Proverbs 3:21-22 says: “My child, don’t lose sight of good planning and insight. Hang on to them,, for they fill you with life and bring you honor and respect. They keep you safe on your way and keep your feet from stumbling.” My desk calendar adds this nugget of truth: “God’s wisdom keeps us on the path of safety all our lives.” (Bible Keys to Well-Being, Pat Robertson)
This political season, we’re hearing about misinformation, hearing candidates making promises and spreading information and misinformation, and we’re hearing rumors of skullduggery from many mouths. And, we’re rustling with Artificial Intelligence which may not be intelligent at all, but merely mind-manipulation of facts for designed purposes and disguised truth.
When God created man in His image, he gave us minds to logically discern truth, but he gave us emotions which affect our judgment perhaps more than the truth itself. Throughout Proverbs, God instructs us to choose and honor wisdom. We are to honor “her.” We are to measure what we see and hear and measure things according to His guidance, if we are believers, and even if we are not, we are to look at the moral, spiritual, physical and mental consequences of our thoughts and actions, our prejudices and our values, and test them. I’m thinking that issues like the latest event of school violence, political speeches and one-sided ads, the influence of watching fifty-one advertisements in an one-hour cable network show, and being bombarded with character-assassination and mistruths of things out of context political persuasion techniques, we need to tap into reality here. What on earth are we thinking when others are telling us WHAT to think?
It’s time to take due diligence and find out the facts for ourselves, logically and critically before determining our decisions. Make pro and con lists, look up candidates records, separate truth from innuendo, find the context of claims (were the claims part of a longer paragraph and clever editing makes fiction truth and visa verse?), and use good judgment before expressing our opinions–either in arguments, debates, discussions, print, or on social media, and certainly before casting votes.
Yes, at least for the moment, we have free speech in this country, but spewing hatred, mistruth, grandstanding, “gaslighting”(whatever that means), “dogwhistles” (whatever that means) and outright slander and lies is not using our God-given wisdom.
I am/was/remain trying to stay out oft he political fray. Yes, I will vote, for sure, but I am using this political season to study the use of language. I am, after all, a writer, a wordsmith, and carefully back up my opinions with conscious decision based on my experiences and the wisdom of others. I also attempt to follow Biblical principles to weigh decisions. With this post, I am merely urging my readers to use wise judgment and wisdom and not be swayed by others in advertising, speeches, or debates to determine our choices without fact-checking and due diligence in accessing truth.
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