Admit it.  You participate in Christian Internet Gossip.

How do I know?  Because I get enough of this garbage forwarded to me every day.  Not all of it is destructive, some of it is meant to be edifying, but it is still gossip.

“Edifying” Gossip:

·         There is a story going around about how “Mr. Green Jeans” was a hero in WW2, as told by Lee Marvin on the “Tonight Show.”  Never mind the fact that it is not true.  Although Lee Marvin was a genuine hero, “Mr. Green Jeans” was too young to fight in the war, and was only in the military after the war ended.  There is a similar story about “Mr. Rogers” having been a Marine in Vietnam.  Another story that is a bunch of bunk.

·         There is another story about the French architect who designed Washington, DC and how he put Christian symbology into the design of the city.  Another story that doesn’t hold up to historic scrutiny, but makes us Christians feel good.

Then there are the negative examples, many of which I am shocked are STILL floating around:

• “Did you know that _______ (NBC, CBS, ABC:  fill in the blank) is banning _________ (7th Heaven, Billy Graham, Highway to Heaven:  fill in your favorite “spiritual” show) because Madeline Murray O’Hair has petitioned the FCC to take all Christian programming off the air, etc…”  This usually comes with a request to forward a petition to the FCC.  Problem is, the petition to the FCC was in 1973 and had NOTHING to do with Christian programming; and, Madeline Murray O’Hair had NOTHING to do with the petition.  Oh, and by the way. Madeline Murray O’Hair has been dead since 1995, yet her name still keeps cropping up with this type of gossip.
• Have you heard the one about Proctor and Gamble?  I’ve been hearing the same gossip since the 70’s, about their CEO being a Satanist, and having confessed this on _______ (Donohue, Oprah, Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Jay Leno:  it gets updated with a new show all the time), and how the symbols are Satanist, etc…  All bunk!  Unfortunately, Christians have demonized, boycotted, and slammed this company for the last 30 years because of this gossip.   This is, by definition, the bearing of false witness.
• I just got another one about Jane Fonda.  We keep going back to Vietnam, and the story of her visit to Vietnam keeps getting more and more embellished.  While it is true that she visited Vietnam and did sit on the AA guns for a picture, there is some gossip that is just wrong.  The story now says that she took a note, passed to her by one of the American POW’s delineating the torturous treatment they were receiving, and she passed the note on to the Vietnamese who then responded with more torture of these POWs.  None of that is true.  The article mentions the name of the man to whom this supposedly happened.  While he was a POW, he never saw Jane Fonda, and he never passed a note to her.  In fact, he has been so sick and tired of responding to this nonsense that he has since refused to do anymore interviews. 
• I love those letters that start with, “My friend, who is a lawyer… ” Oh, please!  First of all, this letter has been forwarded so many times, no-one knows who this “friend” is.  Second, you can pretty much rest assured that whatever this person is writing about is just more internet gossip and bunk.  Like the one about what “Bill Gates” doesn’t want you to know:  if you forward this letter, you get money…  OH, PLEASE!!!  It’s not true!

Before you forward, I would suggest the following:  check the veracity of everything.  Two great sites are:

www.snopes.com

www.truthorfiction.com

Second, if it does not build up or edify, even if it is true, maybe you should just drag it to the garbage bin.  We need to be a church of love, not of gossip.