When I was in seminary, a accusation that would send shivers into the hearts of many was “proof texting.” In short, proof-texting is when a pastor starts with a point that they want to make and then goes to the Bible to find a verse to prove their point is true. Example: a pastor sees that his church is behind on budget and there needs to an increase on giving. He takes his point- GIVE MORE and uses a convicting verse, often not completely in context, to justify it such as Malachi 3:8, “”Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings.” Any deeper context is removed, people are guilted and the plates fill up for a few more weeks.

Every week, my Facebook and other social media news feeds fill up with numerous stories that people have shared. Most are interesting, but there are occasional ones that catch my eye because of their ridiculous claims. Many Christians buy in to the stories for one reason: they support their view on the claim. There is no verification of the truth of the story or investigating the source. Many of these can be investigated quickly and discredited by anyone with an internet connection. There are many “news” websites out there that take a small bit of second-hand information and run with it. People see the stories and pass it on, sometimes with the best of intentions, and the snowball grows. In essence, it is “Christian Proof Texting.” We have a perspective or view, we see a story on a random website that supports it, we spread it to friends rapidly.

The problem with the internet is that anyone, and I mean ANYONE, can start their website, make unbelievable claims based on little to no fact, and run with it. They can gather thousands of followers who believe the “research” they’ve done without question. You end up with thousands and tens of thousands who have believed slander. I have seen this happen over and over again with many ministries. Pastors I admire, who God has given a huge stage to give the gospel, are often the target of many websites. Many are written by highly fundamentalist bloggers who pick a one-liner, take it out of context and run with it to turn people away from those ministries. It saddens me that many of these are better at pouring their energy into tearing down ministries seeing life change than they are pouring their energy into reaching the lost. Rick Warren, Mark Driscoll, Andy Stanley, Hillsong- you name it, all have been victims of Christian Proof Texting. They may do something bold and the Proof-texters are there with tablet in hand, ready to unload bullets without actually doing any investigating on the truth.

This breaks the heart of God and should not be treated any differently than a slanderous accusation in a church. I am not saying that if there is a legitimate, provable sin or heresy that it should not be addressed. If it involves someone that we have the ability to contact, biblically we are to confront your brother or sister privately, not on a blog post we want a multitude to repost (Matthew 18:15-20).

Whenever you see an article that you are tempted to repost because of your views on issues, first- think about the audience that is going to see it. There have been articles that I have posted that I forgot I had followers who strongly disagreed and were offended. Second, CHECK YOUR SOURCE. I hate to say it, but every blog and news site (including this one) comes with a viewpoint. Some of them are WAY off. Some come from sites run by an angry divisive person just seeking to unleash rage and anger by posting. Some of them struggle with self-righteousness. But above all, they are slandering and not doing what Christ commanded us to do. Third, check your motivation for posting the story (Job 13:23, Lamentations 3:40). Is it to seriously spread truth? Is it to slander? Is it to express your outrage? Is Christ’s body strengthened of weakened by posting it? Lastly, remember that a lost world is watching how we treat each others and those we disagree with as Christians (John 13:35).