Gossip

Started by Christine Daaé (Dani the Older)
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Christine Daaé (Dani the Older)

I was looking through the old TDs, and there are some really good subjects I need to read through!

But, meanwhile, here's a question I've come up with since a discussion we had in Sunday School last week: What exactly is gossip? Is it ever talking about someone, or is it saying things about someone that may be true and fine, but making it seem negative by the way you say it. Is it the same as or different than slander? Is there ever a time when you should tell someone something bad about someone else?

Have at it.

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Roy Phillips

Something the person your telling has no business knowing, coincidentally the information is usually shared under the guise of some other tile.

"So-and-so has a foot fungis." So what? is the person not able to look out for his or her self; or did they ask you to find a surgeon to cut it off for them?

"I have a Friend who is really shy, do you have any advice on how to help them?" This would actually a legitimate request (which may or may not included confidential information) assuming the person you talking to is someone who can give advice not just a random person you want to share news with.

Helpful?

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M27

I think that we really need to be careful when we talk about others. We need to ask ourselves these questions before we tell somebody something about someone else:
How would I feel if someone said this about me?
Would the person that I am speaking about be okay with me saying this?
Is what I'm saying about this person glorifying to God?
What is the purpose of what I am saying?

The last is especially important, because it helps us to see if there really is any need to tell someone something about someone else. There is a time to say something negative about someone else, but it's rare. If I knew that someone's child was doing something wrong without their parent's knowledge, then I should tell the parents (depending on the situation, I might should talk to the child about what they were doing before I told their parents).

This is an interesting discussion, and I hope to see more answers on it :).

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Piece of Peace

Will Rogers said, "Live in such a way that you could sell your parrot to the town gossip."
“The only gracious way to accept an insult is to ignore it, stop it; if you can’t stop it, laugh at it; if you can’t laugh at it, it’s probably deserved.” Russell Lynes;
That pretty much sums up when people are gossiping about you.
The Golden Rule applies.
Do to others what you would have done to you.
Not what has been done to you.

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Eirene

I think a good tip for not gossiping, though it's not always a perfect standard, is to talk about someone as if they were in the room listening to you talk about them.

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Eirene

Oh and I know there's 'tons' of verses about speech, but this is one off the top of my mind.

Colossians 4:6 - "Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man."

That doesn't exactly talk about gossip, but it says to let your speech be always with grace, and I don't think it's graceful to gossip. :)

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