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Should I Believe What I Read Online?
by Patricia Engler and Harry F. Sanders, III on Dec 19, 2025
The internet is the most popular source of information today. We ask search engines like Google about everything from where to find the grocery store to who won the ball game last night. And for questions like that, it is useful and usually right. However, it is not right about everything. Far from it.
Because anyone in the world can post things to the internet, not everything on the internet can be true. For example, Muslims can post the teachings of Islam, and Christians can post the teachings of Christianity. These two things contradict each other, and thus, only one can be true. The other must be false.
It should not suprise us that some things on the internet aren’t true. After all, the content is generated by humans (or increasingly by AI), and humans and AI both can make mistakes. AI is notorious for inventing things that aren’t true, and humans are not much better. The only perfectly reliable source of information is God’s Word. So how can we tell true from false on the internet?
The answer is to use critical thinking. Critical thinking means taking time to evaluate the truthfulness of information that we are presented. We do this to see if it is likely true or likely false. To that end, we can ask some questions about the material we see to help us determine if it is true or false.
- What does the Bible say about this topic?
- Where does the information come from?
- What is the source’s worldview?
- What does the source mean by these words?
- Why does this message sound true? (Is that a good reason?)
- Which parts of this message are facts?
- How could we explain the same facts based on God’s Word?
- Is there any other bad logic?
You should also ask your parents. They have a lot more experience and wisdom than you do. That’s one reason God put them in your life—to help you learn and grow.
If you apply these questions to information you hear (not just online but everywhere), you can set yourself up well to filter out falsehoods and only accept the truth. It is important to always be on guard. Sometimes falsehoods come from places you least expect.
