New Series - Backwards Forwards (BF)

Hit the books before you hit "send"...

As many people do, I get a lot of forwarded email. Most of what I get is the usual jokes, chain letters, and so forth. I also get a fair number of tips, from people asking me to check out a particular website or news item. And, also like most people, I get a large number of urban legends, myths, and panicky calls to action that have little to no basis in reality. That’s frustrating enough when the emails are “secular”, or come from “secular” folks. It’s even more frustrating when they come from fellow Christians and pass along superstitious or exaggerated stories about spiritual topics.

Hence, the new series: Backwards Forwards. The name plays on emails, but any persistent rumor, myth, or urban legend moving like a case of the flu through Christian circles is fair game. Posts in this series will be (relatively) short explanations of the most common religiously-connected myths I’ve been getting. As others pop up, we’ll throw those on the bonfire as well, marked with the BF tag.