Greetings Brethren!

Last night I watched a 1982 episode of the Johnny Carson show. On this particular show one of the guests was legendary television newsman Walter Cronkite. Mr. Cronkite had just retired one year earlier. During the interview Mr. Cronkite expressed a regret about television news. He was concerned that at that time MOST of the public got their news from television. He said there was no way they could ever be well informed if that’s the only place they got their news. Television news, he said, could basically only present the headlines and he was worried about the public not being informed enough about current events.

Fast forward to today. Today most people get their news from headlines. Television news, late night comedians and political figures routinely report sound bites or headlines that are massaged to look reasonable but are really only their own opinions. On the internet sites like Twitter ONLY deal in who can shout something the loudest and get the most people to believe THEIR headline. 

 As a result there have been several recent news stories where what was loudly reported initially was eventually shown to be the exact opposite of the real story.

Have we ever considered the fact that many Christians base their faith on loud bible “headlines” as well?  For example we find this headline in the bible:

Romans 14:5  One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind.

This headline is blasted out of context with the “spin” that we no longer have to honor the Lord’s sabbath day! All days are alike and we can pick what day to “esteem”.

There are many examples where Christians have taken a verse out of context and made up their own “story” of what it means. The apostle Peter SAW this very same thing happening while he was alive and warned against it:

2 Peter 3:15-16  and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. 

Unless we know the WHOLE story we’re ignorant of the REAL story. We are untaught. We don't know the truth.  This applies to the bible today as surely as it applies to the news today.

So brethren let’s not get caught up in the headlines and think we know the real story. Let’s study our bibles and get the whole story.

Take care and see you soon!

Doug