There’s a saying that a lie repeated a thousand times becomes truth. And studies show that people do tend to accept opinions and pseudo-facts as reliable information if they hear them often enough.
Special interest groups, using instant communication and global social networks, have helped to make what psychologists call “the illusion of truth” a formidable influence today, especially in politics. It is said we are in a post-truth era, or an era in which “objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief” (Oxford English Dictionary).
How do we counteract this deceptive tendency? A good place to start is with what the Bible tells us about God: “He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he” (Deuteronomy 32:4).
