Forwarding Emails
Ponder: Is that email I’m about to forward really true?
Scripture: “Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with his deeds” (Colossians 2:9 NKJV).
Wait! Before you forward that email to everyone in your address book, check it out to see if it’s true.
You’ve probably seen the TV ad where the lady thinks nobody can put anything on the internet that isn’t true; she’s certain this is so because she read it on the internet! Before you laugh too hard, ask yourself if you’ve done the same thing with emails. Someone sends you an email, forwarded from someone else, informing you that the President, or a member of congress, or an atheist, or someone else has done or said something that upsets you. Wanting to share your outrage with others, you forward the email to those whose views parallel your own. But did you check first to see if the story was even true?
Not everything you read in an email is true. There are unscrupulous people of every political, philosophical, and religious stripe who will make things up, distort the facts, put bogus captions on pictures, and fabricate outright lies to advance their agenda. Christians, above all people, ought to take great pains to avoid helping such people spread those lies, no matter who the intended victim might be.
Even if you legitimately disapprove of the policies of the President, Congressperson, movie star, or whoever else is being criticized, you are not justified in promoting stories that are not true. It isn’t difficult to check the facts. Snopes is a good place to start. A simple Google search oftentimes reveals the source of the story and enables you to determine whether it is true.
Our God is the God of truth (Deuteronomy 32:4). Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). God’s word is the word of truth (Ephesians 1:13). Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44). If I spread lies, whether through email or some other means of communication, who am I imitating?
There is no substitute for truth.
Now, forward this email to everyone in your address book! :-)