The Triple Test

Recently, in Wednesday morning Bible study, we've been discussing the book of Proverbs. It's been a great study so far ... after all, anything that helps you discern wisdom and folly is a good thing! One of the topics that comes up is speech, the tongue, and how we can use it for good or for bad. Out of that topic comes the whole issue of gossip and what is considered good or not. (not that gossip is good, but the whole issue of "sharing news" can be good or bad!) My aunt sent me an email called "The Triple Test". I don't know much about Socrates, but this is good, and something I believe we can all learn from as we discern what is good info to receive and share, and what is not.

Triple Filter Test

In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem.
One day an acquaintance met the great 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?"

This is why Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem