曾有位女士告訴我，她的教會因為一個爭議而產生分歧。我問她：「什麼爭議？」她回答：「地球是不是平的。」幾個月後，有消息說，一名基督徒男子手持武器闖入一間餐廳，要拯救那些據說被關在密室受虐的孩子。但那間餐廳並沒有密室，而這名男子被逮捕了。在這兩起事件中，有關人員都是在網路上看到一些虛假的消息而採取了行動。

基督徒蒙召做好公民（羅馬書13章1-7節），而好公民不會傳播虛假的消息。在路加的時代，流傳著許多關於耶穌的傳聞（路加福音1章1-2節），其中有些並非真實。路加並沒有將他聽到的每個傳聞都記載下來，而是像記者一樣，去訪問見證人，將每件事「從起頭都詳細考察了」（3節），才將調查結果寫成福音書。書中詳記人名、引述，以及曾親身經歷的人講述的史實，而不是未經證實的傳聞。

我們也能這麼做。既然虛假的消息足以分裂教會，甚至對別人的生命造成威脅，那麼查核事實就是愛鄰舍的舉動（10章27節）。聽到聳人聽聞的消息時，我們可以向合格且負責任的專家求證，做一個持守真理、尋求真相的人，而不散佈虛假或錯誤的消息。這麼做能使福音更為可信。畢竟，我們敬拜的這位上帝毫無虛謊，滿有真理（約翰福音1章14節）。

A woman once told me about a disagreement that was tearing her church apart. “What’s the disagreement about?” I asked. “Whether the earth is flat,” she said. A few months later, news broke of a Christian man who’d burst into a restaurant, armed, to rescue children supposedly being abused in its back room. There was no back room, and the man was arrested. In both cases, the people involved were acting on conspiracy theories they’d read on the internet.

Believers in Jesus are called to be good citizens (Romans 13:1–7), and good citizens don’t spread misinformation. In Luke’s day, numerous stories circulated about Jesus (Luke 1:1), some of them were inaccurate. Instead of passing on everything he heard, Luke essentially became an investigative journalist, talking to eyewitnesses (v. 2), researching “everything from the beginning” (v. 3), and writing his findings into a gospel that contains names, quotes, and historical facts based on people with firsthand knowledge, not unverified claims.

We can do the same. Since false information can split churches and put lives at risk, checking facts is an act of loving our neighbor (10:27). When a sensational story comes our way, we can verify its claims with qualified, accountable experts, being truth seekers—not error spreaders. Such an act brings credibility to the gospel. After all, we worship the One who’s full of truth (John 1:14).