If you think that accusation is bad, I wonder what you think of the e-mails making the rounds among concerned Christian types comparing the Democratic presidential nominee to the Antichrist. Or, rather, the e-mails compare Senator Obama to the dispensationalist pretribulational assumption about what the Antichrist will be like.
Did you hear that Obama admitted being a Muslim? I read the transcripted article about the gaffe (from a televised interview with George Stephanopolous) and even in print it was clear Obama was not "outing" himself as a non-Christian. Yet one day after it happened I was eating with some Christian friends when one asked, "Did you hear that Obama confessed he's a Muslim?"
You've probably heard that John McCain was in the KKK. Or that Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin is not the mother of her youngest son. The vitriol has really gone into overdrive with Senator McCain's selection of Governor Palin, the rumor mongers becoming particularly vicious about this self-proclaimed "hockey mom." Some of the things they're making up I don't care to repeat.
What in the world is our problem?
Politics is yucky business, but this isn't just about politics. It's about anger, about fear, and most of all, about truth. From a gospel perspective, it makes sense that the world would not place a high premium on truth. These days it only takes one enterprising blogger to create a story and before long the entire nation is buzzing with b.s.
The Church, however, is playing gleefully right along. That Obama/Antichrist thing? Some so-called Christian put that piece together to scare up some political leverage, and plenty of truth-deficient Christians ate it up. And passed it around. I got the email from a relative.
This isn't just about politics either. Christians are notorious suckers for what the urban legend watchdogs at Snopes.com call "glurge." Snopes defines glurge thusly:
In ordinary language, glurge is the sending of inspirational (and supposedly "true") tales, ones that often conceal much darker meanings than the uplifting moral lessons they purport to offer or undermine their messages by fabricating and distorting historical fact in the guise of offering a "true story."
Notice true and true story are in quotation marks. This is Snopes' way of indicating that these stories are lies.
Ever hear that one about NASA finding the missing day, "proof" that the biblical story about the sun standing still is true? How about the one about the atheist professor and the dropped piece of chalk? (That one has been regaining traction among some of my MySpace friends.) They aren't true. Didn't happen. That means the stories are lies, and when you pass them along, knowingly or unknowingly, you are perpetrating lies.
Way, way back, when I was a kid, before Al Gore invented the Internet, our Sunday School teacher was telling us about the Beast, a supercomputer somewhere in Switzerland that had all our social security numbers and was ready to start dispensing the mark of the beast foretold in Revelation. That was a lie.
Why do we eat this stuff up? Why aren't we different?
Christians follow Jesus, who is The Truth. This means we should be people set apart, keepers of truth, zealous about truth, relentlessly devoted to protecting and perpetrating truth.
When we buy into and pass along lies about public figures we don't mind vilifying -- whether Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal -- we commit a double sin. We are playing party to lies and in doing so we are playing party to hating our neighbor.
Love the truth, Church. Zealously pursue it. And click your delete button more often.
Jared Wilson is the pastor and co-founder of Element, a missional Christian community in
Nashville, Tennessee, and an award-winning writer whose articles, essays, and
short stories have appeared in numerous publications.
Jared's first book, The Unvarnished Jesus, releases Fall 2009 from Kregel.
A graduate of Middle Tennessee State University, he lives outside
Nashville with his wife and two daughters.
Encounter Jared's passion for the ongoing reformation of the evangelical church
almost daily at www.gospeldrivenchurch.com.
» left by KinleyW from Nashville (1 year 147 days ago.)
Great article, Jared. It is amazing how many of these things get passed around. Hey, if you're the tenth person to leave a comment, you get a special blessing!! Also, very interesting how the links at the bottom, keep changing from "The Antichrist Revealed - It's not Barack Obama" and "Barack Obama Exposed - A special report on the real Barack Obama".
Great article! I Facebooked it. I used to fact check in a professional capacity, so this is really one of my hot buttons. I know that most people genuinely mean well when they forward email stories or share them in person, and I try to extend grace and gently let them know, for example, that Madalyn Murray O'Hair was murdered in the 90s, so no, she isn't currently petitioning the FCC on an atheist mission to remove God from the airwaves. Maybe some people are simply too trusting and gullible, but I think that type of carelessness still demonstrates a real lack of concern for truth.
Shauna, good points. I think we should be gracious for the gullible, naive, and ignorant, as we should with all. But we should also encourage them to be more vigilant and discerning. Respond to this comment
» left by Tyler dawn from Austin, TX (1 year 146 days ago.)
Came over here from my friend's site, I love it. I have dear friends who send me every stinkin one of these things and I have long since stopped sending them the snopes articles on them. But at least I do have them finally convinced that Madaleine Murray O'Hare isn't rising from the grave to battle Christian programming!
But I still get endless petitions, and this and that piece of gossip about people they don't even know just becasue a Christian sent it to them. Oh well, if it wasn't for stuff like that, the "delete" button might have to get let go in the next microsoft layoff ;)
Tyler, thanks for your comment. The petitions drive me crazy too. Online petitions are WORTHLESS and I wish more people knew that. Even handwritten and signed petitions don't make much difference, but online petitions are void of any integrity at all, as anyone can type in a bunch of names and email addresses.
You wanna know what makes me crazy? I've actually had my friends (after I sent them a Snopes link to prove an email was false) tell me they thought it probably wasn't true, but the forwarded it anyway "just in case". JUST IN CASE??? That one pushes so many buttons with me I can't even begin...
» left by maggie meckbach from New Jersey (1 year 146 days ago.)
It was good for me to see the common sense in your article and I was even happier when I saw that you were a minister and writing so truthfully. I have become so prejudiced against "religous" people these past few years because they just began to look so mean and reactionary to me. I am so happy to see there are still Christians who think and who want to know the truth.
I'm far from perfect, but there's lots of truth-loving Christians out there. We just need to speak up more often, I guess. We're the silent majority. :-)
All I have to say is this: Snopes and Truthorfiction. Do the research and save yourself some embarrassment. What's the scripture that says we're to be as wise as serpents and innocent as doves? I think that applies here as well. Thanks for the article, Jared.
Thank you, Danny. I'm tempted to put urls to either of those sites in my email signature just so more people will know about them. Respond to this comment
Enjoyed your article, Jared. Can't number how many times I've had to send my church friends the links for snopes and truthorfiction. And they kick themselves every time, because they bought into a lie and feel so stupid afterward. People want easy Truth, but real Truth does not come easy; you've got to dig it out, search it out, like rare treasure. Anyone who wants or accepts easy Truth will wind up with lies many times. Thanks, Jared, for hitting us on the head with your writing. ~mogama~
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