The more we know, the dumber we get?

With ever-expanding sources of information in a booming “Information Age,” some people are actually making poorer decisions.

Why?

Because they are making more decisions based on “information” rather than substantiated fact or truth.

Information can be a pool of anything: untested ideas, gossip, opinion, partial truths, sound truth, sales pitches, someone’s preferences, lies, slander, or any variety of tidbits published or broadcast as information, and much of the information is dispersed without any fact-checking done prior to dissemination. With the deluge of information available to anyone, some are failing to distinguish between what is truth, and what isn’t, but are simply making decisions based on information in front of them.

The result is more people making decisions, or even building whole opinions, on topics based on information they rely on without knowing the source(s) of information, or intent of the source, or even bothering to check where the information comes from, and whether or not it’s accurate.

For example, we’ve already developed a mindset that if we need data from which to craft a decision, we “just Google it.” For many, what Google churns out is what they form their opinions — and decisions — from. Yet, Google is just a channel for accessing a mass of information, not a provider of sorted, searched data with only reliable, wholly true results provided to the inquirer.

Christians are no exception to this sloppy use of information. By making decisions from simple information, many Christians are living their lives based on what they think the Bible says, rather than what it actually says.

For example, every day I see hundreds of “Christian platitudes” tweeted on Twitter or posted to Facebook or blog sites, many (if not a large majority) of which are biblically inaccurate. But they sound good and make people feel good, and so people embrace them as biblical guidance. Once when discussing with a “Twitter friend” a biblically inaccurate platitude he had shared, he commented that his tweet wasn’t off “much.” I pointed out that Satan was off “just a little” regarding truth in his conversation with Eve in the Garden, and the result was catastrophic.

A little false information taken as truth can be ruinous to a life, a relationship, a family, or a church or organization.

To avoid calamitous decision-making, we can learn a lesson about how to filter new information from a people who, long ago, were faced with new info that would be life-changing for them. The story of how the Bereans responded to new teaching is told in Acts 17:10-12, “That very night the believers sent Paul and Silas to Berea. When they arrived there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth. As a result, many Jews believed, as did many of the prominent Greek women and men.”

The Bereans were very responsive to Paul and Silas, yet they did not allow their responsiveness to make them sloppy with their decision-making. They listened to Paul’s message, but then they diligently searched the scriptures every day to make sure the information they were receiving was true. Unlike many today, the Bereans made sure they lived their lives based on what the scriptures actually said, not simply what they thought it said.

What do you do with information you receive? How do you make decisions from information made available to you? What role, if any, does the Bible play in how you shape your opinions and make decisions?

Scotty