Imagine the year is 2525, and you are sitting comfortably in
your luxury pod on Mars studying early twenty-first century writings, trying to
learn what life was like for your ancestors on planet Earth. At your disposal are thousands of recently
discovered digital files that have been meticulously translated into
contemporary Martian vernacular. These
appear to be reports from numerous sources on events that occurred near the end
of the earthly inhabitation. The only
problem is that many of the reports seem to contradict one another. The challenge is to determine which of these
early writings are factual, and which contain misleading or downright false
information.
What we know so far. The
twentieth century saw a transition in the way information was exchanged on
Earth. Events were originally recorded
by a handful of usually reputable sources on a flat media called paper made
from protrusions called trees that once existed on Earth. By the year 2016, many of these newspapers
became extinct. Almost all news was now coded
in digital media passed electronically through various networks via something
called the Internet.
The popularity of this new media quickly soared. News
traveled instantaneously all over Earth.
Terminal ports became commonplace among the populace, allowing anyone to
pass information anywhere. Yet, this
remarkable ability also became its downfall.
The number of news sources grew dramatically. While some were reputable, many were
not. Some reports contained erroneous
information. Others were deliberately
skewed to promote a certain agenda.
Still others were downright spurious stories from which arose
preposterous conspiracy theories that gullible individuals accepted as fact. Even
today, some Martians do not believe human beings ever inhabited Earth.
In the twenty-sixth century, we Martian historians are faced
with the task of determining which of these early digital writings represent
factual information about our earthly origins.
The complexity of this challenge is daunting. Even reports attributed to once known
reputable news sources predating the so-called Internet have been called into
question. Each story much be
corroborated, looking for consensus and discrepancies. Some are easily verified as factual, and
some are obviously ridiculous. Those are
readily classified. Many others contain
some truth, but perhaps exaggerated or distorted. These are disputed, requiring a team of
qualified individuals to decide where they belong in the historical record.
Now, imagine you are a Bishop in the fourth century facing a
similar challenge. You are sitting
comfortably in your dimly lit catacomb preparing to attend a council where you
will have to peruse a stack of early Christian writings on velum to determine
which contain the inspired Word of God.
Some are already accepted as inspired, and others not. Yet, many are disputed, requiring a team of
duly appointed bishops to determine what will become the Canon of Scripture,
the Bible that will guide future earthly generations, and perhaps even beyond. Think about that responsibility and how
misled Christians could be if a mistake were made.
That is why God Incarnate in His Son, Jesus Christ,
established a Church, and promised to send the Holy Spirit to guide the Church
to all truth. There is no fake news in
Scripture. If you trust in the Bible,
you are trusting in the truth of the Catholic Church.
