When you do "your own research," what exactly are you studying?

your hearts may be sincere, but you're choosing the wrong fight (and sources)

Talk to a sports fan, a pop culture aficionado, or a car buff, and you’ll often be astonished by the scope and breadth of their very specific knowledge.

Also, “activists,” anywhere on the ideological spectrum, can recite chapter and verse on what they think ‘really matters,’ e.g., climate change, vaccines, voting tallies, systemic racism, “psyops,” and annual government budgets — to name but a few.

Clearly, humans were created with an inherent desire to discover and disseminate.

Bring up the Scriptures to any of the above folks, however, and the whining commences. The Bible is too long, too dense, too confusing, etc., etc.

Depending on which version of the Bible you read, the LORD has provided anywhere up to 81 books of His Word. It’s been available for millennia. But we’re far more interested in memorizing sports stats, Oscar nominations, and conspiracy theories.

As a result, someone whose brain is chock full of arcane, self-serving, and ultimately irrelevant “facts” is rendered incapable of, well… doing their own research.

In most cases, “doing my own research” = parroting whatever your paranoia peer group decides is “the truth.”

Meanwhile, everyone seems to have a strong opinion about “religion,” but very, very few of them have ever actually read the handbook — and I don’t mean cherry-picking or coerced study.

I know firsthand that good intentions aren’t enough to alter the patterns described above.

Two of my 12 published books are annotated history books. That reality, plus the thousands of articles I’ve had published, turned me into a go-to person for “real story” on a very wide range of topics (including, for a while, The Pandemic™). Trust me, such a reputation feeds one’s ego.

But something was always missing…

Since twelve years of Catholic school didn’t inspire me much, it wasn’t until much later in my life that I returned with gusto to God’s Word. Rather than relying on my [sic] ability to “do my own research,” I fully trusted God to help me see the world with new eyes.

He obviously gifted me with a knack for self-education. Finally, I’m utilizing that talent to follow His plan.

Trends come and go. Meanwhile, the wisdom and lessons in the Scriptures are timeless. Consider this: There is literally nothing more important to read and research.

Not to mention, it’s a powerful antidote to internet addiction, doom scrolling, confirmation bias, groupthink, and everything else from porn to video games to binge-watching and beyond.

With all that in mind, I present a challenge to everyone reading this post to ask God to guide them in a slow, deliberate, and open-minded full reading of the Bible in 2026. (And when you’re done, go back to Genesis and start all over again.)

Who’s in?

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P.S. It’s almost Christmas!

@toriawalker

Tori Walker on Instagram

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