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For Your Benefit...

• The May calendar and duty roster are now available.
• Today is the last chance for your picture to be taken for the new photo directory. Show us your best side. See Chuck Barnett immediately following services.
• The new supplemental hymnal will be ready in the next two weeks. The committee is assembling them this week and next. To that end, we will have a practice singing at 4:00 pm Sunday May 6 and on Saturday night May 19 at 7:00. This will help us learn some of the new songs.

Calendar

• May 29-May 4 — College View (E’town).
• May 2-4 — Willisburg.
• May 2-6 — Lilac Road (Leitchfield).
• May 6-9 — North Madison (IN)
• May 10-12 — Crestwood.

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Have you ever read the alarming e-mail message about Madalyn Murray O'Hair when she petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to take references to God out of the television show, Touched By An Angel? Chances are you receive this e-rumor often, or maybe you even have forwarded this story to all of your friends.

It's a twist to a 30-year rumor that has been circulating since 1975 that O’Hair petitioned the FCC to take all religious broadcasting off television.

The FCC states that these rumors are untrue. According to its website, in 1974, two men filed petition RM-2493 (look familiar?) asking the FCC to inquire into the operation of stations licensed to religious organizations, and not to grant any new licenses for new non-commercial, educational broadcast stations until the inquiry had been completed. The truth is that the FCC denied this petition in 1975, and Murray O'Hair was not a sponsor of this petition. However, more than 30 years later, the FCC still receives phone calls and letters from concerned citizens trying to stop Murray O'Hair's “efforts.”

The website www.TruthOrFiction.com investigates rumors and hoaxes and posts the facts that it finds, whether a story is true, fiction or unproven. It's my first stop when I receive any story via e-mail. According to TruthOrFiction.com, Touched By An Angel had a 9-year run, and as many successful shows do, simply ran its course.

Here's another story that regularly arrives in my inbox: the inspiring evangelist, Billy Graham recently led thousands of New Orleans citizens from an unnamed stadium to Bourbon Street while singing When the Saints Go Marching In and then Amazing Grace. The e-mail continues that there was a big revival of the thousands who had just heard the evangelist minister to the sinners of Bourbon Street. The e-mail ends with an accusing tone toward the media because the event was never reported.

Unfortunately, this story is untrue. TruthOrFiction.com reports that Franklin Graham led a Celebration of Hope in New Orleans in March 2006, and while Billy Graham did make an appearance at the event, he did not lead thousands into the streets of New Orleans.

Rich Buhler, the founder and operator of TruthOrFiction.com, writes that we can learn many things from studying rumors, hoaxes and urban legends. Buhler asserts that “knowing the dynamics and characteristics of false stories sometimes can help us feel more confidence in the truth.” For him, studying rumors strengthens his faith.

“It's very important to me . . . that Jesus is not an urban legend,” Buhler said. “Rumors lack first-hand sources, but the number of first-hand stories about Jesus from people who knew Him is enormous and the kicker is how many of them were willing to die to defend their assertions. Critics can speculate whether His followers were misled, but nobody can accuse them of participating in a hoax.”

While it can be very difficult to spot e-rumors, Buhler writes that there are common factors that can be spotted in many untrue stories:

• The lack of good, first-hand information
• An appeal to the sensational (the “Wow” factor)
• An appeal to our worst fears
• The “I told you so” factor
• Details that don't make sense
• Guilt trips
• Promises of money
• A sense of underground knowledge

Buhler believes that the study of e-rumors also can help us by reminding us to examine the everyday stories that we believe and pass on to others without checking the facts from the original source. Occasionally, we are pleasantly surprised by the truth.

You may have received the e-mail story about the stirring prayer of repentance that a Kansas preacher prayed for the Kansas House of Representatives in 1996. As many of you know, and as TruthOrFiction.com confirms, the prayer originally was written by Southeast's former senior minister, Bob Russell.

Buhler writes that, “Christianity teaches . . . that God gives evidence of Himself that is reliable enough to decide whether He's there. He gives invitations for us to believe the evidence, and all of life depends on whether we do. Sometimes, we have to wade through a lot of rumors, hoaxes and urban legends about faith to get to what's real, but it's worth the pursuit.”

Editor’s Note:

Christians deal daily with truth (Ephesians 4:14f, 25). Truth is the currency of our relationships and the fabric of our existence. However, in our efforts to spread the truth, we cannot exceed the truth. Too often, we are so excited about some story that makes Christianity look good, or that makes evil look bad, we open wide and swallow, whether or not there is anything worth digesting.

As the above article says, www.TruthOrFiction.com is a good website for debunking these religious “urban legends” as is www.snopes.com. With email, as with anything, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Check it out before you “send”.