It is NOT Gossip because . . .

"girl on a cell phone" by apatterson from www.freeimages.com

“girl on a cell phone” by apatterson from www.freeimages.com

We have all heard the line, and we are all skeptical of it.

It is the sentence that starts something like this:  “I am not gossiping when I tell you this …”

Often after the conversation, we don’t feel good about it!

But there are some reasons for sharing negative information about others.  In fact, I believe that many who are often accused of gossiping or believing gossip are actually trying to do good.  Elders and preachers in the church are at times accused of such, but they are trying to do right.

In the last post, I discussed what is gossip, now in this post I want to share what is NOT gossip.

I want to share with you four biblical reasons for telling negative information.

  1. To communicate the truth to someone who needs to know.  There are times when people need to know the truth.  You should tell the boss if another employee is handling money unethically.  The elders may need to be made aware of a situation that is affected a family in the church.  Someone may have only heard one side of a story, and they need to know the rest of it.
  2. To seek consolation for personal hurt and pain.  It is not gossip to need to share your burden and hurt with others.¹  If a relative has been unfaithful in their marriage to your family member, you will likely need someone to talk to about your hurt and pain.
  3. To seek help or assistance to deal with a problem.  There may be a time, when you have a problem that you don’t know how to handle.  Or you need the assistance of others to handle.  Paul had heard about the two ladies at Philippi who were in a disagreement.  He implored them to be united and he asked his friend to help them as well.²  Jesus told us that if you cannot work your problem out with your brother yourself, then to take one or two others, and if this attempt fails tell it to the church.³
  4. To aid a person who is being overtaken with sin.   Like many issues of the Christian faith our heart and intentions make the difference.  If we speak information to someone with the intention of helping the person spoken about; then this is not gossip.  Paul says we are not to “repay anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.”¹¹ The Bible has examples of people sharing negative information with the desire of helping the other person.  Many of Paul’s letters come from his hearing about issues and conflicts in the congregation from someone.  If someone in the church gets into sin, the church has a responsibility to talk about their choices and to seek their restoration.²²

Gossip is a tough issue because it has a subjective component.  I believe that well-meaning Chrsitians in our tolerant-loving society, are often accused of gossip, when they are only trying to help.  We must always check our heart when we are sharing information and discussing someone else’s life.  But we must not let the fear or accusation of gossip, keep us from talking about the wayward Christian who is struggling with sin.

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¹ – Gal. 6:2, Rom. 12:15

² – Phil. 4:2-3

³ – Mat. 18:15-17

¹¹ – 1 Thes. 5:15

²² – Gal. 6:1;  James 5:19-20;  etc.

 

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