Is Google still your default search engine? If so, you are helping an anti-Bible, anti-morality, pro-sodomy, pro-perversion, anti-God company with every search you make. They also intend to censor you and to eliminate your voice if they can. For example, if you search for “Homosexuality is wicked,” the top result (as of when I wrote this article) is an article that laughably claims that sodomy is not condemned by Scripture, and other pro-sodomy articles are in the top page of results. If you search on the search engine DuckDuckGo, the top result is an article entitled “Five Biblical Reasons Homosexuality is Worse than Most Other Sins” and practically every other article on the first page is anti-sodomy, with the anti-sodomy articles being stronger against this perversion than the ones on Google. Do you really think that the top results on Google are unbiased, or is Google putting a heavy thumb on the scale? If you search for “scientific creationism” on DuckDuckGo, the first page includes links to the Institute for Creation Research and Answers in Genesis. Neither website is on the first page in a Google search. Do you think that is by chance? If you search for “Hunter Biden China collusion,” the top result on DuckDuckGo is an article from the leading conservative organization National Review entitled “A Collusion Trail: China and the Bidens.” On Google, National Review does not appear anywhere on page one and this article is at the very bottom of page 2. Chance? Oh, no!
DuckDuckGo is not specifically conservative–it just doesn’t have the leftist bias of Google. DuckDuckGo just puts up what most people actually are searching for when they do Internet searches. While some interaction with wicked companies is unavoidable, breaking your tie with Google here is easy. Open your “preferences” file in the browser(s) you use right now (it may be some dots in the top right corner of your browser, or it may be in a menu) and change the default search engine from Google to DuckDuckGo. Do it on your phone. Do it on your laptop. Do it on everything. Google wants your data to make money, but it doesn’t want your beliefs. It wants to destroy them. Stop giving Google money with your Internet searches, and resist Google’s censorship of God’s truth. It takes about five minutes. Do it now.
–TDR
Nothing can replace the critical thinking ability. If you are able to detect bad reasoning and weigh all things in the balances of proper Biblical values, then as the Lord aids you will be able to detect when a search engine or information source is corrupt and foul. This is true no matter what it is that you use. While I would agree with you that this is a good idea, better still and far more rewarding is to develop individual agency and the ability to discern truth. As it says in Psalm 112:5, a “good man” will “guide his affairs with discretion.” Rather than a superstitious avoidance of certain things, far better is to be ahead of this curb and on the forefront oneself, of being able to detect what is according to godliness and based on Biblical values, rather than relying – other than our Lord – on someone else to tell you these things for you. Unfortunately, far too often we run into instances of missing a forest for the trees, which means being distracted by small details that could act individually to hide the bigger picture.
For instance, avoiding movie theaters, but watching the same films in other venues – Avoiding one franchise that has a long history of corruption with an accompanying bad name, but glomming onto a “fresh” “new” one immediately, that might be just as bad, but hasn’t been preached about by anyone yet. The fight to keep our own biases and tendencies as fallible creatures in check, and as people who think merely in herds, has to be maintained. This is why you can’t substitute Bible reading also. Otherwise you end up in a situation where you search for people prescribing things for you, in order to fill that role. I won’t go so far as to say that your only search engine should be word search on the Bible, but it should be pretty close. And if you don’t want to do this, you will simply end up somewhere in the Hegelian dialectic.
“While I would agree with you that this is a good idea, better still and far more rewarding is to develop individual agency and the ability to discern truth.”
Perhaps critical thinking would cause one to see in Brother Ross’ second sentence that he is encouraging people to stop helping Google financially. With Google, those who use it are the product, which is being sold to advertisers. It doesn’t matter how much critical thinking you exercise, if you use their “service,” you are helping them maintain market control and financing them.
Hi Anonymous,
I agree that critical thinking is crucial. I believe you would agree that Google censoring things is negative, based on Biblical critical thinking. Thanks.
Thanks, Bro Gleason.
By the way, I believe calls by conservatives for the government to regulate private big tech companies more is unwise. The government can do a lot more harm than Google. I think it is terrible that they bias their search results, preventing people from finding truth on their website, but I can use a different search engine, and I am still a free man if Google tries to prevent people from finding my blog or website. On the other hand, the government can put me in prison and kill me, take children from families, confiscate property, and so on. The way to fight big tech censorship is by us choosing to use different companies, not by encouraging the government to tell these private entities what to do. The regulation will do more harm than good in the long term.
I mostly agree, Brother Ross. Although I do think there are things that should be illegal, and that big tech should not be permitted to advocate for those things.
I do agree, though, that the solution to censorship by companies is not regulation.
Dear Bro Gleason,
I agree that some things should be illegal; say if laws were violated by Google illegally conspiring to make phones put their search engine on there. I think we pretty much agree here.
Shalom!