What is Truth?
Available in Audio Format:
“People cannot tell what is true and what is not.”
This is the most likely – and most dangerous – problem Canada will face in the coming years according to Policy Horizons Canada, a hub within the Canadian government dedicated to predicting future policy issues and offering pre-emptive solutions. In an era of declining trust in people and institutions, the echo chambers of social media, and the growing ability of artificial intelligence to generate content, Policy Horizons Canada is concerned that it will be very difficult to know what is true in the coming years. Misinformation and disinformation could be rife.
While misinformation and disinformation are relatively new words in our vocabulary, they merely describe an age-old problem. There is nothing new under the sun. And while Policy Horizons Canada might correctly identify misinformation and disinformation as a serious threat, this threat might not be exactly what they envision.
Misinformation, Disinformation, and Worldview
People tend to distinguish between misinformation and disinformation based on intent. Misinformation is generally false or misleading information shared without the intent to deceive. Disinformation, on the other hand, is generally false or misleading information shared with the intent to deceive. Misinformation is a mistake. Disinformation is a lie.
While misinformation or disinformation can be just individual tidbits of information – an accidental mistake here or a deliberate lie there – there can also be entire campaigns of misinformation or disinformation designed to achieve some larger purpose.
That larger purpose is often to advance a worldview. Readers who are steeped in a Reformed tradition will likely be well acquainted with the concept of worldview, but for those who aren’t, worldview refers to a person’s broad assumptions that shape their understanding of the world. Everyone operates with a worldview. God created human beings with the capacity to link bits of information together to interpret the world around us. These worldviews are helpful and necessary for us to make sense of a complex world, but they also can prompt people to spread misinformation – mistakes – or disinformation – outright lies.
The Original Disinformation Campaign
There is nothing new about misinformation and disinformation. They are already found in the third chapter of the Bible. The serpent in the garden of Eden, who “was more crafty than any other beast of the field,” gave disinformation to Eve. He lied. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:1-5).
As with most misinformation and disinformation, there is a grain of truth to what the Devil said. When Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, their eyes were indeed opened (v. 7). They came to intimately know not only what was good but also what was evil. But rather than this being a step towards being more like God as the Devil claimed, this disobedience brought sin and death to human beings, just as God had warned.
The Devil used disinformation to further his own worldview, that God is not worthy of our trust, honour, and love and that we are our own gods.
Since then, humanity has had to struggle against mistaken statements (misinformation) and deliberate lies (disinformation).
How Do We Come to Know the Truth?
We come to know the truth and thus identify misinformation and disinformation through two sources: special revelation and general revelation (Belgic Confession, Article 2).
Special revelation – Scripture – is the infallible Word of God. It delivers the most important truth in the world – that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Him. It is the final word of authority on every issue. It is divinely inspired and applicable to all aspects of life. But it doesn’t reveal all knowledge, such as the value of π or how to perform open heart surgery. For this knowledge, God has given us general revelation.
General revelation is God’s created world. Think of science as the study of creation, of general revelation. Christians and non-Christians alike can learn much about the world that God has created, how human beings should act, and what is empirically true. And this isn’t just true of the “hard sciences” like mathematics, physics, and biology. It is true of the “social sciences” like psychology, political science, and economics. Even though creation and human understanding are tainted by sin, through the study of creation and of human beings we can glean bits of truth and knowledge.
But creation is fallen and tainted by sin. And our human understanding of creation is also tainted by sin. We need help to understand and study creation (e.g. “do science”) correctly.
Misinformation and Disinformation Today
What does all this have to do with misinformation and disinformation today?
Well, much of what is labelled misinformation or disinformation today is based on an alternative epistemology, an alternative way of knowing reality. God’s Word as a source of knowledge is thrown out the window. In its place is personal experience. The judgement of God has been replaced by a judgement of man.
Science, what Christians should consider as the study of God’s creation, is considered infallible rather than God’s Word being infallible. That is the worldview of many people when they talk about “following the science” on climate change, vaccines, medical transitioning, or any number of other issues. And they can arrive at the correct factual conclusions on the basis of general revelation alone. For example, it wasn’t a Christian or Jew who discovered the value of π, but a pagan Greek mathematician, Archimedes. There is genuine truth and knowledge to be found in the study of God’s creation. But ignoring one of the sources of truth isn’t a reliable recipe for truth, wisdom and knowledge. And it certainly won’t lead to ultimate Truth.
Given these blinders on the pursuit of truth, it isn’t surprising that many of those calling out misinformation or disinformation are blind to many pieces of misinformation themselves. As Christians, we don’t need to shy away from describing things as misinformation. Rather, we should point out and correct all the misinformation that is overlooked.
Human lives only begin when a baby exits the womb? Misinformation. Human lives begin at conception.
A girl can be trapped in a boy’s body? Misinformation. The human body and soul are inextricably linked, rather than opposed, to each other.
Sex and gender are unrelated concepts? Misinformation. Our gender flows from our sexuality.
All sorts of family structures are equal? Misinformation. God created children to be born and raised by a man and a woman in the covenant relationship of marriage.
Governments policy and school curriculum can be value-neutral? Misinformation. Every person and every institution unavoidably has a worldview.
And the list could go on. All of these are examples of misinformation or disinformation that advance a worldview that ignores the fact that God’s Word is the ultimate source of truth.
Policy Horizons Canada’s concern that “people cannot tell what is true and what is not” is in many ways already upon us. It’s not primarily the fault of AI, malicious actors, or deep fakes, although they can exacerbate the problem. It’s the byproduct of rejecting of God’s Word as the source of truth and the lens through which we interpret God’s creation.
Our Mission
ARPA’s mission in the public square is to rectify that problem. We exist to bring the truths found in God’s Word back into politics and we evaluate everything else – scientific papers, news articles, social media posts, laws, legal judgements – through the spectacles of Scripture. We strive to look at the world through the lens of a biblical worldview.
That’s not an easy task. It may be easy for Christians who are intimately acquainted with God’s Word to recognize claims, for example, that a girl can be trapped in a boy’s body as misinformation. But for many people, coming to that truth requires a change in their entire worldview. It isn’t just their understanding of the relationship between sex and gender that needs to change. Their entire understanding of what it means to be human and how we even know what it means to be human may have to change. A frowny face emoji on a social media post won’t do the trick. A single conversation probably won’t change their worldview either. It will take repeated conversations in a mutually respectful relationship to evoke change on that scale.
And while we will often point the finger at others for spreading misinformation and disinformation, we need to hold up a mirror to ourselves as well. We too are fallible interpreters of God’s Word and His creation. We too are tempted to reject inconvenient facts because they don’t fit nicely into our worldview. In such cases, our calling is to be men of Berea, searching the Scriptures (as well as studying God’s world) to see if such inconvenient facts are indeed true (Acts 17:10-11). Although we must not abandon our foundation, our worldviews should never be static, but adjusting based on our continual study of God’s Word and God’s world.
