Please Forward This To Everyone in Your Email Address List…

Chain emails are something I can’t stand. They show up from co-workers, family members, and especially fellow Christians warning against some great evil that is about to happen. You are implored to pass it on to everyone you know. Of course the people who send them usually don’t forward this type of thing, but “this one is different”.

Its not that I can’t just delete them – I can. However, at best, it makes me wonder about the gullibility of people; at worst, I think it is very damaging to the Kingdom of God.

There seems to be a very predictable formula for concocting a good email rumor. You start with a good serving of some group we know and distrust/dislike (e.g. liberals, ACLU, politicians). Add to that a subject that either pulls at our heart strings or gets our blood boiling (e.g. religious freedom, our troops, the flag, little children). Include an impending deadline and some people with some official sounding titles. End with a plea to send the story forward to everyone you know. Enjoy, your chain email rumor is ready. I’m not sure what people get out of creating email hoaxes, however, if they use the standard recipe they can be pretty much assured that people will pick it up and run with it.

So how can this be damaging to the Kingdom of God? Its not just about passing on slander and gossip, which I believe the Bible clearly defines as sin, but I think at the heart of it is the issue of credibility. The rumors make their way into discussions or sermons or even calls to action at church. As Christians, we are called to tell people some pretty incredible news – The Son of God came and died and rose again. If I was not a Christian and I knew that Christians commonly passed on untrue information and stories, I would never believe them. I would not believe what they said about Jesus nor would I believe anything they had to say about answers to prayer from God. Trustworthiness is something that should describe the character of all Christians. It is import because it is the nature of God – it is import to God being able to use us for His purpose.

Lastly, people have asked, “How am I to know?” as an excuse when passing on one of these hoaxes. Sometimes it is hard to tell what is true or not – but I believe if we are passing something on as true, we should be fairly sure that it is. Did it come as an email chain letter? That is a good indication right there that it may be false. You can also check out such web sites as snopes.com or truthorfiction.com. These sites might not be faultless but at least they do provide some background documentation.

By the way, please don’t forward this to anyone! ; )