Hello, my friends,

We have been hearing about and probably even noticed some disinformation ourselves recently and no doubt we will be seeing more of it before this election is behind us. So, today I wanted to think about this topic together by first looking at the conversation between Pilate and Jesus in John 18:28-40 then ponder how it equips us to navigate towards truth in our world today.

Before we get to that, here are som resources you might find helpful:

​-The Conspiracy Files by Throughline Podcast. As you know, this is one of my favorite history podcasts. This episode is a prime example of why it is one of my favorites. Conspiracy theories may have been easier to avoid in past decades, but since the advent of the internet, they have become mainstream. This episode charts the history of how this happened and shows how conspiracy theories also became a booming business and political model through such figures like Alex Jones, who still has millions of listeners to this day. I highly encourage giving this episode a listen. It puts into context a lot of what we are seeing today.

​-Dear Theophilus: How Can I Know What Is True? by Brett Berger. This is a really simple, yet helpful guide to understanding how to cultivate truthful perspectives. It's a handy article to keep around. I'll be referencing it later in this article.

​-I’m Running Out of Ways to Explain How Bad This Is: What’s happening in America today is something darker than a misinformation crisis By Charlie Warzel I attempted to share a "gift article" here so that you could read this article for free. If that didn't work, I'm sorry. This is such a crystal clear description of what is happening in regards to the crisis of misinformation right now. It is worth reading if you are able to.

​-How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them by Jason Stanley. If you haven't read this short book yet, I really encourage you to do so soon. It describes what fascism is and how it uses fractures in reality as a weapon to pursue power. I highly recommend giving it a read.

Okay, onto today's article.

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What Is Truth?​
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Let’s look at John 18:28-40. Pay special attention to the claim against Jesus and how the concept of "truth" is handled, especially by Pilate and Jesus' accusers

Note: As you read this passage it is really important to note that we Christians are reading something that is happening within the ancient Jewish community, which was an oppressed marginalized group under Roman occupation at the time. Jesus is Jewish and so were his followers. As we read this text, we need to see how we act similarly in our religious movement that is based on Jesus’ teachings and avoid any temptation to make assumptions about all Jewish people based on this reading. All religions are messy, including Christianity.

John 18:28-40

Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?”

“If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed him over to you.

Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.”

“But we have no right to execute anyone,” they objected. This took place to fulfill what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die.

Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”

“Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”

Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

“You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

“What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”

They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.

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Dive Into The Text

At the beginning of this text, we get an interesting piece of information that it was the sabbath. As was custom, Jews in that time needed to avoid any unclean spaces and activities that would prevent them from participating in the sabbath. This included Gentile spaces, like Pilate’s palace.

This is why we see Pilate going out to speak with Jesus’ accusers and then going back in to speak with Jesus. All while Jesus’ own religious cleanliness was disregarded by being brought before Pilate.

Then we have the accusation. Being under Roman occupation, the Jewish leaders had religious authority to charge someone with a crime, but very limited options for punishment, like the death penalty, which was solely dictated by Roman rule. To gain such a death sentence from Rome though, the Jewish leaders would have to charge Jesus with a political or legal crime, not just a religious one.

This context brings the handling of truth in the conversation between Pilate and the Jewish leaders into focus. When Pilate asks what the charges are being brought against Jesus, their response is vague and flimsy at best. “If he weren’t a criminal, we wouldn’t have brought him to you.” In other words, “figure out his guilt any way you need to.”

What is truth?

You can almost feel Pilate’s eyes roll in the text when he responds by saying, “take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” Obviously not wanting to deal with a local squabble and treating it as an inconvenience, even though someone's life hangs in the balance.

After the Jewish leaders insisted though, Pilate went back inside without saying a word to them, which seems to convey his impatience over the entire proceeding.

Pilate then asks Jesus “are you the king of the Jews?” This is a question aimed at sniffing out a political threat to the Empire of a rival king within an occupied people, which was forbidden. But this question has no basis on the charges, because they were nothing more than “Jesus is just a bad guy.”

