Authenticity Verification

[AndrewM]

On my evangelism DVD's put out by ASI, It Is Written and Heart Research, there are two stories that I hope aren't urban legends because they are used to build credibility with audiences.<P>One is about Abraham Lincoln having a dream about his assasination and the other is about a New York City Mayor (LaGuardia) who fines all those in a courtroom 50 cents for "living in a town where a grandmother has to steal a loaf of bread so that her grandchildren won't starve to death."<P>Each story comes with plenty of detail--does anyone know whether they are true, though? I looked at one website for urban legends and all they had was material refuting Abe Lincoln's "failures" before he was elected President.

[Paul Beach]

It's amazing how many urban legends find their way into sermons because they sound so compelling. Once they're preached from the pulpit, it's hard to refute them because of the credibility issues involved.<P>A rule of thumb is, don't use stories that you aren't sure are true. Because if you happen to share an urban legend, somebody in the audience who knows that it's not true might call you on it or at least mention it to all the people sitting around him/her.<P>It's better to make up a parable that people know is just an illustration than to try to build credibility with a supposedly "true" story.<P>PB

[Guest]

I have heard the one about Abe Lincoln. I think I saw it on TV on Unsolved Mysteries, but I'm not real sure about that. []images/icons/grin.gif" border="0[/]

[Guest]

I heard that one on a TV Show on TV. I do not think it was one of those tabloid shows either.<BR>I cannot remember exactly where I heard about it.<P>Jim

[Kevin H]

I have heard both stories in documentaries and read then books of the individuals. I don't remember the details of the LaGuardia story, if it was done quite that way or not, but it is at least based on something that happened. <P>Lincoln's dream is mentioned often and is footnoted as Dorothy Lamon Teillard, ed., Recollections of Abraham Lincoln by Ward Hill Lamon (Washingtone: Pub. by the editor, 1911), 114-117.<P>His dream was of people sobbing, and that he was going through the Whitehouse to look for the sobbing people, and in the east room found a "catafalque, on which rested a corpse wrapped in funeral vestments. Around it were stationed soldiers who were acting as guards; and there was a throng of people... 'Who is dead in the Whitehouse' I demanded of one of the soldiers. 'The President' was his answer; 'he was killed by an assassin!'" (I copied this from Wayne C. Temple, Abraham Lincoln From Skeptic to Prophet" page 302)<P>Sorry I don't have the details of LaGuardia, but get a book on his life. He was an amazing and tremendus person. (One story that I remember the details of from reading reading was once he met a woman who could not speak English and she was lost. He took her into the police station for the police to help her find her way home. The police sergeant did not want to help and in his answer said somthing like "Who do you think you are to bring this problem to us." LaGuardia replied "First of all it does not matter who I am, this is a woman who needs your help. Second, since you asked..." he vaulted over the gate that sepperated the desks from the loby, "I happen to be the Mayor of New York City!"<P>This was the type of person he was. Very careing for others. Well worth learning more about.

[ehlambert]

Heart Research is just an outlet for the DVD. Go to www.iiw.com or www.adventdigital.com and you will find them for sale. Send an inquiry to Elder Mark Finley about authenticity of the stories. I believe that Elder Don Gray wrote the original script for the DVD series.

[Ed Mason]

The one on Lincoln is true. In fact an interesting read is an older book from Jim Bishop - The Day Lincoln was Shot. Seemed to be well researched.