Fake News and The Gospel

Without a doubt you’ve heard about the recent kerfuffle regarding ABC News reporting on attacks in Syria and using video footage that seems to show a great onslaught, only to find out that said footage was actually from a nighttime artillery demonstration at a range in Kentucky.   Cries of “fake news” come ringing in, and rightly so.  News folks take a piece of video and build a narrative around it, whether it’s accurate or not. 

Actually, seeing the video footage in its entirety destroys the narrative. The ABC footage is grainy and zoomed in.  Once you zoom out, the shot clears up, and not only do you see the impressive streaks of artillery fire scorching the night, you also see the large crowd gathered to observe.  I can’t help but think that if the folks at ABC had seen the whole video in context (I’m assuming for their sake that they had not), that they would have known right away this was not an attack in Syria, or anywhere else.  Context helps immensely.  

What’s true of video footage, is also true of still photographs.  Maybe even more so.  One photo, taken out of context, can transmit all sorts of false narratives.  One that comes to mind has made its way around the social web the last couple years.  The picture is of a group of young students sitting in front of Rembrandt’s famous ‘The Night Watch’ at the Louvre.  But instead of appreciating the masterpiece, they all have their heads down, glued to their mobile devices.  Sad, right?

The photo is passed around as evidence of the ignorance of today’s youth, the destruction of their minds by technology, etc.  How can they sit there on Twitter and ignore such amazing art?  Or so it seems.  I’ve read that this might not quite be the case.  Apparently, they were on a class trip to the museum, and at some point their devices were being used to access the museum’s media app.  Indeed, there is another picture of the same group of kids “totally mesmerized” by one of the artist’s paintings.  Context helps immensely.

Here’s my point (other than the simple point of being careful not to jump to conclusions just because you saw a photo of a video online somewhere).  This idea of taking things out of context to create a false narrative isn’t restricted to news and social media.  If we’re not careful, we can do the same with Scripture and our presentation of the gospel.

Numerous examples can be offered of popular Bible verses that are ripped out of context.  The one that comes to mind personally is a verse from Genesis 31.  When my wife and I were dating, way back when, there were these little heart pendants that were quite popular.  The heart had this verse engraved on it, and then the heart was separated, and each person wore half of the heart.  The verse is Genesis 31:49: “The LORD watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another.”  Romantic, huh?  We thought so. 

Then I read the verse in context.  Jacob is leaving his uncle Laban, who is pursuing him.  The two don’t trust each other at all.  But they make an agreement, and to seal the agreement they build a pillar of stones as a monument, invoking the name of God to watch over them and keep them honest.  So the verse is not about romantic feelings at all, but a call for God to watch over the promises of these two untrustworthy fellows.  Context matters.

We do the same with all kinds of verses; sadly, too many to list here.  While all those are important, the one place we have to be so very careful is in sharing the Gospel with folks.  Too often we take the “good news” out of context and make the work of Christ all about “God loves you and wants you to be happy.”  While there may be a grain of truth there, it’s not the whole picture. 

We tell people God loves then and Jesus died for them, and in context the question should be “what does God’s love have to do with Jesus dying?”  Why did He have to die?  He had to die because God is so holy, and sin is so abhorrent, and the penalty for sin is so beyond what we can pay, that in order for God’s justice and mercy to both be satisfied, the Son of God Himself had to suffer.  The “good news” has to be set against the “bad news” of sin and judgment in order for it to be understood in its proper context.  Just one part of the picture doesn’t tell the whole story.

So, this is just a long, roundabout way of saying this:  Preach the Gospel; the whole Gospel; and nothing but the Gospel.  Don’t let laziness or a fear of “offending” folks turn the Good News into fake news.  Context matters.  And the effects are eternal.