Gossip

The verb "gossip" is defined as "to talk idly, esp. about the affairs of others; go about tattling." While I'm sure each of us engages in it from time to time, we Christians all know that it's bad. Solomon says, "Do not associate with a gossip" (Prov 20:19). In Paul's second letter to the church at Corinth he was afraid that they might not remain steadfast. "For I am afraid that perhaps when I come I may find you to be not what I wish and may be found by you to be not what you wish; that perhaps there will be strife, jealousy, angry tempers, disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance, disturbances" (2 Cor 12:20). In this text, among all the things that Paul feared, is "slanders" and "gossip". It's a bad thing.

The other day I heard from someone about someone else -- actually, a ministry. My source told me that they were engaging in unbiblical things. There were accusations of nepotism and fraud and Christians suing Christians and ... well, not a good thing. "Have you heard anything about this?" he asked, concerned. No, I hadn't. I could do the research. I could find the sources. I could see the claims and the responses. I found all that. But it made me feel ... icky. It felt like gossip.

I got to thinking. How does this kind of talk differ from gossip? In fact, I thought further, how does your evening news broadcast differ from gossip? I've always been told, "Don't listen to gossip. Direct them to the source and if you have questions go to the source." Of course, with the news media, we don't get to do that. We get their sources which, oh, by the way, they don't like to divulge. And we all know that there have been cases of untrue things reported as true, and we all know that there have even been cases of ruined lives because the news media released information that wasn't true.

I don't know ... really. I am not entirely sure I'm comfortable finding a distinction between "news" and "gossip". "Well," I might tell myself, "it's not idle chatter. It's important stuff!" Is it? Is our country, for instance, better off because the news has told us how bad our economy is? Or has it simply contributed to the problem? Am I better off knowing that the ambulances in my area can't be trusted and that the medical helicopters in my area can't be trusted so ... well, expect to die if you have a medical emergency? At what point does it change from "need to know" to "gossip"? I really don't know. I suspect that a lot of what passes for "news" because "the public has a right to know" is nothing more than gossip. And that's a bad thing.