If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.
-James 1:26
With his mouth the godless destroys his neighbor,
but through knowledge the righteous escape.
-Proverbs 11:9
But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.
-Matthew 12:36
I don't get as many forwarded emails as I used to. The reason is that I tend to respond. If someone forwards me an email that I fear may be false, or slanderous, I tend to check it out and then respond to everyone who received the email with a rebuttal. I notice that after I do that, I am removed from the forwarding list of the person who sent it. I usually find out later that the person is still forwarding similar emails, but just not to me.
Even in my inbox which is a bit cleaner due to my behavior, to pace of these emails is picking up as we get closer to the Presidential election. I hear again and again of Barack Obama's plans to be sworn in on the Quran. Whether you are a Democrat or Republican, an Obama supporter or a Clinton supporter, it wouldn't take much research to know that this is simply not true. None of these emails talk about policy differences or voting records, they just make stuff up.
I just want to say for the record that there is a certain sinfulness is forwarding slanderous emails. If you receive an email that attacks another human being, even if that is a public figure and you forward it without verifying the truthfulness of that information, scripture is very clear that you are transgressing and you should repent.
If you are the sender or receiver if this sort of forwarded email, you owe it to yourself and your email companions to read this article on factcheck.org, a website run by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
Here is the article:
That Chain E-mail Your Friend Sent to You Is (Likely) Bogus. Seriously.
By the way. I actually love to see the most preposterous of the chain emails. Feel free to forward me the ones that you find especially slanderous. I don't mind getting them when they are sent from people who know they aren't true.
peace,
will
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4 comments:
Thanks for the article about the forwarded emails. Regardless of who they come from or what cause they are crusading for, these days, I do not sign or forward my name to "petitions" of any kind online and I try to avoid forwarding anything but something that might make me laugh, or an actual article from a reputable news source. Not that this makes me holier-than-thou...I just think we are all beginning to realize the finality and legal liabilities involved in electronic communication.
Congratulations on the new home! It IS an exciting ride. Enjoy if/when you can!
I look forward to reading more of your personal testimony re: your calling and the journey thus far. I also look forward to reading your Easter sermon when you're ready to post it online.
In general, I don't check in all the time, but have had more time to lately and appreciate that you are willing to share your experiences.
God bless.
Another website you can check to verify the validity of something is www.snopes.com - it's one that I use pretty regularly in checking forwards. It has to do a bit more with urban legends, but most of what I've needed to check has been on there.
I love snopes.com!
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