If you have not seen it for yourself, ignore it; it is better to be uninformed than to assume everything you read must be true because it is what you want to believe. I get how enticing gossip and news articles can be; I have indulged myself at times and have been bitten when I realized what I repeated turned out to be wrong.
Lies are rampant, and many things on the internet cannot be proven. Believing what we did not see for ourselves will make us foolish, repeating what we think we know but is very likely not true at all.
Proverbs 17:4 "a wicked person "listens to evil lips," and a liar "gives ear to a malicious tongue".
Just because its politics or someone is a public figure does not mean it is not gossip to repeat what we see in the news.
There have been times when I was caught up in the hype of something and shared it. I regret having done that and learned from the conviction of the Holy Spirit to be more careful about what I share.
The devil is very clever; if he can't get us to act badly, he will try to cause us to fall by our thought life and influence others to believe lies.
If we haven't seen it for ourselves and cannot prove it, then we must ignore it. Things we have not seen and cannot prove will ultimately corrupt us and deter us from the commands and principles of God.
And, lastly, AI is so clever and looks so real now that we cannot tell the difference between the real and the fake. If we cannot change what we read and it has no business in our lives other than "knowing" it, then it is useless information. Perhaps worse than useless, perhaps it is damaging gossip.
Proverbs 26:21-23 "…21 Like charcoal for embers and wood for fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife. 22 The words of a gossip are like choice morsels that go down into the inmost being. 23 Like glaze covering an earthen vessel are burning lips and a wicked heart.…"
Many people fire others up over things that do not affect their lives, and there is no useful reason for knowing them.
Ephesians 4:29 "Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up the one in need and bringing grace to those who listen."
1 Timothy 5:13 "At the same time they will also learn to be idle, going from house to house and being not only idle, but also gossips and busybodies, discussing things they should not mention."
May we all take this matter of "gossip" seriously, mind our own business, and teach what God teaches. We care about one another and must speak the truth to help; this is different from useless articles and gossip.
1 Peter 2:1 "Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander."
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