Guest Post: Just the Facts!

Note: This is a guest post since by ApoloJedi.  He’s a friend of our blog over at Twitter and his blog be found here.

Recently, social media was astir with news that the well-known fact-checking website, Snopes.com had been checking the truthfulness of the well-known satire website, TheBabylonBee.com. Even the NY Times recognized the controversy between the Bee and Snopes. They noted the bias by which Snopes appears to judge the stories subjected to fact-checking.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/03/us/snopes-babylon-bee.html

This also generated some humorous satirical “headlines” at the Bee (and I heartily endorse you check out the Bee for your daily comedic intake):

• Snopes Rates the Devil’s Lies as “Mostly True”
• Snopes Strikes Deal With Netflix To Provide On-Screen Fact Checks Of Fictional Shows, Movies
• Snopes Announces Fact-Checked Study Bible

 

It’s generally positive to know the facts, so having a fact-checker sounds like a good idea. What gives Snopes.com the legitimacy to be regarded as a fact-checking website? By what authority do the folks at Snopes judge facts? Is Snopes always correct? What authority could confirm or refute the judgment of Snopes answers?

So, what is a “Fact”? From Dictionary.com – A thing that is known or proved to be true. True. Truth. Is that like the truth that ObiWan told Luke regarding his ancestry in Return of the Jedi?

Luke: Why didn’t you tell me? You told me Vader betrayed and murdered my father!

ObiWan: Your father was seduced by the dark side of the force. He ceased to be Anakin Skywalker and became Darth Vader…so, what I told you was true from a certain point of view.

Should a person’s point of view come into play when trying to determine facts? Some facts (algebra, boiling point of water at sea level, 33rd president of the United States was Harry Truman…) need no point of view to determine whether something is a fact or not. But there are some facts that require interpretation. Many of those facts deal with the past.

If reading newspapers from 1865, one might see conflicting headlines from opposite sides of  the Mason-Dixon line that would lead people to think the journalists were giving an accounting of disparate events:

• Victory! Notorious Rebels Capitulate at Appomattox
• Freedom Murdered at Appomattox by Tyrannic Invaders

Were the Union forces tyrannic invaders, who overlooked their Constitutional boundaries, or liberators for the oppressed? Were southern forces stripped of the freedom of self-government or stripped of their ability to deny freedom to others? These answers are complicated and will differ based on points-of-view.

What does any of this have to do with Christianity and apologetics? As apologists, we want to share the facts of abundant life through faith in Jesus, but there is significant controversy over the facts of life when trying to answer serious worldview questions.

Where did humanity come from?

Is there a purpose to life?

Does my life have value?

What is good? What is evil?

How should I behave?

What happens when I die?

What or Who should I worship?

 

The answers to these questions are vitally important , and the fact checkers at Snopes will be unable to confirm/deny the answers.

The Almighty Creator has provided the answers to these questions and many more in his special revelation, the Bible. There is no higher authority than God’s eternal Word to check facts. God’s eternal word has been authenticated in the person of Jesus, the Creator. Creation itself reveals God’s eternal power and divine nature. Three self-authenticating revelations from the Almighty (creation, the Bible, Jesus) are united as highest authority for determining facts.

When you are questioned about how you could possibly know for certain the answers to the worldview questions, you can reply, “The same way everyone does: God’s revelation.” For there is no higher authority that can confirm or reject revelation from the One, who knows everything (Psalm 147:5) and who is completely trustworthy (Titus 1:2).

When the skeptic says that it is a fact that the Bible has been shown false, and since we know that the Bible is revelation from God, the response is “You’ve got your facts wrong.” There are no facts that are in disagreement with God’s Word.

Because we can trust God about what He has revealed about the past, we can trust Him with our future! Praise the Lord for his great loving kindness!

-ApoloJedi

 

https://babylonbee.com/news/snopes-rates-the-devils-lies-as-mostly-true

https://babylonbee.com/news/snopes-strikes-deal-with-netflix-to-provide-on-screen-fact-checks-of-fictional-movies

https://babylonbee.com/news/snopes-announced-fact-checked-study-bible