Fake news?
Hello,
In a recent press release the Government announced that it will set out plans to bring the education curriculum into the modern day giving young people the skills for life and work, including, ‘For the first time, primary aged children will gain vital skills like how to spot fake news and identify misinformation and disinformation.’ 1 This week fake news made the headlines when the BBC Director General and the News CEO both resigned after criticism that a Panorama documentary misled viewers by editing a speech by Donald Trump, which the US administration called fake news.
Fake news is nothing new. It seems that some people in the 1st century church at Corinth thought that Jesus’s resurrection from the dead was fake news as the Apostle Paul had to write to them saying, ‘how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?’ (1 Corinthians 15:12 NIVUK). This is an important question because if it is fake news the apostles of Jesus ought to have resigned from their posts as their preaching was in vain and they will have be found guilty of ‘misrepresenting God’ (vv.14-15).
To address this issue of fake news, Paul reminds the church that the resurrected Jesus appeared to ‘more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive’ (v.6). In other words, they could go and check it out with eyewitnesses to see if it is true or fake.
If you are wondering whether Jesus’s resurrection is true or fake news why not do the same and check it out for yourself. You might just discover that rather than it being fake news it is the best news humanity could ever hear.
In Christian love,
Barry Robinson
1 New curriculum to give young people the skills for life and work – GOV.UK
About the Writer:
Barry Robinson is the Deputy National Ministry Leader for GCI in the UK & Ireland