Five-minute-read
Gossip can burn in the belly, waiting to be let out. A chronic gossiper or even slanderer cannot stop. And the one listening is equally guilty. We should always note that the person ready to gossip about others will do that for you too one day!
Proverbs 17:4 notes: “Wrongdoers eagerly listen to gossip; liars pay close attention to slander.”
There are different kinds of gossip and slander, how do we know which kind and how to combat it?
1. Slanderous rumours: The first kind of slanderer/gossiper spreads rumours to destroy someone purposely,aimed in conspiracy and cunning. It can be the most damaging kind of slanderand destroys lives and families in catastrophic ways.
This backbiting where one speaks about the other person in their absence, where they cannot defend themselves is very harmful. It is vindictive,secretive. The Bible says in Proverbs 25:23: “The north wind brings forth rain, and a backbiting tongue, angry looks.” This gossip stirs up conflict.
Subtle innuendos can mislead others into thinking wrong thoughts about a situation : Example: I saw my neighbour running on the road looking quite crazy, I think she is mental” This sentence would be picked on with more “masala” to get into another tangent and by the end of it, people would have surmised the woman was mentally insane. What they did not know was she rushed out of her home to the nearby pharmacy to get an over-the-counter for her daughter who developed fever.
2. Jesting Jokes: Engaging in character slandering through a form of joking may seem harmless but does the heinous job to portray another person in a poor light. To treat another human as a joke is very demeaning and drowning them to despair. While people joke about others to feel better about themselves, it is really the spirit of mockery controlling them.
Proverbs 21:24 says,“Mockers are proud and haughty; they act with boundless arrogance.” And verse 9:8 says, “A mocker resents correction; he will not consult the wise.”
In addition, Proverbs 22:10 says, “Drive out the mocker, and out goes strife; quarrels and insults are ended.” Usually this kind of mockery, jesting brings a lot of hurt and damage to the poor person who is the butt of every joke. It ruins their personal sense of worth and value.
3. Dishing: “Dishin’ the dirt” means sharing the juicy information and tasty tit bits you hear about someone else. It makes you say, “Did you hear? blah blah blah. We hear something, not good and not verified as true, but we repeat it, and it is repeated again. Soon the original story is so twisted like a Chinese Whisper, that distorts the original version of it.
While we may not mean tocause direct harm, this kind of gossip constantly keeps the fire burning,tainting the image of the person gossiped about. Proverbs 13:3 says, “He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin.” Dishing is rash talk without evidence or substance and ends not only the slander in ruin but others too.
Jesus says, All will come to light: There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark,speak in the daylight; what is said whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs” (Matt 10:26-27).
STOP GOSSIP: Proverbs 26:20 tells us, “For lack of wood the fire goes out, And where there is no whisperer, contention quiets down.” this means, simply, STOP.
“But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips” (Colossians 3:8).
Confess that one has this weakness, identify it, wash ourselves out of it and forsake it! Ask the Holy Spirit to deliver us if we struggle with this.
© Rita F. Kurian
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