Fake news, real news and good news

There’s a battle raging in the media about so-called “fake news” vs. “real news,” but let’s not forget the good news.

Let me read you something by a gentleman named Eden Chen:

“I met a missionary couple from Germany and a missionary from Florida who helped reignite my search for God. These missionaries had lived in the inner-city projects for extended periods, and materially speaking they had next to nothing, but they were the most joyful people I had ever met. I had always assumed that more riches and possessions led to greater joy. …”

He continues: “After returning home, I embarked on an all-encompassing search for God. I studied the major world religions — Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Christianity. I figured that if God was real, then he would probably make himself known. I read C.S. Lewis’ “Mere Christianity,” the most logical expression of faith that I had encountered. All of a sudden, it struck me that running away from Christianity would require more faith than running toward it.”

You’ll find “the rest of the story,” as Paul Harvey used to say, in Christianity Today. Whatever you think about the “fake news vs. real news” debate, I trust you realize that you won’t find such good news like Eden Chen’s in The New York Times or The Economist.

C.S. Lewis once said, “If one only had time to read a little more: We either get shallow and broad or narrow and deep.” So with summer around the corner, to borrow another phrase, let’s go both deep and wide and read just a little bit more. And because there’s so much bad news in the world — whether “fake” or “real” — let’s try to focus on the good.

And just where do Christians find this good news? Of course, it’s found supremely in God’s Word, the Bible, which speaks to all times and seasons. And Christian books are another source of good news.

But today I want to focus on the sometimes-neglected world of Christian publications, especially magazines, websites and blogs. The story about Eden Chen I read from a moment ago is just one bit of good news you can read about from talented and godly journalists, editors and writers who daily — sometimes, hourly — give us a Christian perspective on events and trends.

They introduce us to kingdom people doing things the “fake news” and “real news” crowd has no interest in. They help us see the world with a Christian worldview. Some of my BreakPoint colleagues have written great articles for just such outlets, including Shane Morris at the Patheos blog, Warren Cole Smith at World magazine and Gina Dalfonzo and Stan Guthrie at Christianity Today.

I have time to mention only a few of these purveyors of good news — that is, stories and articles that provide hope and a Christian perspective on the events of the day. First, of course, is our own BreakPoint.org website, which provides the text and audio of every commentary like this one. Our site also offers columns, The Point commentaries by John Stonestreet and everything you need on the topics of Christian worldview, life and human dignity, the church, arts and the media, science and technology, and religious liberty.

I also commend for your reading edification and pleasure First Things magazine, which is published by the Institute of Religion and Public Life “to advance a religiously informed public philosophy”; Christ and Pop Culture, which seeks “to acknowledge, appreciate and think rightly about the common knowledge of our age”; Aleteia, which offers a Christian and Catholic “vison of the world”; and the website for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, just to name a few. So come to our BreakPoint website for a longer list, along with the links.

Should you get all your news from Christian publications? Heavens no. But for finding good news and views that will inspire you to think and act Christianly, you can’t do better than the Christian publications and sites I’ve just mentioned. Again, check out our list at BreakPoint.org.

From Breakpoint, May 23, 2017; reprinted with permission of Prison Fellowship, www.breakpoint.org.