We are in the midst of a hotly contested political election, and a large number of Christians are heavily involved in partisan politics. Millions of Email messages move across the internet each day, many of them containing innuendos, misrepresentations, outright lies, and all kinds of character assassination. Recipients of those slanderous Email messages quite often forward them to family and friends, ultimately reaching a multitude of households. Christians are just as guilty as non-Christians of originating and forwarding that internet “trash talk.”
All of us relish political Email messages favorable to our candidates of choice, as well as those messages critical of opposition candidates. Committed Christians forward Emails slamming opposition candidates to family and friends without considering the truthfulness or the nature of the messages. Their primary goal is to slander the names of candidates they dislike and slam their positions on controversial issues.
As Christians, we do not always realize that God reads all our Emails. I am sure He is sometimes displeased with the contents of our Emails, but He is most likely displeased even more with our motivations and attitudes leading to the slanderous messages. Most Christians feel strongly about keeping the Ten Commandments and other instructions for living presented in the Bible. They dare not break the commandment (Exodus 20:7) pertaining to misusing the Lord’s name, or using His name in profanity. But, do they feel as strongly about giving false testimony (lying) about someone (Exodus 20:16)? False testimony surely includes Email lies, innuendos, and misrepresentations about political candidates.
James 2:10 tells us that anyone who stumbles at any point of the Law is guilty of breaking all of it, so who are we to say one of the Ten Commandments is more important than another? Also, Paul instructs us in Ephesians 4:29-31 to get rid of all unwholesome talk, including slander. My interpretation of the Bible is that any slander or untruthful message against another person is a sin, even if that person happens to be a politician. It does not matter if we originate the message or simply forward it to someone.
A message concerning a candidate’s experience, position on an issue, age, qualifications for office, party affiliation, voting record, or financial status would not be slander provided all the information is accurate and undistorted. Such a message represents “clean politics.”
What can Christians, and others, do to eliminate a lot of the political trash talk permeating the internet? First, each of us can refrain from sending Emails classified as lies or slander. Second, we can delete and not forward those Emails we cannot verify to be accurate and non-slanderous. I believe anything less would displease God. Third, please pass this post on to family and friends within your sphere of influence. Just maybe, we can eliminate some of the Email political trash talk on the internet. Thank you and God bless you and God bless America.
