B.A.S.I.C. Training

Where there are at least three people there is bound to be gossip – two to share it and one to be the victim.

There is so much good in the worst of us,And so much bad in the best of us,That it hardly becomes any of us

To talk about the rest of us.

~Edward Wallis Hoch

There are proverbs concerning gossip in most, if not all, nations…

What you don't see with your eyes, don't witness with your mouth.

  ~Jewish Proverb

What is whispered in the ear of a man is often heard 100 miles away.

  ~Chinese Proverb

Whoever gossips to you will gossip about you.  ~Spanish Proverb

Who brings a tale takes two away.  ~Irish Proverb

Proverbs 16:28 -- A perverse man stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends.

Proverbs 26:20 --Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down.

How do we defeat this troublesome and destructive foe?

Romans 1:29-30 -- They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil….

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 quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.

Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to.

Because our hearts are still prone to wickedness…

Matthew 15:19 -- For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.

Because we desire things that ultimately hurt us…

Proverbs 18:8 --The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man's inmost parts.

Exodus 20:16 -- "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

By recognizing it is a deadly sin…

Ephesians 4:29 -- Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

Colossians 4:6 -- Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

T – Is it TRUEH – Is it HELPFULI – Is it INSPIRINGN – Is it NECESSARYK – Is it KIND

If not – keep it to yourself.