Triple Filter Test

In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem. One day an acquaintance met the philosopher and said, "Do you know what I just heard about your friend?"

"Hold on a minute," Socrates replied. "Before telling me anything I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."

"Triple filter?" "That's right," Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're going to say. That's why I call it the triple filter test. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"

"No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and..." "All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?"

"No, on the contrary..." "So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him, but you're not certain it's true. You may still pass the test though, because there's one filter left: the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?"

"No, not really." "Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither true, nor good, nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?" — Copied (from the net)

You’d Never Believe It, Mom!

Asked what he had learned at Sunday School, the ten-year-old began, “Well, our teacher told us about when God sent his general, Moses, behind the enemy lines to rescue the Israelites from the Egyptians. When they came to the Red Sea, Moses called for the engineers to build a pontoon bridge. After they had all crossed, they looked back and saw the Egyptian tanks coming. Quick as a flash, Moses radioed headquarters on his walkie-talkie to send bombers to blow up the bridge and save the Israelites.

“Now Bobby,” exclaimed his startled mother, “Is that really what your teacher said?”

“Well, not exactly. But if I told it her way, you’d never believe it, Mom.”

[Although humorous, and possible that an untaught child could tell the story of Moses and Israel in such a way, this would never happen if we bring up our children in “the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:1-4). Sunday School is important, but parents have a responsibility in the home, to teach the truths of God’s word to their children (Deuteronomy 6:7) CS].