Jesus then asks a legitimate counter question about why Pilate is even asking that question in the first place and where he got that information?

With his impatience wearing thin and feeling put on the spot, Pilate says, “Am I a Jew?” In other words, “I’m an outsider to this whole situation, so just tell me why your own people brought you to me?”

Even though Pilate is looking for any possibility to give the Jewish leaders what they expected, he knows he doesn’t have any grounds to charge Jesus.

Jesus then implicitly acknowledges his kingship, yet explains that it’s not how Pilate or anyone else would define king. While Rome and even Israel define kings by those who command armies to fight on their behalf, Jesus isn’t that kind of king and he doesn’t rule that kind of empire. Otherwise, as he says, “my servants would fight to prevent my arrest.”

Not seeming to care about any of Jesus’ explanation, Pilate jumps on the only word he seems to care about, “you are a king then!” Which isn’t the same charge as being a "king of the Jews," but maybe just being a king of some sort will do?

What is truth?

Jesus then points out that Pilate is the one calling him a king, yet his whole purpose was to come into the world and testify to the truth and that those who are on the side of truth listen to him.

Pilate, seeming to only be half listening at this point mutters as he walks away, “what is truth?”

This statement from Pilate implies so many things here, such as him having more interest in just getting this proceeding over with than the actual truth as well as him being the one in power deciding the outcome no matter what, essentially to say, “the truth is what I say it is.”

Pilate comes back outside and admits that he has no reason to charge Jesus, but agrees to a compromise. Based on their custom, a prisoner would be released of their choosing. He asks if they want Jesus released, again putting the responsibility on them while tacitly agreeing to their expectations.

They of course do not want Jesus released but choose Barabbas instead, who as John tells us, “had taken part in uprising.” Barabbas name literally means “son of the father.” The Jewish leaders and Pilate chose to release a social insurrectionist rather than a nonviolent peacemaker. They chose to release the son of the father that would conform to the ways of their world rather than the Son of the Father who was inviting them to conform to the ways of the kingdom of heaven.

What is truth?

This passage is a powerful example of truth being secondary to a desired outcome rather than the desired outcome actually being the truth.

Many among occupied Israel in that time wanted to overthrow Rome while others like Jesus wanted a nonviolent solution and a deeper change than violence could ever accomplish. Getting Jesus out of the way and choosing someone like Barabbas who had experience in insurrections would accomplish the desired outcome of many, even if the truth had to be ignored to get there.

The love of power over the power of love

This is the dynamic we are seeing in our country right now. Especially within political discourse, the truth isn’t the goal. The desired outcome for a particular political victory is the goal and so anything will be used to accomplish that goal, no matter if it is truthful or not.

While both sides of the political spectrum are susceptible to this tactic, with the political right being the world I live and work in, I have seen a sharp increase in spreading lies and disinformation on the political and religious right that have caused a disproportionate amount of harm in recent years.

I saw health officials pleading for disinformation to stop during the COVID pandemic because it was harming people.

I watched as government officials pleaded online to stop the disinformation about the 2020 election, which led to January 6th and harmed people.

Officials in Springfield, OH pleaded to stop the disinformation because it was harming people there.

And relief officials in North Carolina and Tennessee are currently pleading to stop the disinformation about FEMA and the relief efforts there because it is harming people and the efforts to help them.

The growing conspiracy theory around the hurricanes have gotten so outrageous now that many people believe the democrats are controlling the weather to attack red states and FEMA is doing what they can to steal resources from them in their time of need.

Posts that advocate such claims have been seen by millions of people and shared so much that it is having real world implications. Not only has it caused deep distrust among hurricanes victims who resist FEMA’s help, but both FEMA workers and meteorologists have recieved numerous death threats while simply doing their job.

This is reminiscent of the death threats we not only saw in Springfield, OH because of the baseless claims of migrants eating people’s pets, but the death of police officers during January 6th and the threats against healthcare workers during Covid, all built on suspicion and fear.

