Robert in Peachtree City, Georgia asks, what is the biblical definition of gossip?

This is good for me to think about.

I hate gossip and I wasn't even sure how to define it and that's very dangerous, isn't

it?

So Romans 1, they're full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness.

They are gossips, slander.

You see the context of it, deceit, maliciousness, slander, it's really ugly and it's right

in there with things that hurt people.

Same thing in 2 Corinthians 12, there are many, they may be quarreling, jealousy, anger,

hostility, slander, gossip, conceit.

So there it is, back to back with slander again.

So gossip is something hurtful, it's something that damages community, damages people.

Same thing again in 1 Timothy 5, besides that, he's talking about some women in the church

at that time were going about from house to house, not only idlers, but also gossips and

busy bodies.

And there you hear the fact that it seems to be the kind of thing that you just fall

into when you don't have anything better to do.

So here are a couple of things that seem to mark what gossiping is.

Number 1, a negative spirit that is more bent on hurting than helping.

Gossip is not something that's really redemptive.

I just want to help, I want to do good, so I'm going to gossip.

But it is deceptive, there are people who can deceive themselves into thinking they're

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