Fake news

Today all we have to do to attract attention is to proclaim something is fake news. Then what happens is that everyone and I mean everyone follows what is happening. That really is all we have to do proclaim something is false or fake and we will have all sorts of people visiting us. However, as Christians we build on foundations of honesty and the truth. Of course there is the question of whose truth and what teaching is false. The Colossian's letter is quite specific regarding the fact that we must be constantly on our guard against 'hollow and delusive speculations, based on traditions of human teachings' (Col 2.8). So, how do we tell who is right and who is wrong in terms of how we speak of God.

There are those who will speak of biblical inerrancy and even those who will suggest that there is only one way to read the scriptures whether from the Hebrew original texts or from the New Testament as they are God inspired. Problem is that when we start to pick apart the scriptures and cherry pick what we believe then we are subject to our own interpretations of the text that is 'God inspired'. In looking at this we need to understand that all of our interpretations are 'fake' Good News as we are not God nor are we necessarily God inspired in the way that those who wrote the scriptures (as some would believe). So what is the criteria that distinguishes from fake news and its continual draw upon ourselves and the truth that we proclaim.

Do we prostitute the Gospel for our own purposes?

If we look at the prophet Hosea (1.2-ff) we can see that despite everything, his love or God, determines his course. It is a course that would have brought all sorts of stigma onto him and yet just as in the Gospel (Luke 11.5-10) there is a persistence in Hosea's living and loving arrangements. He is upright before God and is deep within his covenantal relationship. So when we come to determine between fake and Good news we need to look for that persistence in the covenantal relationship with God. In other words our whole character is based in Christ whom we have taken on in baptism. It is our foundational relationship that is of prime importance as this has to be grounded in Christ (Col. 2.7). This is the important understanding that it is in Christ who is Jesus and not the other way around. The importance of God is paramount when we come to speak of the Gospel. Once we start to place the humanity first we begin to lose our way and proclaim those things which are part of our misunderstanding and thus part of that which is Fake.

In the Lord's prayer, which is a reiteration in some respects of the shema, we re-insert ourselves into that covenantal relationship as we ask God for his presence in our daily undertakings. This is the covenantal persistence that we require to ground ourselves in Christ. In doing so we reiterate the relationship that is found in the Godhead. In undertaking this relational undertaking we become part of the body of Christ, not Jesus, and bring God's light into the world. In communion with each other we join the hospitality of the Godhead around the table and invite those that are external to ourselves into relationship with the community that is embedded in Christ. This community which may become the Church, is one that portrays the truth of Christic, covenantal love by accepting all no matter who they may be for it is not for us to bring judgement. Only when we are in as deep as Hosea can we understand the presence of God that is fully present.