Rumors & Gossip
The topic that we will be studying today is a touchy one, but since there are so many divisions in the world today, I felt led by God to focus on "Rumors & Gossip."
Let's begin by defining both words:
Rumor - a currently circulating story or report of uncertain or doubtful truth
Gossip - a person who habitually reveals personal or sensational facts about others
- casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true.
Before I continue, I need to make it very clear that I know that prejudice still happens in our world, but I believe that such atrocities are fueled and even caused by rumors and gossips.
Let me explain by telling you a true story from my childhood. I grew up in a small town in Canada that had once been inhabited by a majority of French speaking people. When I was a teenager it was probably only about 30% French speaking. I say that to explain that there were literally only a couple of black teenagers in my high school. In fact, I was sixteen years old when I made my first black friend. To be totally honest with you, when I met her I did NOT see color. I saw a beautiful, kind and brilliant teen girl. It is society that fuels this "color" division not the common man or woman.
In the verse below, I believe that "rumors of wars" could be referring to exactly what I am talking about in this post. Society telling us that we can't like certain sections of society if people are born a different color. Or, we can't befriend someone who is Jewish if we were raised in a Catholic family. These "rumors" cause divisions that have and do lead to violent unrest/wars.
Examples of "rumors" causing division in our world today and in recent history:
- skin color (Black vs White vs Native American vs Asian)
- religion (Catholics vs Protestants vs Jewish vs Muslims)
- gender
- political party
- allopathic medicine vs natural medicine
It is then "gossip" that continues spreading these "rumors".
Of course, social media is the worst venue in doing so much harm. Social media really is gossip on steroids.
As an example - We have sections of society boasting about medicine that they have taken, all while shunning anyone else who has the opposite opinion. In just a few months our medical information went from being totally protected by HIPAA to now being plastered all over the world via social media. We can not know other people's bodies and how they react to medicine, yet many are insisting that everyone take that same medication without acknowledging that we are all different and unique with different conditions and reactions.
Look at the verse below - it actually says to avoid gossipers.
I think my favorite verse about gossip is the one above (Proverbs 26:20). It's so vivid - the heat of a fight will die down without gossip being spread. Just think of how quickly a wildfire can spread through the forest. That's how quickly false rumors can create violence and destruction.
Ignore gossip and correct rumors with God's truth.
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