The advent of the Internet and smartphones have made it essential to ensure what we say from the pulpit is factual. Preachers should always have worked hard to be truthful and accurate, but with some people fact checking us while we yet sermonize, it is more important than ever to make sure we do not blithely repeat an urban legend, a disproved theory, or an outright fabrication.
We are beyond the time that any old “preacher story” can pass for a legitimate illustration. For instance, NASA researchers did not find the Joshua’s famous “missing day” regardless of how many emails say they did.
In America, at least, many people are on the lookout for “fake news,” and pastors dare not be culpable in passing it along in their sermons. Every erroneous story, invented illustration, or fiction-as-fact example we use opens the door to someone questioning the gospel message we preach. If we would not say “the Easter Bunny is real” we should not say “Charles Darwin recanted his theory on his deathbed.” Both are equally false.
Because we worship a Savior who is himself “the truth” and because he is “filled with grace and truth” and because Satan is the “father of lies,” we should be on the side of truth. Toward that end, here are three warnings and three suggestions to keep in mind about fact-checking your own sermons. Read More
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