Uncovering the Truth about Gossip and Slander

Have you heard…
Did you know…
They tell me…
I’ve known for a long time, but never said anything…
Keep this to yourself, but…
Even though I’ve told you this about him, he has his good points, too.
I wouldn’t tell you except I know you wouldn’t tell anyone.
I am telling you this so you can pray.

Sound familiar? If you catch yourself hearing or speaking these phrases, let your red flags go up. Chances are good that gossip or slander is quickly following.

What is gossip? A rumor or report of an intimate nature, chatty talk, chipping away at the good name of a neighbor, and my favorite: frivolous prattling. Somebody who is characterized as being a gossip would be defined as a person who habitually reveals personal or sensational facts about others. We all do it, don't we? And unfortunately, we almost all engage in it more than once a day.

What is slander? To slander somebody means to utter against, defame, malign, or harm the reputation of. It is generally evil in nature, influence and effect. It would be having or showing fairly intense and often vicious ill-will toward another person. Slander might even be true, but it goes beyond gossip when a person's mistakes, faults and shortcomings are discussed in minute detail.

Can you think of a time that gossip or slander ever did any good for a person's reputation? Probably not. So why do we spend so much time frivolously prattling about other people?

The following is an excerpt from Douma's book on the Ten Commandments. From pages 321-322, Douma spends this chapter discussing the Ninth Commandment: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. In this section he is going into detail about how deep lying lives within us:

Evidently we have a hard time being honest. Even if we have never given false testimony in court, we still catch ourselves gossiping, judging rashly, and twisting another person’s words. Even the slanderer finds a ready audience. His words are like tasty morsels; they slide down easily to the inner recesses of the heart (Prov. 18:8)... Lying or believing lies both come easily for us. But why?... Because we do not take life seriously enough; we have too much time for fun and for games of chance, for fiction and theater. In our conversation we reduce the life of the other person to a game and a stage performance. The lie entertains and diverts us. With the lie we can play a game with our neighbor. We become oblivious to the fact that our neighbors are living persons with their own interests, honor and reputation. The world of fantasy is bigger and more interesting that the real world. Everyday life bores us. Gossip is the spice people need to enhance their otherwise dull lives.

So just why are gossip and slander the "socially acceptable" sins? For one, the media does an excellent job of marketing it. Everybody does it. And most of all, we would rather hear something bad about our neighbor than something good. Something dirty always sticks long after the conversation has died.

But the Bible strongly warns us against speaking gossip and slander. As a matter of fact, it is so important that we pay attention to our speech, that the epistle of James devotes a whole chapter warning us about the evils of our tongues (James 3).