Why is it this way?

We simply cannot under estimate the impact of the conspiracy industry complex, led by big names like Alex Jones, who has millions of listeners and at his peek, was making tens of millions of dollars every year off of his bogus claims. Many other major influencers online have made a career out of doing that same work, which is why it feels like these narratives are everywhere, all at once.

What is the purpose? The purpose really isn’t truth at all. The purpose is to win by any means necessary, no matter who might get hurt along the way. For victory to be accomplished, people have to keep believing the false distopian narrative that is being painted for them about our country by Donald Trump. An America that is controlled by radical leftists, who want to indoctrinate and surgically alter your kid's gender at school. An America that is overrun by criminal immigrants, all who have darker skin and who are flooding across our “open boarder.” An America where women are just murdering their babies at will, whether they are inside the womb or not. An America where the government will go to any lengths possible to silence and harm its people, even if it means controlling hurricanes to do it.

The goal is to keep people locked in a fabricated reality, rooted in fear and distrust of everything, so that only one person and their party will look like the answer to all these problems. Thus, every event in our country is another opportunity to stoke hatred and fear against a set of enemies to keep the frightening narrative going, no matter how false those narratives might be. Fracturing reality and keeping people from trusting in anything and anyone but them is the goal.

As Charlie Warzel lamented in his recent, excellent article for the Atlantic (linked above), “What is clear is that a new framework is needed to describe this fracturing. Misinformation is too technical, too freighted, and, after almost a decade of Trump, too political. Nor does it explain what is really happening, which is nothing less than a cultural assault on any person or institution that operates in reality. If you are a weatherperson, you’re a target. The same goes for journalists, election workers, scientists, doctors, and first responders. These jobs are different, but the thing they share is that they all must attend to and describe the world as it is. This makes them dangerous to people who cannot abide by the agonizing constraints of reality, as well as those who have financial and political interests in keeping up the charade.”

I know he didn’t mention pastors in that list, but even I have experienced my own share of threats and harassment, simply over my decisions as a pastor. Some have even gone so far as to message my wife with threats at her place of business if I didn't do what they said. Why? All because I posted about how we shouldn’t demonize immigrants. I was also mocked on Facebook by several people in my church community for choosing to temporarily suspend services during the height of the Covid pandemic.

It didn’t matter that I was having to visit sick people virtually in the hospital. It didn’t matter that I was connected to a global denomination and was hearing from pastors everywhere of how they were losing people to covid in their churches. It didn’t matter that I was losing people too. It didn’t matter that I have lived and worked with immigrants my entire life here in Idaho. It didn’t matter that the majority of undocumented immigrants here in Idaho pay millions of dollars in taxes, uphold our agricultural and dairy industries, and are working towards their degrees. None of that mattered. All that mattered was that my small voice as a pastor didn’t line up with the massive voices they were hearing online that said otherwise. So I became the threat, the false prophet, the agent of satan, or a “demoncrat.” Or the one that breaks my heart the most, when I am told that I’m a coward for not “standing up for the truth.”

When you advocate reality in a world that doesn't want reality, you become the threat.

What is truth?

One of the biggest questions I get from folks is this question, “what is truth?” Or “how can I tell what I am reading or believing is true?

So, I wanted to end today’s newsletter with the process I find the most helpful in discerning what is true in our world today.

Are true beliefs possible?

The first is to dismiss the lie that truth cannot be found, which is the first lie of authoritarianism, cults, and fascism. This lie ensures that truth won’t be contemplated outside any boundaries these frameworks deem as a threat to their power.

So, rejecting this lie means affirming that truth is actually discernible. Things are or are not a certain way whether we believe it or not.

When we use the word truth or true, we are saying that what we believe or say about reality actually aligns with reality. If something is so and I believe or say it is so, then what I believe or say is true. If something is not so and I believe or say it is so, then what I believe or say is false.

If we do not agree that our beliefs can be true or false, then we will not be motivated to pursue what is true, which is the desired outcome of the kind of lie I mentioned above.

