Telling the Truth

A friend I went to college with just shared the WORST video on Facebook today. Maybe you can relate? It was a conspiracy theory video filled with misinformation, false equivalency, and pseudoscience. It undercut what science and the CDC and good common sense has been saying about the virus for all these weeks now and it especially surprised me because I thought he would know better than that? (Guess not?) 

Misinformation has been spreading like wildfire these days, leading to conspiracy theories of all sorts. People are trying desperately to make order and meaning out of the chaos that is 2020 right now. A sinister plot to cull the population or to tank the economy sounds scary, but what's even scarier is the idea that nobody is in control of what is going on. Nobody is making this happen. It's just happening. 

As Christians with level heads and devoted hearts, I would be SUPER hesitant to say that this global pandemic is from God in any way, alla the Plagues in Exodus. But we can find hope in the belief that our God can and does work calamity for good, even if that good might be lost on us right now. That can be a difficult paradox to grasp and I'm not sure we are meant to fully understand it. 

Amidst all this fear and uncertainty, we humans tend to search out answers. Facts are one thing, but truth, real, deep truth is sometimes a difficult thing to hold onto with both hands. 

But as Anne Lamott writes, "We remember that because truth is paradox, something beautiful is also going on in all the ugliness. So while trusting that and waiting for revelation, we do the next right thing. We tell the truth." 

—
Kelsey Lewis Vincent, Pastor for Youth and Families, First Baptist Church Decatur