Fake News from the Church: You have to be perfect to have God’s help in your life

Have you ever read a 'news report' that didn't sound quite right? Are you familiar with the term 'fake news?

 

 Some time ago, I came across an article discussing the years-long fight to get 'fat' out of our American diet.  Years ago, scientists had supposedly proven that fat in our diets was a terrible problem and that if we eliminated fats from our foods, we would be thinner, healthier, and probably look better!  Interestingly enough, researchers have recently begun to turn away from that perspective.  Even as many have eliminated fats from their diets,  our people have continued to gain weight and suffer more diet-related health problems.  The article acknowledged these phenomena and discussed the efforts to get fat from our diets.

 

The back story behind the idea that fat in our diets was the problem was initially suggested by those in the sugar industry.  The executives of several companies that manufactured sugar- and sugar-related products were trying to draw away any negative attention that sugar may have attracted by those researching foods. These executives influenced the scientific organizations to blame Americans' health problems on the fats in Americans' high-fat diets. This led to decades of low-fat advertising and low-fat products in the American food culture. 

 

To put it bluntly, the idea that the fats in our diets were a significant problem for Americans was 'fake news!'  The food researchers and Sugar Industry executives purposely falsified information. They misled the American people so that theirsugar-related products would continue to do well in the marketplace.  Their plan worked, and for the last several decades, millions of Americans have been trying to lose weight and be healthy, cutting fat from their diets.  Unfortunately, there was no real focus on caloric reductions, including calories from sugars, which meant that people cut fats from their diets and still gained weight.  Instead of getting healthier, their health problems increased!

 

This is the danger of 'fake news.'  If you base your life upon that which is untrue, you always suffer in some way.  Regardless of what area of life you're talking about, the truth is always best!

           

The Apostle Paul never wrote about fats and sugars in your diets, to be sure. Still, he wrote that Christians needed to base their lives upon the truth, even when it was unpopular or painful.  In one passage in the book of Romans, he wrote, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. ., for we maintain that a ma is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.  Or is God the God of Jews only?  Is he not the God of Gentiles also?  Yes, of Gentiles also. . . ."  Romans 3:23-24, 28-29. This passage is part of a long section where Paul taught the Roman Church that God was the One God, who loves and offers forgiveness to all.  Jews were called to worship the One God through Jesus, and Gentiles (non-Jews) were also called to worship the One God through Jesus.  Any other belief – that God loved one group more than another or that only certain people could be saved, was declared to be what we would today call "fake news."  There was already a problem with 'fake news' in the Church, and Paul knew the only way to root it out was to teach the truth clearly and expose that which was false.

           

Centuries later, there is still a problem with fake news in the Church!  Fake news in the Church is any idea or teaching that limits what kind of people can be saved; it is any action or practice that distorts the clear message of Jesus; and it is any belief that asserts the spiritual superiority of one group or individual over another.  But remember, the truth in the Church always unites God's people under the sign of the cross, making us all part of a larger, unified community.

           

Let me encourage you to be aware of any fake news you might hear in the Church. Choose to believe the truth that is in Jesus, and nothing else!

 

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