“The Room,” the Touching Story Written By a 17-year-old Boy Just Before His Death–Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
This long email is in two parts. The first part describes 17-year-old-Brian Moore, a student who was a part of a group of Christian athletes. In preparation for leading a discussion at one of the meetings, he wrote an essay that he titled “The Room.” Two months later, Brian was dead. He had a traffic accident, which he survived, but was electrocuted when he stepped on some downed power lines. The remainder of the first part of the email talks about what a quality guy Brian was and how much it meant to have “The Room” as a part of his legacy. The second part of the email is the essay itself, a very moving description of a dream in which he experiences a sobering review of his life and a powerful encounter with Jesus Christ.
The Truth:
“The Room” was actually written by speaker and author Joshua Harris and is in his book “I Kissed Dating Goodbye.” He says it was something that he put on paper as the result of a dream he had while in Puerto Rico for the 1995 Billy Graham Crusade and published in his magazine the same year. Interestingly, Brian Moore was also real. He did attend the high school described in the eRumor and lost his life as the result of a traffic accident shortly after having presented “The Room” for the meeting of Christian athletes. His friends and family believed that he had written it and the story about Brian was passed along to others sincerely. Joshua Harris told TruthOrFiction.com that he appreciates people getting the facts straight about the origins of “The Room” but is more concerned that people hear the message of the story than knowing who actually wrote it.