Bogus e-mails harm witness, author contends
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___Christians who pass along false stories and urban legends via e-mail endanger their witness for Christ, according to an Oklahoma minister who has written a book on the problem.
___"If we're known for fabricating stories, for passing fearful stories around, we're going
to lose our right to be heard in the public arena," said John Williams. "We're going to be looked upon as fools for Christ."
___In fact, "Fools for Christ" was the working title of his book, recently published by Broadman & Holman under the title "The Cost of Deception: The Seduction of Modern Myths and Urban Legends."
___The church, Williams said, is the representation of truth on earth. As witnesses to the truth of Jesus Christ, believers should not let themselves become known for spreading falsehood, he explained.
___"Christians must guard themselves from the distrust and suspicion that can destroy community," he writes in the book's first chapter.
___The danger, he writes, is illustrated by a famous Mark Twain quote: "A lie can travel halfway around the world before the facts have even put their boots on."
___The phenomenon of urban legends is nothing new, Williams acknowledges, although it has been given new impetus by the speed of the Internet.
___"There is a lot of hooey that has been given validity by the replication and forwarding of urban legends and e-mail myths," he writes. "Perhaps you've recently signed a petition to stop an atheist's efforts to ban shows like 'Touched by an Angel.' Most of us have been told about the computer in Belgium called The Beast that has a record of every living human being.
___"Even our pulpits are not immune from perpetuating urban legends. Have you ever heard during a wedding ceremony that as a result of the creation of the first woman, all men have one less rib than women? Ask any doctor; men have the same number of ribs as women. These myths still persist today, despite the fact they are not true."
___All urban legends have several things in common, Williams explains. "They are fun or shocking to tell, entertaining to hear and simply not true. Except in a few cases, it is usually impossible to determine the origin of Internet legends; they reappear every few months or years in slightly different versions, travel through cyberspace and then disappear."
___Two things got Williams pondering why Christians are so gullible to spread urban legends.
___First, he was amazed at the number of Christians who became prophets of doom as the year 2000 approached. He listened to those who were predicting the collapse of governments, the failure of banks, wars and all manner of dire consequences from the so-called "Y2K problem."
___Williams, a former pastor and radio personality who now leads Oklahoma Concert of Prayer, went to the Bible to look for answers. "I just didn't see a scenario like Y2K coming," he said.
___"In the aftermath of the Y2K washout, the most important question we must ask ourselves is this: How could so many people, who were so earnest in their convictions, be so wrong?" he writes in the book's introduction. "Similarly, why has the American church been so brazen in predicting the date of the Rapture, the return of Christ and naming the Antichrist, only to be proven wrong again and again? What is it that causes us to be so easily deceived?"
___The second thing that prompted him to write the book was being inundated with one of the most unstoppable urban legends to afflict the modern church. On a single day in 1998, he received e-mails from five people urging him to sign a petition to keep Madalyn Murray O'Hair from putting an end to all religious broadcasting.
___The appeal is bogus, but it has been circulating among Christians for 30 years.
___In his book, Williams devotes an entire chapter to debunking what he calls "the petition that won't go away."
___Also in the book, Williams tackles stories about angel sightings, an alleged well drilled into hell from Russia, NASA's alleged proof of Joshua's missing day, alleged appearances by various corporate executives on television talk shows where they are purported to have made alarming comments about Satanism or racism, warnings about HIV-infected needles left in theater seats, predictions of who is the Antichrist and various other end-times prophecies.
___All the urban legends he explains have been thoroughly researched, with information drawn from multiple sources.
___The response, he said, has been positive.
___"The key to it is everyone can relate to one of these stories. Even if they don't get e-mail messages, they've heard these stories," he said.
___And most people relate to the book because they have been guilty of passing on at least one of the urban legends, he said. "When you tell those stories, 95 percent will say, 'Oh, I got that and I sent it to my friends.'"
___Pastors especially must be discerning about passing along bogus stories as sermon illustrations, Williams warned. "What would happen after a period of time if people find out these are not true? It would cause people not to trust their pastors."
___The best advice for all people hearing or reading sensational stories is to "trust but verify," Williams said. "Believe the best about everybody, but also verify.
___"That really would help put to rest a lot of these stories a lot quicker."
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