If we assume that our beliefs can be true or false, then we can turn to the heart of our question, which is: how can we know?

To answer this, I want to turn to Grand Canyon University’s Brett A. Berger’s distinction between beliefs, opinion, and knowledge.

He writes, I want to briefly define what we mean by beliefs, opinions and knowledge. Our beliefs are our conscious or unconscious thoughts about reality. These thoughts may be spoken or unspoken. They may be consciously held or just assumed. Most importantly, they can be true or false based on whether they correspond with reality.

Most people use the word belief to mean opinion and they put belief in the category of the unprovable, unfalsifiable and unknowable. This is not quite right. I would like you to think about opinion and knowledge as two different categories of beliefs. That is, knowledge is when we have a true belief with adequate grounds. We may say opinions are beliefs without grounds.

Knowledge is belief; however, knowledge is the term we use when there is enough reason or justification for a belief to be taken as true. Knowledge must be true. We do not use the term knowledge for beliefs that are false. We do not use the term for those things that we do not have adequate evidence or grounds to take as true.

Opinions, on the other hand, are beliefs that we do not have enough reason or justification. Opinions can still be true or false unless they are simply a matter of taste (like our preferences for certain foods). However, we may use the term to describe beliefs we hold based on feelings or those beliefs for which there is not enough evidence or reason to know what is true.

Given this really helpful framework, Berger goes on to describe the three tools I use in my daily life to help answer the question, “how can I know if my beliefs are truth?

He writes,

There are three main paths that we can take.

Reason – As human beings, we possess the faculty of reason. We can evaluate beliefs and their grounds through logical analysis. This assumes that something true will not be irrational or incoherent. However, it is possible to have logical arguments that are not grounded in reality. They are logically-valid but not true. So we need another tool to work with reason.

Evidence – We live in an orderly world where we can observe the evidence and draw conclusions from the evidence. Assumed is that something true would not be in complete contradiction with the observable world. We cannot observe everything, however and all evidence must be interpreted. So, evidence cannot stand on its own without the help of the other two paths.

Ethics/Practice – This path cannot stand on its own, but it can be a helpful way to evaluate certain beliefs. In this case, we think about the ethical or practical implications of a belief. Essentially, we ask, “If someone lived this out, what kind of life would it lead to?” This assumes that a true belief would not be completely out of step with our moral intuition.

I happen to think that none of them can stand on their own, but all of them—when used together—move us toward that “adequate grounds” to confirm whether a belief is true. If reason, evidence and ethics all start to point in one direction, we can grow in our confidence that it is true.

As a Christian in the Wesleyan tradition, I utilize something else with these three tools as well called the “quadrilateral.”

Within this quadrilateral are four pathways to theological understanding. Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience. So with every issue or question I have, I turn to address it through the conjoined lens of scripture, Christian history, my faculty for reason, as well as taking mine and other people's experience into account. This helps me to avoid being reactionary and making narrow conclusions about things within my world, which can still be difficult for me to avoid.

Back To Jesus

You see, the reason Jesus was brought before Pilate was ultimately because his goal was love, not power. Love does not use the truth for its own benefit to gain power, rather love seeks the truth to be one with it. Or as Paul says, “love delights in the truth.”

When love is our aim, the truth is not a threat, but an opportunity to better understand this diverse and beautiful world we live in and the people we share it with.

When we Christians participate with the spread of disinformation, we are actively breaking God’s 9th commandment, which is “Thou shalt not bear false witness against your neighbor” and in doing so, participating in the harm being caused by such a false witness.

This may seem justifiable for those who are only seeking power, but this isn’t justifiable for those of us who follow Jesus, who is the embodiment of truth and love. We simply can’t expect people to believe we stand for the truth when we are actively spreading disinformation that harms other people.

So, may we be wise about the things we choose to believe and share. If it stokes malice and hatred in our hearts towards other people, chances are, it was designed to do just that rather than be truthful. May we be diligent in seeking out the truth with love as our goal.