In the World — What Is Truth?

“What is truth?”

Those were the words of Pontius Pilate nearly 2,000 years ago as he stood face-to-face with Jesus.

Jesus had just told him, “For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth.” I read Pilate’s response as almost dismissive—a shrug of the shoulders, a slight shake of the head, and an almost mumbled, “What is truth?”

It is an interesting question to consider in our own day.

Truth seems to have become increasingly difficult to find.

And no, I’m not just talking about politics. But yes, this does seem to be especially true when it comes to politics.

This week, President Donald Trump announced that CNN, MS NOW, and Politico would no longer have access to the White House. Reporters from those organizations subsequently had their White House credentials deactivated and were turned away from the building. The three organizations filed a lawsuit arguing that the action violates their First Amendment rights. The Trump administration maintains that the outlets remain free to report and that access to the White House is different from the right to publish.

There is an important distinction here.

Donald Trump did not shut down CNN, MS NOW, or Politico. He did not make it illegal for them to publish. They are still reporting on the administration. In fact, those organizations have continued covering President Trump from outside the White House and from other locations, including the United Nations.

Still, it wouldn’t be accurate to pretend that what happened with the press is no big deal. Reporters were denied access to the White House, their credentials were deactivated, and the administration defended the decision as a response to what it considers false or unfair reporting. The news organizations argue that excluding them because of the content of their reporting violates the First Amendment.

And now it has become a legal battle. On Thursday, a federal judge ordered the White House to temporarily restore the journalists’ access, finding that the outlets had shown they were likely entitled to constitutional protections. Reporters from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico were initially still turned away Thursday morning despite the order, but their access was restored later that day. The judge’s order is temporary, and the larger legal battle is still ongoing.

It’s a mess.

I have seen countless misrepresentations of what happened, and very few accurate representations of what actually happened.

What is truth?

If we care about truth, we have to be willing to tell the truth even when the truth doesn’t fit neatly into our preferred narrative.

To be fair, there is legitimate evidence that the news media’s coverage of Donald Trump has often been considerably more negative than positive. A Pew Research Center analysis of the first 60 days of Trump’s presidency found that 62% of stories in a long-term comparison sample carried a negative assessment of his words or actions, while only 5% carried a positive assessment.

But here’s where we need to be careful.

That research does not prove that the media were lying about Trump. Pew itself cautions that its study was not an analysis of media bias or an evaluation of whether coverage was accurate or fair.

And interestingly, when Pew studied the first 60 days of Joe Biden’s presidency, the overall coverage was not simply “positive.” Across 25 news outlets, 32% of stories carried a negative assessment, 23% a positive assessment, and 45% neither positive nor negative. The coverage also varied considerably depending on the political orientation of the outlet’s audience.

So what do we do with all of that?

Maybe we start by asking a better question.

What is true?

How long should a president tolerate what he believes is unfair or inaccurate coverage?

How much authority should the government have over access to the press?

What responsibility does a news organization have to report honestly?

What happens when journalists believe they are exposing wrongdoing while the person being covered believes he is being lied about?

And perhaps most importantly:

What does God expect of us when we don’t know whom to believe?

I think the answer begins with something much simpler than politics.

Tell the truth.

Don’t repeat something simply because it confirms what you already believe.

Don’t share a story because it makes the other side look foolish.

Don’t accept something as fact simply because it came from a source you trust.

And don’t reject something simply because it came from a source you don’t trust.

Check it.

Slow down.

Ask questions.

Look at the actual facts.

And when we don’t know something, perhaps we should be humble enough to say, “I don’t know.”

That might be one of the most difficult things for us to say in the age of social media.

We live in a world where a rumor can circle the globe before the truth has even put its shoes on.

A headline becomes a post.

The post becomes a screenshot.

The screenshot becomes a video.

The video becomes someone’s evidence that “everybody knows” what happened.

And sometimes what everybody knows isn’t actually what happened.

A quote that is often attributed to Mark Twain (though there is no solid evidence he actually said it) fits well here:

“The trouble with the world is not that people know too little; it’s that they know so many things that just aren’t so.” – Mark Twain (maybe…)

The Bible has a word for deliberately spreading false or damaging information about another person: lying.

