How Can We Evaluate The Media?

1. Experience:

“About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 5:12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 5:13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 5:14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil”.
Hebrews 5:11–14 ESV

Generally speaking, the more experience of life we have, the greater possibility we have to possess some wisdom. Wisdom is simply knowing how to live life well in line with reality. As we think bout evaluating all the competing voices that come to us in all the forms of media present today, we want to evaluate those voices based on our wisdom and common sense.

If we want to be people who possess and express a consistent Biblical Worldview, we need our powers of discernment to be trained by practice so that we can discern good and evil, truth and lie, light and darkness. The more we engage and interact with The Truth – particularly the Truth of Father God’s World – the better we are trained to discern and recognize truth, wherever it is found. This is also true of discerning the lies and deception that are multiplied in our culture.

When we listen to the many voices of the media, we also want to make sure that whoever is speaking also has wisdom based in experience to confirm that their message is in line with Truth and Reality. That brings us to our next point.

Expertise / Authority

This point of evaluation is a simple question: does this source/voice have the expertise to know what they are talking about? In our times, the Internet has made it easier than ever for anyone to put forth plausible sounding arguments and ideas.

“2:1 For I want you to know … [and] to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, 2:3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 2:4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.… 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
…2:20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 2:21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 2:22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 2:23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
Colossians 2:1-23 (ESV)

As we will discuss shortly, Jesus Christ is the ultimate source of all Truth and Wisdom because He defines reality as Creator, Savior and King. The better we know Him, the better we are trained to discern others who claim to be experts in life.

However, there are many specific topics in our culture that the Scriptures do no address. When we are evaluating voices that are speaking to us in these areas, we must put those voices to the test of evidence.

Evidence

There are three questions to help us here:

1. How does this source/voice know what it claims to know?
2. Does this source/voice square with reality?
3. Does this source/voice have evidence to support its claims?

This last evaluation point will take more work on our part. However, it is critical in our day not to simply believe a voice or a viewpoint simply because it is there. There is so much false, untrue information floating around today, we have to make sure that what we are hearing and trusting squares with the best evidence available to confirm and support what is being said.

In a Bible Based, Christ Focused worldview, we are paying attention to our intuition and working with our reason to test every source/voice captured by the media to see if they align with Scripture and the knowledge of Christ.