Confronting Anxiety Meditations No.15: Deceptions, old and new
A Common Modern Blight: Perverting the truth has not been uncommon in this fallen world. We see it today with false accusations by countries seeking an excuse to invade another (e.g. Russia & Ukraine in 2022), we face it in the lies coming over your phone or Internet by scammers, and we hear it in political circles to such a degree that none of us any longer fully know the truth. But we also find it in the Bible.
Biblical Examples: THE classic instance is Satan challenging Eve over what God said and the consequences of it (Gen 3:1-5) at the Fall, but our starter verse reminds us of Jezebel’s strategy to bring down the somewhat unwise Naboth because of his refusal to sell his land to Ahab. But of course we also see it at the hands of the religious authorities plotting to ensure Jesus’ death (see Mt 26:59,60 – observe the word ‘false’ twice used.) Deception, perverting, distorting, twisting and corrupting the truth.
Election Tampering: In the previous study we said we asked the Internet AI tools to answer our question, “What are the fears of AI wrongly influencing democratic elections?” Here is its answer slightly cut down for simplification (and we have sought to avoid changing the meaning of what it said!) So here goes:
“The fears of AI influencing democratic elections revolve around several key concerns:
Misinformation and Disinformation: AI can generate or spread false information, which can mislead voters and skew public opinion. This can undermine the integrity of elections by presenting fabricated narratives or distorting facts.
Deepfakes and Synthetic Content: The rise of generative AI has made it easier to create sophisticated deepfakes and counterfeit websites. These can be used to create fake endorsements or speeches, potentially swaying voter opinions.
Bias and Manipulation: AI systems might propagate biases or opinions that do not represent the public sentiment, leading to a skewed perception of candidates or issues.
Election Integrity: There is a concern that AI could be used to interfere with electoral processes, affecting the legitimacy of election results and the credibility of governments.
Social Destabilization: The spread of misinformation and disinformation through AI can trigger tensions, conflict, and even violence related to elections.
Erosion of Trust: The use of AI in spreading misinformation can lead to a general erosion of trust in democratic institutions and processes.
While these concerns are significant, it’s also noted that AI has the potential to combat these issues by identifying and countering false information and deepfakes. The challenge lies in ensuring that AI technologies are developed and used in line with democratic values and for the protection of the electoral process.” Wow!
Modern Culture Wars: Turning to the modern day culture wars, initially promulgated to right wrongs, being THE other primary place of deception in recent decades, a couple of years ago I investigated these in some depth from a (hopefully) Christian perspective and the 23-Part extensive study can be found on CultureWarsContents (readbiblealive.com). What is interesting though is that despite the deceptions in respect of race, gender propaganda, etc. being accepted into the life and policies of universities, colleges, schools and most other public institutions, the woke philosophy is being rejected in large measure by young people. Using a search engine on the ‘Times’ will save me documenting the changes that have, thankfully, been taking place recently.
Modern Failures: What is sad is that there have been church leaders and even denominations who allowed themselves to be mindlessly swept along on the torrent of pressures from the culture warriors without investigating before acting, and thinking before acting, and thus failed to raise a voice of dissent that is only now being raised in government and media. Deception, without doubt, was the name of the game. I have sought to address some of those things in the online study referred to above, but even that is now out of date, now the tide is indeed turning.
A Need for Discernment & Wisdom: Whenever we hear of news reports of anything to do with modern culture, social behaviour and trends, and morality – either on social media, or on the internet generally – we need to be praying and asking, what really is the truth about this? As a general rule, may we adopt Jesus’ approach of loving acceptance, but challenge anything that causes division, and seek to think well of others, while seeking to be discerning.
A Rock & a Hard Place? Someone summed up the difficulties of being a Christian in America this year as follows: On one hand we seem to have a president who espouses a permissive lifestyle. On the other we have a challenger who appears to make sense in ‘Making America a better place,’ yet seems to exhibit distinct signs of unrighteousness. Do we opt for the permissive life on the one hand or the unrighteous approach on the other? Across the water, we will simply pray that you will have the wisdom of Solomon. We ALL need it in these anxiety-creating days which we are passing through.
Bible Meditation Shop 