๐ช๐๐ฅ๐ -๐จ๐ฃ
โข On average, how much time do you spend online every day? Which sites or apps do you use the most?
โข What are the determining factors on whether you will watch or read something online?
โข What was the worst fake news you encountered or saw online?
๐ช๐ข๐ฅ๐
๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ, โ๐๐ช๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ด๐ข๐บ, โ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏโ?โ ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต, โ๐๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ถ๐ช๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ, โ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ถ๐ช๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฅ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ, ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ช๐ต, ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ.โโ ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ, โ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ. ๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ช๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ, ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ญ.โ ๐๐๐ก๐๐ฆ๐๐ฆ ๐ฏ:๐ญโ๐ฑ
The truth matters.
This is especially true for followers of Jesus. If thereโs ever a group of people on earth who should be known for truth-telling, itโs the Christians. We are a people of the bookโour Bible reveals the highest ethical standards of integrity and the entire Christian faith is hinged on the truthfulness of the words of Christ. Our faith must therefore be known for the truth we bear witness to. But that is not always the case today. If you are on social media, you know how anyone can fall victim to fake news, conspiracy theories, and all kinds of half-truths and lies.
The problem with lies is as old as humanity itself. When Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, the snake insinuated, โDid God actually say . . . ?โ It was a clever question meant to grab attention and sow seeds of doubt. Satan did not blatantly oppose Godโs wordsโat least not at first. He pretended to only ask a question. And when the tempter saw that the woman didnโt push back but instead misquoted Godโs words, he launched the biggest lie of allโโ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ.โ
The world today is broken because of that one lie.
This should give us all a pause. The story of Adam and Eve tells us of the cosmic devastation that resulted from a single lie. Its damage is so huge that Godโs method of overturning the lies necessitated the death of His Son, Jesus. This is why truth matters, whether grand biblical truths or factual matters of daily living. And this brings us back to the problem of fake newsโalong with misinformation and disinformationโwhich stands opposite to the truth of the Christian message.
The Gospel of John gives us two reasons we should be cautious about fake news:
๐ญ. ๐ช๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ ๐๐ผ๐ฑ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ฟ๐๐๐ต.
๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ, โ๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ. ๐๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ฆ.โ ๐๐ข๐๐ก ๐ญ๐ฐ:๐ฒ
The biggest reason Christians should be cautious about fake news is because we serve a God of truth. The Bible says that it is impossible for Him to lie (Hebrews 6:18; Titus 1:2) and no deceit is ever found in His mouth (Isaiah 53:9; 1 Peter 2:22).
How have you learned to counter fake news? Why is this important?
๐ฎ. ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ๐ป ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐น๐ถ๐ฒ๐.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ, โ๐๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ฉ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ง๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ.โ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ, โ๐๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ฉ๐ข๐ฎโ๐ด ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ด ๐๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ฉ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ฉ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ง๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ.โ ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ, โ๐๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ฆ๐น๐ถ๐ข๐ญ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณโ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ.โ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ, โ๐๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ. ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ด๐ข๐บ? ๐๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ง๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ญ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ง๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณโ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ, ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ญ๐ช๐ข๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด.โ๐๐ข๐๐ก ๐ด:๐ฏ๐ตโ๐ฐ๐ฐ
Jesus had a fascinating argument with some Jews where He said that the truth will set them free (John 8:32). The Pharisees took issue with that and claimed that they had never been enslaved because they were Abrahamโs children. What followed next was a noteworthy interplay between truth and lies. Jesus argued that if they really were Abrahamโs children, why would they seek to kill Him when He is only telling them the truth? The real reason for their murderous attitude, Jesus said, was because they take after the father of lies, the devil himself, who ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ.
This is an astounding pronouncement from the mouth of Jesus. He was saying that the sharp contrast between God and the devil is hinged on the issue of truth. The devil is a liar and he is the father of lies; Jesus is the God of truth and He speaks only the truth. One of the tell-tale signs of the followers of the devil is seen in the way they stand in opposition to the truth of Christ.
Here are some of the practical things we can do to promote truthfulness in our online engagements:
โข Fact-check first. Be wary of news items that do not come from legitimate sources.
โข Share only what is true and helpful to others. Making sure itโs helpful is just as important as making sure itโs truthful. Do not sow intrigue and discord.
โข Be patient. Avoid hot takes about developing news stories. When details are scarce, hold off your opinions for a bit.
โข Be open for correction. When your post is proven to be false, graciously admit the error and delete.
The biblical admonition to ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ, ๐ด๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ (James 1:19) is the ancient equivalent of listening patiently, keeping our mouths shut until we have all the facts, and tempering our extreme reactions. Yes, we care about being truthful, but we also do it in a way that is winsome and gracious. We donโt always need to have a say on controversial issues. Sometimes, the wisest thing a Christian can do is to be quiet. If you must speak out to offer correction, do so with gentleness and respect. Why is being patient in your online engagement harder than it looks? How are patience, kindness, and self-control possible?
๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก
โข What do you think happens when we condone lies, halftruths, and fake news? What do you think happens when we value the truth? How do you want to live, starting today?
โข How do you do fact-checking? What is your way of making sure you are not sharing fake news online?
โข How do you graciously deal with close friends and family members who post or share fake news?
๐ฃ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐๐ฅ
โข Thank God for His word that shows us the truth. Pray thatyou will speak and value truth, turning away from half-truths,lies, and fake news.
โข Ask God to check your thoughts and speech this week.Pray that you would be full of both grace and truth in your thoughts, words, and actions.
โข Ask God that you would be filled with the Spirit and the fruit of His Spirit would abound in your life every day. Pray for those you interact with offline and online to encounter Godโs love through you.
All About Fake News
Week 1
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