E-gossip

Okay. I've had it. I'm tired of being the resident cynic in my Internet community. But I'm also tired of receiving e-mails that are lies being circulated as prayer requests or dressed in some other religious disguise.
Some of the e-mails are gut-wrenching stories about individuals in need of prayer. Others are warnings about people, products, or political foes. Some are inspirational. But nearly all are infused with untruth.
Whenever I receive a suspicious e-mail, I check it out. It takes less than a minute to go to google.com and type in a few key search words. Within seconds I can log onto Web sites like urbanlegends.com or truthorfiction.com. If the e-mail is false, I reply to the sender with a link to the Web site hosting the information, which has been compiled by someone who has taken the time to find out the truth.
No one wants to spread a false story, but spreading rumors is now easy that we can disseminate false information to our entire address book simply hitting "forward". It seems like an innocent pastime to many people. But is it?
When we're careless about truth, we slowly but surely dismantle our own credibility. Why would anyone believe what we say about spiritual matters-- like Jesus and His incarnation and resurrection-- when we spread rumors without bothering to find out if they're false, proving that we have little regard for truth?
Someone might argue that circulating falsehoods in e-mails is harmless and unimportant. But let's consider a few things the Bible has to say: "The righteous hate what is false" (Proverbs 13:5). Jesus referred to the devil as the father of lies (John 8:44). Christians have no business being his accomplice.
If we want people to believe us when it comes to the important matters of salvation and eternity, we can't afford to sacrifice our credibility for false rumors, no matter how compelling or convincing they seem.

-- Julie Ackerman Link