Dwight Fletcher | War for truth

Last month, we talked about moving on after regret – a topic that is popular in many movies. This month, I want us to consider another growing theme in movies: What happens when we can no longer tell what is true?

As AI and digital intelligence continue to advance, this theme has made its way onto our screens in many forms. I remember watching a Mission Impossible movie that centred on a rogue artificial intelligence system that could infiltrate computer systems, manipulate information, and influence people. One of the most chilling ideas in the film was the way reality could be rewritten by controlling information.

At one point, Ethan Hunt declares, “The world is changing. Truth is vanishing and war is coming.”

For me, the movie speaks to a reality that the world already faces – the war on the truth. If your eyes are open, you see it all around us. We live in an age where social media, influencers, news outlets, algorithms, and now artificial intelligence, all compete for our attention and, ultimately, our thinking. A story can go viral before anyone checks whether it is true. A convincing image can be created of something that never happened. A confident voice can persuade thousands, even when it has no basis in reality.

And, if we are not careful, we can become less interested in whether something is true and more interested in whether it agrees with what we already want to believe.

But the war for truth did not begin with the Internet or artificial intelligence. From the beginning, truth has been under attack. In the Garden of Eden, Satan did not begin by denying the existence of God. He attacked what God had said. He questioned God’s Word and planted doubt in Eve’s mind. The enemy has been using that strategy ever since.

In Colossians 2:8 (NIV), the Apostle Paul warned believers: “ See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.”

Notice the word “captive”. It is possible for us to find ourselves stuck in bondage because of the ideas we accept as truth. Remember that what we believe shapes how we live.

The greatest threat to truth today is not simply that people are telling obvious lies. In many cases, we are being encouraged to believe that truth itself is personal. You have your truth and I have mine. If it feels true to you, who am I to challenge it?

But, what happens when our “truth” tells us that dishonesty is acceptable because it benefits us? What happens when our feelings become the standard for right and wrong? What happens when a whole society decides that popularity, emotion or personal preference is more important than truth?

We may call it being open-minded, but there is a danger in living in a post-truth era that can no longer recognise error. At work, we may compromise our integrity because “everybody does it”. In our relationships, we may justify behaviour because it feels right. Online, we can begin repeating opinions we have never examined simply because they are popular. And, even as Christians, we can slowly adjust what we believe about God until His Word says only what we are comfortable hearing.

This is why Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17).

God has given us the Ultimate Source of Truth. But we must use it. We must be willing to examine what we are hearing, thinking and believing against His Word.

And that is where the war begins. So, join me next week as we answer the question: When everyone is talking about “my truth”, what does truth really mean?