Myths and Mythunderstandings

Myths and Mythunderstandings (Home) 

Personal

These are my personal reference pages.  If you can read this page it is either because I gave you the password or because you got around my security system.  I do not allow open access to these pages because politics is such a volatile subject for many.  However I do spend time on the web and in various forums so I needed a place for all my links and information.

As can be seen on these pages I believe we in Christianity are guilty of some pretty serious things.  Whether you are talking about political spin, or lies or slander we seem to do it all.  This is destructive to our witness and will ultimately backfire on us when it is discovered.  By the way it has already been discovered by many lgbt individuals and it has already hurt our witness.  Paul’s admonition comes to mind: As it is written: "God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."   (Romans 2:24)   

 What is political spin?

Political spin is when a person tells only half the story or gives you only a few facts which by themselves typically lead you t a conclusion that is not true.  Thus I call it suppression of truth because it only gives part of the truth in a way that is misleading. (See Romans 1:18)

Some hypothetical examples:  

-“Saying that John was sentenced to prison for ….”

(when in truth John never went to prison – the sentence was overturned in appeals court.)

-“Saying that Christians were simply sharing the bible and singing peacefully when they were arrested for sharing the gospel”  when in reality they were using a bullhorn and trying to crash someone else's event) 

What is deception / lies?

Lying defined:  To utter falsehood with an intention to deceive or; to say or do that which is intended to deceive another, when a person has a right to know the truth.

The bible calls this bearing a false witness. An example of this command is found in Leviticus 19:11...” 'Do not steal. “‘Do not lie.”  'Do not deceive one another.

For a list of references click here  

What is slander?

Slander is an untruthful statement about a person that harms the person’s reputation or standing in the community or it is: a false and malicious statement or report about someone.  I would also include that it could be a false or malicious report applied to a group of persons through stereotyping.  (See Psalm 101:5)  For more scripture references on slander click here.

Hypothetical examples of slander:

-Using the news reports of female teachers who have sex with students as a condemnation of all female teachers.

-Using the bad behavior of one republican or one democrat to declare the entire political party to be evil