On the Road to Emmaus: Instantaneous Information
Proper discernment of information is vital to making wise decisions.
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There was a time not long ago when the word “instant” was mostly associated with coffee, tanning supplies, and pudding. Thanks to the Internet, information access is now instantaneous. Email is instantaneous. Google is instantaneous. Facebook and Instagram are instantaneous. But instantaneous does not necessarily mean “right.”
Consider Wikipedia, the on-line “instant” encyclopedia. With the push of a few buttons on your computer, you can have immediate information about almost anything. However, there’s just no guarantee that the information is going to be correct.
In fact, often it is not. The problem with instantaneous access to information is that people tend to believe things without taking any effort to verify if what’s being said is true. So if Wikipedia says “the world is flat,” then there are sure to be a lot of people who will believe it.
Let us never be instant believers. We should have the same attitude as that of the Bereans, of whom it says in Acts that they “received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11) Proper discernment of information is vital to making wise decisions. You would never hire someone to do a job simply because they were the first one to respond, and you shouldn’t always believe the first thing you hear. Instant tans don’t last. Instant coffee is terrible. Instant information should never be instantly accepted. Instant pudding, however, is pretty good.
Jim Sullivan,
Stoughton Ecclesia, MA