Osama, Obama and Trust

The news that Osama bin Laden is dead has now begun to morph. We are seeing stories which question the truth of the story. Some doubt he is dead and claim it is made up. Others question details of the event. Was a wife used as a human shield? Was the body disposed of at sea? Why did the helicopter go down? What really happened?

I came of age during Watergate. I watched my president resign in disgrace. News stories of cover ups dominated my high school years. I mention that because I think it has forever changed me in subtle ways. I think I forget about the impact it has had on me. I forget about the way it has shaped the history and literature of my entire life. I have grown up in a cynical, doubting world where there is good reason to think that liars are predominant.

I expect that there are things which the government does not want our enemies to know, so I assume there are things that they will not tell us. I have no reason to believe we are getting the complete story, nor do I think we are getting a completely true story. Probably there are things we should not know. The problem with fabrication, though, is one lie leads to another. At some point, creating distortions and falsehoods becomes a way of life. As my dad once said about a little boy "he lied so much that he would even lie when telling the truth was to his advantage."  For as long as I can remember we have had media twisted and spun by politicians. It is the way they are. Most all of them. It is the nature of their business. The media is also dishonest. They are motivated to tell ugly stories which will gain an audience. Their own political slant colors coverage.

What happens when someone cannot trust? What happens when, over and over again, people find out that the official story is 'historical ficiton' and that the people whom we call leaders are often times intentionally misleading us? In some cases for good reason (national security) but more often for personal gain or to protect their power?

The theological term is "the Fall." It means that we live in a world which is deeply affected by sin. We are victims of that as well as perpetrators. It is disheartening to never know, with confidence, that we are being told the truth or being lied to. It is disheartening to know that people who are master manipulators of media create images to fool us. It is sad to think that every word out of this (and every) president's mouth is being filtered by image consultants and social scientists analyzing the political benefit of saying 'this' rather than 'that.'

In church circles we say, "saved by faith." I think there is a sense in which finding Someone who is trustworthy is an experience of salvation. Probably one reason for the loss of faith in God in our age is the parallel loss of faith in most institutions and most people. There is corruption in our churches, too. Scandals of all sorts are covered up. 

Trust is a challenge to us all, perhaps more difficult now than in other times or places. Or maybe not. Maybe it has always been this way. Maybe that is why faith is salvific. Perhaps, since Adam turned on Eve after the Fall, we have always lived in a world where distrust and lies have dominated. At any rate, don't you hunger for deliverance from a world of violence and dishonesty? Don't you wish things were better? Where does that dissatisfaction arrive from? Why are we humans able to see how things are and discern they could be, should be, better? I think that is the finger print of God on creation. There is hope in the midst of all this. There is Truth in the midst of lies. There is faith in the midst of doubt. There is a resurrected Savior, Jesus, in the midst of sin and death.