Gossipers Love to Ruin Those They Cannot Control

Just as gossipers in the media malign another human being through half truths and out and out lies, so do the gossipers in a family malign their favored targets with the same.

We see the way in which the media uses half truths and spins it to seem bad or far worse than what transpired. This can happen in families and communities as well

When we share with a trusted friend something that happened to us personally, that is not gossip. However it is gossip when someone takes a flying guess about what they think is going on in someone's life without evidence and with great glee as to how that target may be failing in life.

Gossip is very serious to God especially when it is aimed at His children.

2 Corinthians 12:20 "20 For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder."

Exodus 23:1 "1 “Do not spread false reports. Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness."

The definition of gossip is the reporting of something about others we did not experience or witness ourselves to someone who has no need to know.

Always gossip is designed to diminish the worth and well being of the one being gossiped about.

So here's the rule: If you have heard something about me that disturbs you, then you are responsible to come to me and ask me my side of the story. Unless of course you know me well enough to know it is not true, then you have a responsibility to ignore it, even chastise the person telling you and forget what you heard.

Too often reputations are maligned and even ruined by gossip that has no basis in fact. These attempts to ruin another person says more about the gossiper than it does about the one who is the target of the half truths. And, believe me when I say all gossip is based in half truths, making the gossip whole lies.

Sharing a personal experience with a trusted friend is far different from guessing what one thinks might be truth and passing it to others to diminish their relationship with the one gossiped about.

Shame on those who must elevate self through gossip to undermine someone else.