Heresy, Fake News and Envy

Maybe heresy and fake news have something in common.

Both are born when the truth is rearranged.

Not always through a complete lie. Many times through a half truth, a clipping, a narrative and repetition.

A fake news story usually distorts facts of the visible world.

A heresy can distort truths of the spiritual world.

And both have enormous power, because human beings do not live only by facts. We also live by the stories we tell about them.

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But there is a delicate question here:

Who decides what is heresy?
And who decides what is fake news?
Who decides what is true?

Throughout history, religious institutions, governments and human groups have often taken on that role.

Sometimes to contain real errors.

Other times, however, protecting narratives, interests and structures already established.

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This is where something silent and dangerous appears: envy.

The word envy comes from the Latin invidere, to look against.

Maybe that is why envy is not always just wanting to have what the other has. Sometimes it is the difficulty of seeing and recognizing.

Where there is envy, the truth stops being sought and starts being disputed.

Narratives begin to defend positions, territories and powers.

“For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there is confusion and every kind of evil.”James 3:16

But there is a Lawgiver and Judge above men.

“There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who can save and destroy.”James 4:12

This does not mean that man cannot discern.

It only means that discerning is not possessing the truth.

It is seeking it with humility.

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Maybe that is why Jesus did not invite us to an ideology, but to a Way.

The first disciples were known exactly that way: those of the Way.

Because truth does not exist to be dominated or used against the other.

It exists to set free.