Some of you will hate me for this post.
I’m calling you out on it, anyways.
I was at a recent birthday party with many relatives and one person lamented about all of Trump’s lies. Then one person, the only other Christian in the room, said:
“Well, if Hillary had been elected things would have been even worse!”
Everyone’s jaw dropped and hit the floor like a lead balloon – including mine.
She went on to claim that Hillary was so evil that she wanted abortions even up until the 39th week.
This was different than what I recall hearing in the past where Hillary usually refers to wanting abortions to be “safe, legal and rare.”
So, I decided to do a little fact-checking:
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/boycott36-clinton-sanders-late-term-abortion/
https://www.factcheck.org/2015/09/clinton-off-on-late-term-abortions/
https://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2016/oct/09/ted-cruz/false-ted-cruz-claim-hillary-clinton-backs-unlimit/
Snopes, FactCheck and Politifact all state that she does NOT!!! She just wanted a provision in a bill that would ban late-term abortions to include an exception for when the life of the mother is in danger.
Folks,
We, as Christians, serve the Word. In the Word there is no lie. In fact, he is the author of Truth.
The truth matters! (contrary to what our President thinks – we should be calling him out on his lies also!)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2018/08/01/president-trump-has-made-4229-false-or-misleading-claims-in-558-days/?utm_term=.40d02704597d
https://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/statements/byruling/false/
To get to truth, though, we need critical thinking. Here is how you should go about it.
- Start with reliable sources
- http://mediabiaschart.com
- http://allsides.com
- Go to Google and type in a search for whatever it is that you are fact-checking
- Look at the first 10 results and see if there is any commentary from the trusted sources from #1
- Also, look directly into the generally respected fact checking sites like Snopes, FactCheck or Politifact.
- If you have 3 consistent results from the reliable sources then you are probably on to something.
Please, please, please, do your homework and fact check any claims that sound “fishy.” This is how we exercise discernment and we, as Christians who are filled with the Holy Spirit (remember the Counselor who is supposed to guide us into all truth?)
Otherwise, we’ll be just as guilty of making other folks’ jaws hit the ground … with our stupid and uninformed claims.