People don’t like to think. The reasons why are not surprising when we consider what it takes to actively engage the mind. Thinking takes work, time, energy, concentration, and can even cause a modest amount of discomfort. I believe that we can all relate to some degree that it is often easier to find reasons to do anything else but think when we are faced with the need to think. Thinking is simply hard to do.

Knowing that it is difficult for people to actively engage their minds in mental exertion, we can see why people would rather believe in something “simple” even though it is wrong, rather than do the work of asking questions and seeking out the answers. It is more comfortable to believe in a simple explanation because it doesn’t require thinking.

However, quite often simple explanations focus only on a limited point of view, and reject anything that challenges such an explanation. Oversimplified explanations often get in the way of understanding the whole truth of a matter. This oversimplification is reductionism. Reductionist explanations sound good, but can be very misleading to people when a deeper understanding is needed.

Reductionist explanations can do great damage when applied in situations when more completeness is necessary. For example, if we believe that all we need to do to maintain a car is to put fuel in the gas tank, it won’t be long before no amount of gas will make it go. It is true that a car requires gasoline, but relying on an overly simplified solution that “for cars to function, they need gas” doesn’t paint the whole picture. We often need to consider more information when looking to understand how things work.

When we look at secular so-called Christianity today, it is easy to recognize reductionist reasoning in effect. People will hang all of their beliefs on a handful of Scriptures and ignore the others that contradict their belief without even realizing it. People can read over Scriptures, passages, chapters, and books in the Bible without taking the time to think about what the words mean, because thinking is hard work. For example, it is common for nominal Christians to quote John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life,” and stop there. It is appealing to read one Scripture and build an entire body of doctrine around it. Taken alone, one would think that all a person has to do is believe in Jesus Christ to have everlasting life. Yet people don’t ask what it means to believe in Christ. As we know, there is a lot more to becoming a fully converted Christian than a mere belief in the existence of Jesus. But asking questions that challenge such an appealing and simple belief structure is inconvenient.

Of course, we cannot place all of the blame on people who don’t take the time to think about the teachings of the Bible. Not everyone is called in this age to understand the Truth. God calls whom He will today, which excludes the vast majority (compare John 6:44-45, John 6:65). However, the warning of falling into the trap of reductionist explanations applies even to converted members, and gravely so. If we choose to pass too quickly over the teachings of the Bible and the Church, through God’s ministry, without taking the time to make sure we understand why those teachings are true, we place ourselves in a slippery place. Developing our understanding of the Truth that will lead us to salvation requires searching the Scriptures for more collaborating evidence, not reducing explanations to less.

Developing our understanding of the Truth requires the entire Bible. You don’t need to take my word for it either! The Word of God expresses this instruction with great clarity. In Jesus Christ’s response to the temptation of Satan, He said, “… ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”’” (Matthew 4:4). We must take this to mean that all of the words of the Bible are there for us to use, and not ignore when the teachings are inconvenient to us, or when we might not yet understand what we learn. By using the entire Bible to help us build a complete understanding of the Truth, without corrupting it with the bias of our carnal nature, we will grow spiritually. But it takes some work to do it. “… For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little” (Isaiah 28:9-10).

Whether it is easy for us or not, it takes work to think and ask questions about what we learn if we want to develop our spiritual understanding. It is undoubtedly hard work to do. But we didn’t answer our calling from God because it would be an easy path for us. We answered our calling out of love for the Truth, knowing that this is the better way to live. We can be reassured that the work is worth the effort when we consider the instruction of Jesus Christ, “‘Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it’” (Matthew 7:13-14).

Over the past year and a half, I have been working from home while our offices remain closed because of the restrictions imposed to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. Since I don’t get out of the house very often, it is not uncommon for my attendance at Sabbath services on Saturday to be the only time I leave my property during the course of the week. As a result, the amount of my face-to-face interaction with real, live people tends to be exceedingly limited. Certainly, my experience is different than others who get out of the house more often, but I dare say that most of us are getting less human contact than we normally do. Especially for those who live in areas where lockdowns are in effect.

There are several damaging effects stemming from mandatory lockdowns, stay at home orders, and the limitation of human contact. But one of the most notable effects is the impact on our perception of reality. When we are limited in our ability to interact with the real world, the only ways that we can get any insight into what is happening “out there” is through the media that we are able to consume, and our imaginations. Unfortunately, both of these ways offer only a narrow and distorted view of a reality that is already difficult to understand objectively.

Particularly where we have limited interaction with the real world around us, news reports and social media become the main portals for information from the outside world. These work together to present information to us in ways designed to manipulate our beliefs and influence our behavior. Whether we like it or not, we are unavoidably affected by the agendas from these media outlets.

If we are not careful about the information we consume and how we allow ourselves to be influenced, we are doomed to be conformed to this corrupt world. Being Christians, we know that we are in the world for a purpose. We are ambassadors for Christ (compare 2 Corinthians 5:20), shining as lights in the darkness (compare Romans 2:19, Ephesians 5:8), so that we can share a better way of life through our example. Yet we are also to separate ourselves from the world so that we do not become conformed to it (compare Romans 12:2). We are responsible for increasing the strength of our conviction to live according to the highest of all standards – those standards established by the Truth and Commandments of God. This means that we need to be keenly selective of the information we consume from the world so that we can protect ourselves from the erosion of our belief in the Truth.

In this context, we curate news articles in the Update to provide you with a perspective that the mass media ignores. Understanding current events in light of Biblical prophecy is important for us because we need to understand what’s happening around us with a Spiritual understanding. The Church of the Eternal God and its international affiliates have a commission to support the brethren in their Spiritual growth, which we do through the presentation in the Update.

In His final hours of life on Earth, Jesus Christ prayed to God the Father on our behalf, knowing that we would face the challenges that we do today. He prayed, “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth” (John 17:14-19). With the world under the influence of Satan the devil, who is antagonistic towards the begotten children of God, our only hope is in holding fast to the Truth of God to protect ourselves from the lies espoused by the worldly media.

It is so important that we are careful to consider what we allow to form the foundation of our beliefs. Are we using the Truth of God to establish our beliefs, or do we allow the ideas from the worldly rhetoricians who dominate the media to infect us? We are moral agents, who need to make a distinction between what is good and evil, so that we can live the good Way of Life that is pleasing to God. It doesn’t take much to observe something wrong in the world, but we must ensure that the way it is presented in the mass media does not affect our beliefs. What is more difficult is filtering out what man will tell us is the right way to fix what we see as wrong. The news and media will present myriad opinions about what is right, many of which might sound good. However, we need to remember that man’s ways are not God’s ways (compare Isaiah 55:8). To remain true to our Christian commitment, we must always allow the words of the Bible to form the foundation of our beliefs, not the words of man. If we allow ourselves to be influenced by the Satanic corruption in this world, we place ourselves in a precarious position that will lead us away from God when we act upon faulty beliefs. Yet, if we keep our beliefs protected from corruption, our actions will be led by the Spirit, drawing us closer to God and leading us into the Glory He promises to those who obey Him.