Transcript: The Bible says that you need to do more fact-checking before you share stuff on social media and that’s what I’m going to talk about today. Welcome to Wisdom in the Word, where we study the biblical art of wisdom, and ironically, the verse we’re in today actually applies to us, I think, more now than it did to the ancient Israelites the day that they received it. It is from Exodus 23:1, and it says, “You shall not circulate a false report.” Don’t circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. And man, when you click share on social media, and when you click like and comment and you throw in with false content online that is so prevalent nowadays, you are violating this command from the Lord. The world is totally changed from the way it was even 20 years ago, and nowadays, due to the nature of viral content, social media, the online world, the fact is lies spread faster now than they ever have before. And we can easily be duped by these things because there are various interest groups out there who, for political reasons or financial motivations or because of religious zeal, they want to push content that isn’t entirely true. Oftentimes, headlines that are written just to grab your attention, to be, you know, enticing to you, then articles written from a skewed perspective, or videos where they only show part of the information—this stuff is presented to us all the time. And sometimes we will share or like or comment and throw our two cents in there, spreading this content even further, and we’ll end up being the one who’s circulating the false report. So my encouragement to you is don’t get sucked in. Don’t get sucked in. Notice that Proverbs 26:22 tells us that the words of a tailbearer are like tasty trifles. In other words, there’s something enticing and sweet about these false reports, about this inside info about something, something bad about this person, something negative about this movement, something, you know, attacking this political group that you don’t like. There’s something that draws us in, and we need to avoid those things. Really, what you have to do—and you’ve got to learn this—is you have to fact-check the info before you share it. If you don’t know how to fact-check, then don’t share it at all. Learn how to fact-check. Learn how to say, “Hmm, can I read this article with a critical eye? Can I be thoughtful about it? Can I see if it’s actually true? Can I consider whether or not this is a true report or false report before I share it?” This is so key for us to maintain our integrity and wisdom in the online community.

See original video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bIYND1XedY