“We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:16).

What is an urban legend? Urban legends are stories that sound good, but have no basis in fact. They are rumors that keep getting passed on to others, but are not true.

Sadly, Christians seem to be especially gullible when it comes to urban legends. We believe an email because it is sent to us by a friend or because we want to believe it since it confirms our world view or because we are just too lazy to check it out. Unfortunately when we pass around falsehoods, we violate the command against bearing false witness and we make it harder for people to believe that our most important message (about Jesus) is true.

Christian internet users are urged to examine themselves for symptoms of the UL Virus. Symptoms include the following:

1) The willingness to believe improbable stories without thinking.

2) The uncontrollable urge to forward multiple copies of such stories to others.

3) A lack of desire to take 3 minutes to check to see if a story is true. Email is a powerful tool, but its ability to quickly, widely and cheaply spread false information is a danger. “Let every matter be established,” the Bible says. As stewards of the truth for the rest of the world, Christians need to be careful in their use of the forward button.

— taken from “Christian Myths and Urban Legends” with minor edits for continuity: http://www.new-life.net/myths.htm