Not gossip if it is true?

[Encryptus]

There was a post on another forum made by a poster who is an elected official in a major "Oneness" organization. (Of course negative in nature about the standards of another church within that same organization.)

When the subject of gossip came up his response was:

"Also what I wrote was not gossip as the person that told me was a person that attends that church. "

Is there really that lack of understanding of gossip, the belief-if it is true it can't be gossip.

Interesting for a group that prides itself on staying away from OT abominations.

And I have looked and failed to find where the common use of the word GOSSIP requires veracity.

[Cindy]

True or not gossip is spreading tales about someone else, usually negative.

[missourimary]

When a Pentecostal pastor I once knew was told that someone wasn't gossiping, that what they were saying was the truth, he would respond, "If it's true and it's negative, it's gossip. If it's false and it's negative, it's a lie." He made it clear that he didn't approve of either.

Not every negative statement is wrong. There are times that the truth must be told, negative or not. But when the truth is spoken in love it should bring healing, unity, compassion, help, encouragement, or some other positive result. If it brings revulsion, division, hurt, or a sense of being better than someone else, it would have been better left unsaid.

[rgcraig]

Originally Posted by missourimary

When a Pentecostal pastor I once knew was told that someone wasn't gossiping, that what they were saying was the truth, he would respond, "If it's true and it's negative, it's gossip. If it's false and it's negative, it's a lie."

That's pretty good!

[houston]

I have always understood gossip to be the transfer of information (fact or fiction) about a person to cause said person to be viewed in a neg (-) light.

When I attended a UPC the def. of gossip changed to that of passing on info that is false. In my opinion, it is an excuse to be a hypocrite (sp) and trash your brother and/or sister.

I can not count the number of times I was given a "prayer request" that was nothing more than an excuse to air peoples dirty laundry. I do not need to know what is going on in a persons life to pray for them. I'd rather not know. Sometimes I feel prompted in prayer, and pray for needs that I didn't know were there, only to learn later that "such and such" was going on.

[Cindy]

Originally Posted by missourimary

When a Pentecostal pastor I once knew was told that someone wasn't gossiping, that what they were saying was the truth, he would respond, "If it's true and it's negative, it's gossip. If it's false and it's negative, it's a lie." He made it clear that he didn't approve of either.

Not every negative statement is wrong. There are times that the truth must be told, negative or not. But when the truth is spoken in love it should bring healing, unity, compassion, help, encouragement, or some other positive result. If it brings revulsion, division, hurt, or a sense of being better than someone else, it would have been better left unsaid.

[rgcraig]

Originally Posted by houston

I have always understood gossip to be the transfer of information (fact or fiction) about a person to cause said person to be viewed in a neg (-) light.

When I attended a UPC the def. of gossip changed to that of passing on info that is false. In my opinion, it is an excuse to be a hypocrite (sp) and trash your brother and/or sister.

I can not count the number of times I was given a "prayer request" that was nothing more than an excuse to air peoples dirty laundry. I do not need to know what is going on in a persons life to pray for them. I'd rather not know. Sometimes I feel prompted in prayer, and pray for needs that I didn't know were there, only to learn later that "such and such" was going on.

Very good!

If it starts out with "did you hear" - you pretty well know it's gossip.

[whoami]

Originally Posted by missourimary

When a Pentecostal pastor I once knew was told that someone wasn't gossiping, that what they were saying was the truth, he would respond, "If it's true and it's negative, it's gossip. If it's false and it's negative, it's a lie." He made it clear that he didn't approve of either.

Not every negative statement is wrong. There are times that the truth must be told, negative or not. But when the truth is spoken in love it should bring healing, unity, compassion, help, encouragement, or some other positive result. If it brings revulsion, division, hurt, or a sense of being better than someone else, it would have been better left unsaid.

I agree with most of this, but sometimes true negative things about someone can be spoken to someone else as a warning. For example "I heard that you're planning to hire ____ as a babysitter, and I wanted to warn you that when I took my child there they came home with bruises and the explanations I got weren't satisfactory." This type of statement doesn't bring love, healing, unity, compassion or help to the person it's being spoken about, but could help someone else from getting hurt. I guess to me it depends on the purpose of the telling. If the purpose is to actually HELP someone, even if it's not the person it's about, then I wouldn't consider it gossip. My definition of gossip is idle negative words spoken with no definable purpose for good. Basically the same thing that you said Mary, just taking the definition a little further.

[brianmidwest]

One can tell gossip not by the content but rather by the intent.

[whoami]

Originally Posted by brianmidwest

One can tell gossip not by the content but rather by the intent.

Exactly.