Myths that We Christians Accept – my new book, many years in the making!

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The 21st century, that digital arena where information and misinformation battle for our attention! To be sure, the internet can render up solid facts, for instance: “Who won Super Bowl XLVII in 2013?” But the very same medium also lures people toward myths, hearsay, conspiracy theories, satirical news. One theory tells us that the Baltimore Ravens won that Super Bowl because of the Illuminati; that they “fixed” it as a way of demonstrating their world dominion.

That wasn’t the original dream for the internet, that, If only all people had full access to all the data, then lies will melt, as snow under the sun’s burning rays. That promise turned out to be the biggest myth of all. One example: the faked Protocols of Zion has been a bedrock document for anti-Semitism for over a century. You used to have to track it down in a university library; now the Protocols can be downloaded in seconds. That’s a handy tool for a student of Jewish history; but a cruel weapon in the hands of enemies of the Jews.

This volume examines and (mostly) debunks 40 myths under the categories of the Bible (Have they discovered the remains of Egyptian chariots and horse skeletons under the waters of the Red Sea? No!); Bible Languages (Is Greek a super-precise language? No!); the Modern World and the End Times (Has the Hubble captured a picture of the New Jerusalem, approaching the Earth? No!). Running parallel are insights from the latest studies of the human mind (cognitive science), which explain why people tend to accept stories that they wish to be true.

The stories I treat range from one I heard when I was 13; the latest are fresh myths!

The Christian, charged with “speaking the truth in love”, is faced with a dilemma: how do I know what is reliable information; how do I use it in a loving way? This is not simply so that we can be informed individuals. It is because God commands us to not bear false witness. Besides which, what will the world think of our core message – the resurrection of Jesus – if we are the kind of people who buy into whatever pops up on our screens? Thus, factchecking is the friend, not the enemy, of Christian truth.

“Myths that We Christians Accept and Pass Along to Others – my new book, many years in the making!” by Gary S. Shogren, PhD en New Testament Exegesis, professor at Seminario ESEPA, San José, Costa Rica