There are other Scriptures in the Bible that deal
with slander. We read in Proverbs 10:18, "He
that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth
a slander, is a fool." Proverbs 11:9 tells us,
"An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbour:
but through knowledge shall the just be delivered."
Jeremiah 9:3 and 8 state: "And they bend their
tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not
valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed
from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the
Lord. . . . Their tongue is as an arrow shot out;
it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his
neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his
wait." Also, Psalm 50:20 states, "Thou sittest
and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest
thine own mother's son."
Slander is a common evil among religious people today
for three reasons. First, it is not properly classified.
In Paul's letter to the Romans, he classed backbiting
and whispering with fornication, murder, and every
other evil work. Observe how it reads in Romans 1:28-31:
"And even as they did not like to retain God
in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate
mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication,
wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy,
murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters,
haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors
of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding,
covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable,
unmerciful." If people would take to the fact
that slander is as great a sin as adultery, it would,
to a great extent, disappear from our ranks.
A second reason why slander is so common among us
is that those who are found guilty of slander are
not held to the same radical form of confession and
restitution as those found guilty of lying, stealing,
and committing adultery. If ones are found guilty
of these things, they are forbidden to testify, pray,
preach, or take any part in religious services until
they have confessed it to God and man, deeply repented
and prayed through. The slanderer should be held to
a similar form of repentance.
The third reason slander is such a common malady among
religious people is that they have such a meager conception
of the value of reputation. It is my opinion that
slander is the greatest of crimes! It is worse than
murder; it is worse than theft. Think of it this way:
the thief gains something by his theft, the slanderer
gains nothing. Is there or can there be any comparative
value between money and reputation? Reputation is
the foundation stone of influence and usefulness.
It is the door to society. Destroy a man's reputation,
and he is cut off from his fellows, cut off from his
family, and God's designs are defeated.
Zenophon said that three persons are injured by every
slander: the slanderer (by reflex influence), the
person who listens to it, and the person being slandered.
Could the slanderer but realize that he inflicts an
incurable wound and sends a fellow being halting to
the grave, he would doubtless slander no more.
How cruel and inhuman it would be to hinder a struggling,
drowning man from rising and swimming to shore. Every
slanderer commits a similar offence.
Let
us look at some common ways of slandering a fellow
creature. First, we slander one by expressing to others
our bad opinion of an absent person, that is, to express
what we have thought, suspected, or feared concerning
him or her. A few thoughtless words have started the
wheel of slander revolving in a thousand minds, placing
a feeling of discontent on more than a million good
men and women. Be careful what you say, how you say
it, and where you say it, lest by a thoughtless expression
you sink a soul, to rise no more.
A second way of being guilty of this gross offence
is to unnecessarily mention the faults of an absent
person. It may be necessary in some instances to mention
the faults of an absent person to rectify a matter
or prevent a greater evil, but to do so otherwise
is a rank violation of the two following commandments:
"speak evil of no man" (Titus 3:2) and "let
all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour,
and evil speaking, be put away from you" (Ephesians
4:31).
Another form of slander is when a person unnecessarily
creates suspicion in the minds of others regarding
the sincerity, honesty, and uprightness of an absent
person. The man or woman who does this is guilty of
destroying the reputation and influence of his or
her neighbor, and thus becomes a violator of the ninth
commandment: "Thou shalt not bear false witness
against thy neighbour" (Exodus 20:16).
We slander others when we tell the most objectionable
part of anything affecting the reputation of another,
yet omit the less objectionable, whereas if both sides
of the matter were clearly explained and set in the
proper light, the persons concerned would not be so
severely censured. If we should place all the blame
upon another, when at the same time we were conscious
of being somewhat faulty in the matter, we would be
to that extent slandering our neighbor.
A slanderer is one who makes a practice of carrying
news, repeating rumors, and circulating evil reports.
Often a slanderer is one who has backslidden or who
is cooling off. Oh, the damage that has been done
to the church through slander.
Lastly, slander is to speak of a person's faults to
others before speaking to him or her. How unfair it
is to condemn a man before having heard his side of
the case, thus giving him a chance to clear himself!
Even unsaved judges will not condemn a man until they
hear his side of the case.
The Bible says in Matthew 18:15-17: "Moreover
if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and
tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if
he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee
one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three
witnesses every word may be established. And if he
shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church:
but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto
thee as an heathen man and a publican."
Even
to a publican, we owe the Golden Rule: "Do unto
others as you would have others do unto you."
No doubt, you will, at one time or another, be tempted
with the sin of slandering. I trust that you will
realize the seriousness and great damage that is caused
by slander. I pray that we, as the Church of God,
will guard against this.
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