Did You Hear the One About?

In 2nd Corinthians 12, we find the apostle Paul cautioning the people of Corinth to not engage in behavior not pleasing to the Lord, including speaking ill of others:
(19) We have been speaking in the sight of God as those in Christ; and everything we do, dear friends, is for your strengthening. 20 For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.

Speaking truth and not spreading rumors are cornerstones of our Christian character.   The Word that God has spoken is to guide our lives, and the words that we speak that don't line up with His standards do damage to not only our relationship with Him, but to the relationships we have with others - the enemy would want to tear us apart, and it's so critical that we believe the truth, live the truth, and become tellers of truth, not acting on the impulses of the flesh, but seeking to preserve unity and peace in the Spirit.

2nd Corinthians 10 offers some insight regarding discernment and the importance of rejecting thoughts that may be planted in our minds by the devil, the enemy of our souls:
3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.


It's been a very active past few days for rumors over the Internet.   Earlier, there was a rash of postings on Facebook about the social media giant owning the rights to your information and photos if you posted them on their site.   The message told you to put a copyright notice on your news feed, and that would alleviate the problem.

Truth is, as the rumor-debunking website Snopes.com highlighted, Facebook does not own the rights to your information - when you use the site, you do give them permission to distribute that information, but you retain the ownership.   Now, privacy is a big concern, and you need to take the necessary steps to protect yourself, but this rumor has been proven to be false.   Facebook was even inclined to make a statement, saying as much.

And, that is just a taste of what's been out there recently.  There was a fake news story involving Google buying a major wi-fi provider, that was proven to be false.   And, this Saturday's SEC Championship has been competing with coaching rumors - with 4, now 3, SEC schools hunting for coaches, I guess it can be expected.   One of the most outrageous involves my alma mater, the University of Tennessee - one of its former players, who now owns the Cleveland Browns in the NFL and is the brother of the governor of Tennessee, was rumored to have offered ESPN analyst and former Super Bowl coach Jon Gruden partial ownership of the Browns if he were to agree to come to coach the UT Vols.   The rumor - untrue.

As Christian, we have to be devoted to seeking and living the truth.   There's plenty of misinformation out there, and the enemy will plant seeds in our minds that can produce fear, anxiety, and distrust.   If we dwell on and act on the lies he plants, then we may behave in a manner that is completely out of the will of God - we become reactionary and could really get in some trouble.   So, we have to follow 2nd Corinthians 10 and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ - replacing the lies of the enemy with the truth of God's word.

And, we also have to be careful not to spread rumors - the Bible is very clear that gossip and slander are sins of the tongue, and should not be tolerated in our lives.   And, even if information we receive is true, or we're fairly sure it's true, that doesn't mean we have the license to share it.   It's recommended that if you hear some information, that you keep quiet about it, or go to the person directly to check it out.    We must be diligently adherent to the truth and be sure to maintain accuracy, integrity, and in many cases, privacy in the way we relate information.