GOSSIP
The New
Testament warns against gossiping. The Greek word translated “gossip” means whisper or whisperer. In other words,
the focus is not on the falsehood of the word but on the fact that it needs to
be surreptitious. It is not open and candid and forthright. It has darkness
about it. It does not operate in the light of love. It is not aiming at
healing. It strokes the ego’s desire to be seen as right without playing by the
rules of love.
John Piper
I would
rather play with forked lightning, or take in hand living wires with their
fiery current, than speak a reckless word against any servant of Christ, or
idly repeat the slanderous darts which thousands of Christians are hurling on
others, to the hurt of their own souls and bodies.
The effects
of slander are always long-lived. Once lies about you have been circulated, it
is extremely difficult to clear your name. It’s a lot like trying to recover
dandelion seeds after they have been thrown to the wind.
John MacArthur
The Book on Leadership, 2004, p. 128.
The
church…is not nearly so careful not to gossip about someone’s sinning as it is
not to confront it and call for it to stop.
John
MacArthur
Matthew 16-23, Moody, 1988, p. 124.
Despite our
seemingly casual attitude toward it, slander is a particularly destructive sin. Writing in the 1828 edition of his
dictionary, Noah Webster defined slander as “a false tale or report maliciously
uttered, and tending to injure the reputation of another by lessening him in
the esteem of his fellow citizens, by exposing him to impeachment and
punishment, or by impairing his means of living.” Slander strikes at people’s dignity, defames
their character, and destroys their reputation – their most priceless worldly
asset (Proverbs 22:1; Ecclesiastes 7:1).
John MacArthur
James,
Moody Publishers, 1998, p. 217.
Gossip often
veils itself in acceptable conventions such as “Have you heard…” or “Did you
know…?” or “They tell me…” or “Keep this to yourself, but…” or “I do not
believe it is true, but I heard that…” or “I wouldn’t tell you, except that I
know it will go no further.” Of course,
the most infamous such rationalization in Christian circles is, “I am telling
you this so you can pray.”
Kent Hughes
Disciplines of a Godly Man, Crossway Books,
1991, p. 139.
Gossip
is saying behind a person’s back what you would never say to his or her face;
flattery is saying to a person’s face what you would never say behind his or
her back.
Kent Hughes
Taken from James by Kent Hughes, copyright
1991, Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton Illinois
60187, p. 140, www.crosswaybooks.org.
[Satan]
sometimes slanders God to men; as to Eve… sometimes men to God; as Job… and
continually, man to man.
John Robinson
A Puritan Golden Treasury, compiled by
I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 75.
The thief
doth send one only to the devil; the adulterer two; but the slanderer hurteth three; himself, the party to whom, and the party of
whom he telleth his tale.
John Boys
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 251.
Great minds
discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small
minds discuss people.
Author Unknown
Lead
your life so you won't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip.
Author Unknown
Confess your
sins, not your neighbors’.
Author Unknown
To gossip
means to betray a confidence or to discuss unfavorable personal facts about
another person with someone who is not part of the problem or its solution.
Even if the information you discuss is true, gossip is always sinful and a sign
of spiritual immaturity.
Ken Sande
Reprinted from The Peacemaker: A
Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict, Ken Sande, Baker Books, 3d ed.,
2004, p. 121.
Peacemaker® Ministries. www.Peacemaker.net. Used by Permission.
It is a sign of a perverse and treacherous disposition to wound
the good name of another, when he has no opportunity of defending himself.
John Calvin
The late Alan Redpath once suggested that any gossip that comes
our way should be subject to the following test summed up in the acronym THINK:
T – is it true? H – is it helpful? I – is it
inspiring? N – is it necessary? K – is
it kind?
Melvin Tinker
Wisdom to Live By, Christian Focus Publications, 1998, p.
41.
Used by Permission.
It is required of us that we be tender of the good name of our
brethren; where we cannot speak well, we had better say nothing than speak
evil; we must not take pleasure in making known the faults of others, divulging
things that are secret, merely to expose them, nor in making more of their
known faults than really they deserve, and, least of all, in making false
stories, and spreading things concerning them of which they are altogether
innocent. What is this but to raise the hatred and encourage the persecutions
of the world, against those who are engaged in the same interests with ourselves, and therefore with whom we ourselves must stand
or fall?
Matthew Henry
Notice,
we never pray for folks we gossip about, and we never gossip about the folk for
whom we pray! For prayer is a great deterrent.
Leonard Ravenhill
I
lay it down as a fact of life that if all men knew what others say of them,
there would not be four friends in the world.
Blaise Pascal
Those
who talk about others to us will talk about us to others.
Author Unknown
Three
essential rules when speaking of others are: Is it true? Is it kind?
Is it necessary?
Author Unknown
We
will not listen or willingly inquire after ill concerning one another; that, if
we do hear any ill of each other, we will not be forward to believe it; that as
soon as possible we will communicate what we hear by speaking or writing to the
person concerned; that until we have done this, we will not write or speak a
syllable of it to any other person; that neither will we mention it, after we
have done this, to any other person; that we will not make any exception to any
of these rules unless we think ourselves absolutely obligated in conference.
John Wesley
Covenant of Early Methodist Ministers, 1752.
God had a Son
that had no fault, but He never had a son that was not found fault with. God Himself was slandered in paradise by
Satan. Let us not expect, therefore, to
escape from the venomous tongue.
C.H. Spurgeon
18.115.
If there were
no gratified hearers of ill reports, there would be an end of the trade of
spreading them.
C.H. Spurgeon
The Treasury of David, Psalm 15.
The best way
to deal with slander is to pray about it: God will either remove it, or remove
the sting from it. Our own attempts at clearing ourselves are usually failures;
we are like the boy who wished to remove the blot from his copy, and by his
bungling made it ten times worse.
C.H.
Spurgeon
The Treasury of David, Commentary for Psalm
119:20.