The bizarrely misused idea of “alternative facts” got me thinking and drawing parallels with faith.

Let me explain.

Facts keep me grounded. They help my earthly experience and give my senses something to engage with. Facts are the reason I would put on a coat when outdoors in winter, as not doing so would leave me unwell.

Fiction gives me the illusion of a world beyond my reality. It offers an escape or a stretch of the imagination into alternative but non-existent realms.

Faith invites me to challenge and transform my outward and visible reality by believing that through God, anything in the natural can be changed.

When Jesus described a dead girl as asleep in one of His love-fuelled miraculous works (see Matthew 9:18-26), He presented an alternative to the fact of death.

Lies do not change reality, even when they are believed. Truth is the foundation of reality (see Hebrews 11:1-3 below). Conspiracy theorists may remain convinced that the moon does not exist. That will not affect the reality of the moon. A thief may find a lawyer good enough to defend their innocence; but the truth remains in the heart of the thief, as well as in the eyes of God.

Jesus is Truth. Whatever is built on His Words, Spirit and demonstrated lifestyle endures. As the world shows a tendency towards regression, all who believe in Christ must keep it together by holding and expressing His truth in all we do. (See Ephesians 6:13-14)

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. (Hebrews 11:1-3, NKJV Bible)