Depending on the subject, we all turn to an ‘expert’ that we trust to provide their opinion on the particular subject in order for us to make sense of and decide on our position on the subject. Thus, the particular source is critically important. However since the source is always a human (even abstract concepts are presented by a human), how do we determine who is trustworthy, who doesn’t have a personal agenda that they are trying to espouse? Personally, I’ve given up years ago that the news will be provided ‘fairly’ as information and not the agenda of the presenter.
Obviously who we trust will influence what and how and who we believe. Often ‘tags’ are used to identify people and their position: liberal, conservative, far right, far left; but have you also noted how the opposite position person is defined? Typically negatively. How often do we hear a liberal concurring with a conservative (and vice versa)? When you hear a word, such as ‘Democrat’ do you automatically also hear liberal, extreme or ‘Republican’ and hear reactive and uncaring? Probably, because the rhetoric screams tags on the tag.
Actually the real question is how confident are you in your source, remembering that your source is also relying on a source? Do you accept, unconditionally, whatever they say? How did they come to be your source in the first place? Were they recommended by someone (significant) you trust? And… have they ever been wrong? Have they ever admitted they were mistaken? Have they ever apologized? If the answer to the last 3 questions is ‘no’ then I might suggest you reassess who your source is or, minimally, include the opposite position presented by someone else.
I suspect that we don’t give much thought to who we have ‘adopted’ as our source for information in our decision making. We may have adopted what a friend suggested or how our family believes (or the opposite) or other bases to accept and rely on a source. The question remains… should this continue? Do we ever take the time to really consider their positions on a host of issues that are important to us? And… yes, there is one source that can be counted on to have our best interests at heart, who is always right and fair and just and a vast number of other qualities – you can always rely on the Lord and His Word, the Bible, as your source. All you need do is to trust and then follow.
…but, what do you think?
