p. 13 | Gossip Mongers at Their Trade

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Aug 3, 1915

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 42, No. 30.

Gossip Mongers at Their Trade

By Mary Alice Hare Loper, M. S.

They Work on a Very Low Level—They Cultivate Mental Cheapness—Their Destructive Influence in the Home, Especially upon the Children

By MARY ALICE HARE LOPER, M. S.

HAVE you an individual in your neighborhood whom you have heard styled "a regular gossip"? If so, you doubtless are familiar with the reason for the application of the epithet, and can vouch for the unpleasant experiences suffered by others as the result of such a busy but useless life.

AS OLD AS SIN

The tendency to gossip is as old as sin itself, and has lost none of its virulence through all the ages. Old Testament writers, as well as those of the New Testament, were well acquainted with the results of this besetting sin. Job, David, Solomon, Paul, Timothy, and James have written very emphatically against evil speaking, and in many places in the Bible it is pointed out as worthy of special condemnation.

Gossip is not confined to the criminal classes, where it fittingly belongs, but is so widespread that it is found even among church members. In fact, even the modern benevolent and social societies of the church have sometimes been termed gossip societies, and perhaps not without some shadow of reason.

There were gossipers among the high-church people of Jerusalem in the time of Christ. The spirit manifested by the scribes and the Pharisees when they told Jesus that a certain woman had done thus and so, and that according to the law of Moses she should be put to death, was the real gossip spirit, which finds expression in the words, "I am holier than thou."

Jesus forever placed the ban upon the great sin of gossip when He said to those scribes and Pharisees, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again He stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up Himself, and saw none but the woman, He said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." This is what Jesus says to every one who is the target of the gossiper to-day.

SEPARATES CHIEF FRIENDS

I once heard the significant statement made that "more harm is done by gossip than by any other one cause." It is sly, deceitful, treacherous. It disintegrates the most sacred human ties. It separates husbands and wives, it alienates children, it estranges friends. It revives old neighborhood feuds, and fans the dying embers of all sorts of infelicities. Truly, "a whisperer separateth chief friends."

Gossip, like a rolling snowball, has a tendency to enlarge. Those who delight to "keep the ball rolling" are usually glib talkers but shallow thinkers. One energetic gossip in a church can alienate brethren and sisters, and bring in a spirit of disunion that means death to spirituality. Such an individual will talk to you about others, if you will permit it, and then will go to others and talk about you. As Timothy says, "Withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not."

ATTEND TO YOUR OWN AFFAIRS

The typical gossip peddles others' family affairs which never should be known to the public, attributing as the cause of personal acts, motives which may be wholly visionary. Peter says, "Let none of you suffer . . . as a busybody in other men's matters." In other words, Attend to your own affairs, and let others' alone. The great Creator has given to every one a definite work, sufficient to employ his time till the close of life, with no vacations for indulging in sin. Therefore it is very necessary to follow Peter's instruction if one would finish his life work.

Gossip is decidedly repulsive to one who maintains a Christlike interest in humanity.

Jesus forever placed the ban upon gossip when he said, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.”

He does not enjoy listening to adverse criticism of others. "To err is human; to forgive [and forget], divine." Every one of us poor mortals makes mistakes; and it does not help any one overcome, to have his mistakes paraded before the public. Gossip is cruel. It overlooks the good in an individual, and enlarges upon real or imaginary evil, until one might well exclaim, "Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!" It attacks without mercy, and often without cause, affording indisputable evidence that "the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity, . . . and it is set on fire of hell." The tongue is savage in its nature. Without divine help, man cannot gain control over it. It is "an unruly evil, full of deadly poison." Only the Judgment day will reveal how many have gone to untimely graves as the result of evil words.

REBUKE THEM BY SILENCE

It is a sinful waste of time to encourage scandalmongers in their iniquitous career. Jesus set us an example to follow when confronted by gossipers. He acted "as though He heard them not." When a tattler comes in search of news, it is well to preserve a golden silence. "The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness: and the end of his talk is mischievous madness." He plies with questions in order to gain information that he may go and tell some one else. He delights in tattling to one person what another says about him, while perhaps posing as a friend to both. "Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge." James 4: 11. Paul tells us that only "the doers of the law shall be justified." Rom. 2: 13. And Matthew says, "By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned."

LIVE ABOVE THE FOG OF GOSSIP

When tempted to gossip, it would be well to remember the words of Christ, "Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them," is the divine law which eliminates all gossip from the program of everyday life. He who follows this law lives to serve humanity, in whatever capacity it is his privilege to help. Optimistic in his tendencies, he looks for the good in others, and is not disappointed. He lives so far above the foggy atmosphere of gossip, that it does not affect him; while the cynical, faultfinding tattler scarcely sees a ray of philanthropic sunshine from one year's end to another. He is so accustomed to evil criticism that we might easily imagine him thinking of his very best friend, "Everybody is queer but thee and me, and I sometimes think thee is a little queer too."

The home where gossip reigns — what an undesirable habitation! The child who is reared in its contaminated atmosphere is deserving of pity. He becomes so accustomed to the foul odors of adverse comments, and the death damp of faultfinding, that he learns to look for the bad in everybody, and to consider himself about the only sample of human clay that is above criticism. He hears from babyhood that the minister is faulty, that the church members are not what they pretend to be, and that it is well to be suspicious of one's neighbors and of humanity in general, for there is no telling when they may overstep the bounds of propriety. Such a child learns to imitate his parents in thinking along cheap lines, and in acting out cheap thoughts.

CHEAP THINKING

Cheap thinking is one of the worst habits an individual can form. One never rises higher than his thoughts, and he can assist no one else to rise higher than himself. Parents who gossip before their children, would do well to remember that they are setting the standard of their children's ideals, and perhaps deciding their failure in life. It is a shame that a child's possibilities for success should be besmirched with the mildew of gossip — words which he should never hear, and which are unfit for repetition.

Children are the echo of the home, and their harmonious or discordant tones heard along the path of life reveal the realm of thought to which they have been accustomed. A child's words disclose whether his heart is pure or impure; "for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."

THE RIGHT TO GOOD REARING

It is the right of every child to be well reared as well as well born. He should not be compelled to become accustomed to intellectual poison any more than to physical poison. It requires but little of the latter to constitute a fatal dose. Let us not presume too much upon the ability of the child mentally to resist the former. It is a deplorable thing to become a victim of the drug habit. It is no less deplorable to become a victim of mental poisoning. The child who is fed upon gossip enjoys companionships that are not elevating. He has his taste formed for conversational trash, and will choose society that is of an injurious character. Thus his whole life will receive the wrong bent, and he is likely never to accomplish his divinely appointed mission. It is best to speak that which is good, or to remain silent.

We hear very much said about the temperance pledge, and surely it is a means of accomplishing good for humanity. But Bible temperance—"temperate in all things"—includes temperance in the use of words. If every one would sign a pledge not to gossip, and then live up to it, what a different world this would be! In this respect, it would surely afford a foretaste of heaven.

"There is so much good in the worst of us, And so much bad in the best of us, That it hardly behooves any of us To talk about the rest of us."