I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said: DON鈥橳 BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU THINK. It鈥檚 not often a bumper sticker elicits more than a smile from me, but this one genuinely caused me to stop and ponder.
The words hit me, probably, because of the angst over fake news we鈥檝e all been feeling these past few months. It seems that for every side, one person鈥檚 truth is another person鈥檚 fake news. But are there times we broadcast 鈥榝ake news鈥� to ourselves on our very own 24/7 channel, ME-TV?
What I found fascinating about that bumper sticker is that it so simply summed up, for me, what Christ Jesus鈥檚 earth mission was about. He was constantly bombarded with fake news of every kind: I鈥檝e been blind since birth! I can鈥檛 walk! My daughter is dead! There鈥檚 no fish to catch in this entire godforsaken sea! Exclamation points鈥擨鈥檓 sure鈥攁t the end of every statement.
The word 鈥榮tatement鈥� is a key point to consider鈥攁s in, were these reports Jesus heard actually statements of fact? While those around Jesus鈥攁nd most today鈥攎ight have considered them 鈥榝actually accurate,鈥� it鈥檚 fair to say Jesus had the annoying (for some) habit of having the final word. Seeing the blind man as unconditionally loved and cared for by God allowed Jesus to heal him; the lame person? Yeah, he walked; Jairus鈥檚 little girl sat up and spoke, quite undead; and those vexed fishermen, including Peter, could barely pull their nets from the water after Jesus turned to God鈥檚 view, calling out their fake news.
As a Christian Scientist I鈥檝e had some success dealing with fake news, though I always need more practice. I think back to a ski accident I had during eleventh grade, when a nasty fall on some ice damaged the knuckle of my writing hand鈥檚 thumb. That news felt pretty real, I can assure you, and my parents deemed it serious enough that they took me to the hospital (my exams were coming up, and I needed my hand to write with). All I remember from that visit was a kindly doctor, and his diagnosis that there wasn鈥檛 much he could do.
Fast forward six years and I was going into my third year of university in Waterloo, Ontario. I became involved with a multi-denominational prayer group, and by this time I was used to living (and writing) with my crooked thumb, though I couldn鈥檛 bend the knuckle more than forty-five degrees. However, after three months of inspired prayer and countless stimulating conversations with people from various Christian faiths, I felt encouraged to reconsider what I accepted as news. I was sitting at my desk one day, studying for final exams, when I suddenly felt enveloped by God鈥檚 infinite Love. I glanced down at my thumb and, through tears of joy, saw that it looked exactly like it had before the accident.
The fascinating thing was I hadn鈥檛 been trying to heal my thumb; but making room for God in my heart enabled me to feel God鈥檚 unconditional love鈥攖o the point where I felt it thoroughly鈥攁nd healing was the result. Or as Mary Baker Eddy wrote in聽Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures, 鈥淚f sin, sickness, and death were understood as nothingness, they would disappear. As vapor melts before the sun, so evil would vanish before the reality of good.鈥�
Put another way, it took six years for me to realize the reports about my thumb being deformed鈥攁s broadcast 24/7 on ME-TV鈥攚as actually fake news.
What fake news are you buying into?
Matt Jackson聽has been fascinated by how science and religion relate to each other for as long as he can remember. He is a member of the Christian Science church in Victoria, BC, and has been a professional writer and editor for 22 years.
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* Rgus article was published in the print edition of the Times 91原创 on Saturday, April 22 2017
