it up without any filter.
The reasons for this phenomenon are the subject of many scholars far more gifted in sociology and psychology than I am. I am, however, beginning to see that one of the reasons falsehoods gain traction is that so many people refuse or don't know how to filter things through the only certainty in life. “In God there is no shadow of change. God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.” The things that concern God are the things that have always concerned God.
Jesus is the rock of our salvation and if we build our lives on anything else we are building on the sand. And the storm is upon us. Will your house stand pat or go splat?
