Neutrality, skepticism, Latin and the Bible

My niece (the Skeptic) asked me the other day if I knew that Christianity was based on the Zodiac. At first I was tempted to chuckle, but she was serious. She asked me to prove it's not, which in logic, law and science is flawed reasoning. So I told her to prove it is. Right away, she dove for the computer and started Googling away, finally lighting on some website somewhere.



You know what they say about opinions...



I began to think about the role of the internet in forming our opinions. The internet and the World Wide Web are wonderful tools. But they are just that... tools. Technology is neutral; it's what we do with it that gives it purpose for good or bad. I remember the old NRA catchphrase: Guns don't kill people; people kill people. That's true enough. A gun is simply a tool for getting a small piece or pieces of metal from here to there very quickly. (In full disclosure, I used to shoot competitively.) Like them or not, that's all they are.



A corallary is that the internet doesn't lie to people; people lie to people. One of the oldest computer acronyms is GIGO: Garbage In, Garbage Out. In other words, the computer does not care what you put into it. They are the dumbest smart things ever made. A computer is a tool for making very fast, very accurate mistakes. But people are funny. If they see something in print, (like this!) they think it must be true.

There is an old Latin adage: Non est in scripto, non est in mundo. Literally, "if it is not in writing, it is not in the world." But the reverse is not true: just because something is in writing, does not mean it is true. And just because it is on the internet does not make it so.

Now, of course, there is some writing we can always trust: the Bible. For centuries, skeptics have been trying to disprove it and can't. But that's not the point here. The point is is that the Bible is a great, really the only, reference for checking thing that relate - wait for it - to the Bible!

In fact, you should always be checking me out. Or anyone else for that matter. If you read something here, then dig into the Good Book to see if I'm telling you the truth. Really. I don't mind. You supposed to. Don't believe me? Check it out. Start with Acts 17. You'll see the difference between checking up on what is taught and not checking up. 'tis better to check.

The matricarch of our church, a near nonegenarian who always has something to say, always says things like "And you kids, stay off that internet! Nothing but garbage out there!" Now, I would obviously take exception to that, but I will agree in principle to one thing: take what you read with a grain of salt. See if it lines up with the Bible. Pray and ask God for understanding to see if it makes sense. Lies will feel like lies when your faith is in God and not man.

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