Shutting Down the Rumor Mill!

    You don't have use email very long before you'll encounter a notorious rumor of one kind or another.  In an article entitled: "Gullible's Travels" (Focus on the Family, August, 2000), Greg Hartman made the point that Christians should guard against being gullible.  When we forward false emails to others we run the risk of "bearing false witness, and we hurt the church's credibility when we then try to preach a gospel of truth."  A label often used for such email rumors is "urban legends."  If you receive an email which warns about an impending world catastrophe (about a supercomputer 'Beast' which serves the Antchrist, for example), or about some government conspiracy (by the FCC, for example, against Christian programming), why don't you make it a habit to do a little checking first? 

    There are a number websites which can help you.   The Christian journalist and talk radio host Rich Buhler has a website which is dedicated to shutting down the rumor mill.  You can find it at: http://www.truthorfiction.com  There is also a secular site which is attempting to do the same thing at: http://urbanlegends.about.com/science/urbanlegends/cs/urbanlegends/index.htm