“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true,
whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such
things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard
from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” Phil 4:8-9 NIV
Facebook, Buzzfeed, Reddit, Twitter, Google – most of these didn’t even exist 10 years ago, yet today, they take up so much of our
time, and are increasingly being the places we go to find out news[1]. Bigger and faster phones, tablets and other devices mean that we are
more and more likely to find ourselves online, scrolling the news and catching
up with the latest from our friends near and far, without even needing to click
a button.
But with this amazing new freedom, comes responsibility… Social media
feeds, group emails – these are all a huge platform where we need to be
accountable for the truth of what we say and share.
I don’t know about you, but I am increasingly finding that good, well-meaning
Christians are sharing articles and stories online, that amount to little more
than propaganda. Links to articles that
expose this person or group of people, supposed news reports based on wrong or
even totally concocted information. And
yet we are spreading them around like truth, putting our name and reputation on
the line for what amounts to little more than fiction.
As consumers and sharers of all this information, we need to be
increasingly wise. We need to take the
time to check the veracity of the things we read and share. Otherwise we will find ourselves unwittingly
spreading lies and misinformation, when as believers, we should be sharing
light and truth.
Before you post that controversial article, or that shocking fact, you
have a responsibility to make sure that it is true. So how do you do that?
Check the source – is it unbiased and do they
reference where they got their information.
Check the topic on a website such as www.snopes.com, or www.factcheck.org, www.mediaresearch.org, www.truthorfiction.com.
Remember, not everything that you read on the internet is true! Just because something confirms your personal
opinion and political beliefs, doesn’t mean it is in fact true. If in doubt, don’t
post it. Don’t risk bearing false
witness, just to gratify your need to share.
Let’s be known as those who share love, encouragement and truth.
[1] http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/09/24/how-social-media-is-reshaping-news, Accessed 20.08.2015.
No comments:
Post a Comment