The Revelation of Jesus with Rick Sterling!

I read a short article this morning on Facebook that decried the lack of reseach of people that believe whatever is posted on Facebook. I agree wholeheartedly with this concept. Facebook is NOT a valid source for truth. That is not to say that there is no truth promoted on FB, but truth is not the primar reason that people post there. One of the respondents to this article was an associate pastor at the church where I used to attend. He is a brilliant man that has aquired a Ph.D. in religion from a very prestegious seminary, and is considered by his parishoners and friends to be a steady source for truth. He agreed that if you have not done research for yourself, and vetted each and every segment of the truth you are seeing, then you should not believe it to be true until you have done so. He makes a distinction between belief and fact, in that you can believe without facts to back up that believe, and you must view facts without belief until those facts are proven. I agree with him.

Yet this is the same man (knowing him as I do) that believes fully that Paul was a called apostle of Jesus, and that since he appears in the Bible Paul MUST needs be trustworthy and true in what he says about whatever it is that he has written. This pastor uses Paul as a reliable source in his sermons and written material, in order to prove the points that this pastor wants to convey regarding salvation and eternal life.

I was saddened to see that this double standard exists in his mind, and that it and cannot be acknowledged as a problem with regard to defining the truth of salvation, or even in his views as to how Christians must view their relationship to political issues. 

We live in a time when even in researching and understanding truth can be plagued with the double standard of pre-existing paradigms, that give people a sense of smug satisfaction and self-assurance that they cannot be fooled, even though they are.