It also has a word for passing along damaging information that we have no business passing along: gossip.

Neither one of these actions becomes acceptable simply because the person we’re talking about is someone we dislike.

The Apostle Paul left us with some incredibly practical words in Philippians 4.

Paul wrote:

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

And then he said:

“What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

Notice where Paul started.

Whatever is true.

Not whatever makes our side look good.

Not whatever makes the other side look bad.

Not whatever gets the most clicks.

Not whatever confirms what we already believe.

Whatever is true.

And perhaps this brings us back to Pilate.

“What is truth?”

Pilate asked that question while standing in front of the One who had just told him that He came into the world to bear witness to the truth.

Pilate was looking at Truth incarnate and asking what truth was.

And I wonder if we sometimes do the same thing.

We can become so consumed with politics, news, personalities, outrage, arguments, and competing narratives that we forget that truth isn’t ultimately a political position.

Truth is found in a Person.

Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”

So maybe our calling in a world drowning in competing versions of reality isn’t to become better at winning arguments. Maybe it’s to become people who love the truth because we belong to Jesus.

We don’t have to defend everything Donald Trump says.

We don’t have to defend everything the media says.

We don’t have to have an opinion about every controversy.

But we do need to care about what is true.

We don’t need to know everything. We do need to care about what is true.

Because our words matter.

Our witness matters.

What we post matters.

What we repeat matters.

And ultimately, Jesus matters.

So before we share that story, repeat that accusation, forward that meme, or tell someone what “everybody knows,” maybe we should stop and ask a very simple question:

Is it true?

Nearly 2,000 years ago, Pontius Pilate asked, ‘What is truth?’ while the answer was standing right in front of him.

Today, the answer hasn’t changed.

Truth still matters.

And so does the One who came into the world to bear witness to it.

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In the World — What Is Truth?

“What is truth?” Those were the words of Pontius Pilate nearly 2,000 years ago as he stood face-to-face with Jesus. It’s an interesting question to consider in our own day, because truth seems increasingly difficult to find. This week, President Donald Trump barred CNN, MS NOW, and Politico journalists from the White House. The news organizations sued, arguing that the action violated their First Amendment rights. On Thursday, a federal judge ordered their access restored, ruling that the ban was likely unconstitutional. Yet, according to reports (as I write this), the journalists were still being turned away.

I think there are legitimate questions on both sides of this story. What responsibility does a news organization have to report honestly? How should a president respond when he believes he is being treated unfairly or inaccurately? How much authority should the government have over access to the press? And perhaps the bigger question: How do we know what is true when everyone seems to be telling us something different?

To be fair, there certainly is evidence that the media’s coverage of Trump has been considerably more negative than positive, while coverage of Biden was much more mixed—even leaning toward more positive than negative in one long-term comparison. But even that research comes with important qualifications: it measures the tone and assessment of coverage, not whether the reporting itself was true, fair, or biased.

As Christians, I think our response to all of this should be bigger than simply deciding which side we believe. We should become people who care deeply about truth. That means slowing down before we share the latest headline. It means not believing something simply because it confirms what we already think, and not rejecting something simply because we dislike the person or organization saying it. It means checking the facts, asking questions, and sometimes being humble enough to say, “I don’t know.” In an age where a rumor can travel around the world before the truth has even put its shoes on, our responsibility is not to add to the noise—but to contribute to bringing clarity.

Paul gives us a remarkably practical standard in Philippians 4:8: “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable… think about these things.” That applies to what we watch, what we read, what we believe, what we repeat, and what we post.

We don’t have to defend everything that the President of the United States says. We don’t have to defend everything the media says. In fact, we don’t even have to have an opinion about whatever the latest current-event controversy happens to be. But we do need to care about what is true. Because truth isn’t ultimately a political position. Truth is found in a Person. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”

Nearly 2,000 years ago, Pontius Pilate asked, “What is truth?” while the answer was standing right in front of him. Today, the answer hasn’t changed. Truth still matters. And so does the One who came into the world to bear witness to it.