Watch Your Mouth: Gossip
February 2, 2025Pastor Patrick presented today's message, "Watch Your Mouth: Gossip." A video of today's message is here on YouTube.
Here are some other words of wisdom from Proverbs and the Torah on gossip and other related "Watch Your Tongue" subjects:
"Whoever conceals hatred with lying lips and spreads slander is a fool." (Proverbs 10:18)
"With their mouths, the godless destroy their neighbors." (Proverbs 11:9)
"Where there is no wood, the fire goes out; And where there is no talebearer, strife ceases." (Proverbs 26:20)
"The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body." (Proverbs 26:22)
"Whosoever keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles." (Proverbs 21:23)
"Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered. (Proverbs 11:13)
"When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent." (Proverbs 10:19)
"Whoever derides their neighbor has no sense, but the one who has understanding holds their tongue." (Proverbs 11:12)
"Do not spread false reports. Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness." (Exodus 23:1)
"You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people." (Leviticus 19:16)
It's interesting to note that none of the above verses nor the verses Patrick referenced are translated using the word gossip specifically. Instead, we get gossip descriptors like talebearer, slanderer, whisperer, speak about, mouth/tongue, and the like. One Biblical Hebrew word translated once as "gossip" is pathah (פַתֶּ֣ה). It is related to entice, seduce, and enlarge. It comes from a primitive root meaning spacious or wide open. Another word, rakal (רָכַל) is more like a slanderer and is related to people who travel long distances for trade and use rumor and gossip in their sales pitch. Note the relationship to "spacious" (distance).
By the way, slander is related to gossip. While gossip usually involves basically true information about another person, slander is usually intentionally false statements or statements made without caring about the truth. Slander is spoken, libel is written/published, both potentially have legal consequences.
Bonus
Golf Tournament to Sponsor a Bible Translation
TimberCreek Church is holding a Golf Tournament at the King's Deer Golf Club in Monument, CO on June 21, 2025. All proceeds go to funding a Bible translation into a never-before translated language through the church's partnership with Biblica.
Golfer registration and sponsorship opportunities are on the church's Tournament Registration page.
Biblica marked their 215th anniversary on December 4, 2024. Wow! Check out their blog entry.
Here's a small taste of how Biblica goes about their business: Biblica: What We Do.
Bonus2
All Kinds of Rituals Then and Now
Mention ritual, especially in a discussion involving religion, and you're likely to get all kinds of glances and eye-rolling. "I don't have to do that to believe in God." "Just how much good did those idiots from the past think would come of that?" "Stuck in a rut, are ya?!"
Truth is, rituals are as common today as they were thousands of years ago, and just as helpful. "Date Night" is a ritual that helps strengthen a marriage. "Tuesday Night Spaghetti" is a ritual that simplifies grocery shopping and provides something the kids can count on. "I must respond to this text" has become a ritual behavior. "In the mornings you drop off clockwise and in the afternoons pick up counterclockwise" keeps order in the school parking lot at particular times of the day. A handshake says, "good to meet you."
Even some of the Old Testament rituals were more pragmatic than religious. Having a process to set up camp while in the wilderness gave order and predictability to the Israelites in accomplishing what was a huge effort.
There's comfort in being able to count on certain things. Rituals can ground us. Rituals can grant us peace in an otherwise turbulent life.
And rituals can cause us to be reminded of very important things. Christmas Eve services often involve rituals around the telling of the Christmas story and the singing of Christmas songs. The Passover Seder is observed primarily by Jewish families to remind the family of the story and meaning of the Exodus.
Communion and Baptism are very important rituals in Christian life. Observing the Sabbath may be the most important ritual in Jewish life (and ranks right up there for the Christian who sees the value, too).
Bonus3
Dunning-Kruger Effect
The Dunning-Kruger Effect suggests that the less knowledge one has on a subject the more certain they will be about the subject. For example, the less one knows about cosmology, the more likely they are to be certain of or deadset against the Big Bang Theory.
The more you learn about a topic, the more nuances and uncertainties you discover in the field and thus you become more careful about stating anything with certainty. In my little hobby of U.S. Flags, the more I've learned the more careful I am about sweeping characterizations or statements of "fact" in that arena.
This includes the fields of ancient history, including Biblical history and the history of religions. In a way, it's better to promote religion simply by behaving properly, serving and loving others in your world, than it is to try to teach the world something.
It's a humbling thought. You, dear reader, should consider everything here (on this website) as ideas to ponder, and nothing more. I'll do my best, but...
Bonus4
what3words
Four folks from our household updated their CPR certificates this week by attending a re-cert class. In a sidenote conversation, our instructor mentioned an app called what3words. As the app describes itself: "The simplest way to talk about location." The app boils down any 10x10-foot location on earth to a combination of just three words. With the app, you can find someone or have someone find you at an exact location (e.g. "down the path about two football fields, take the wye to the right, go another 200 feet."), especially when your exact location is not readily identified by a simple street address or you're not at a location with well-known landmarks. You can identify your exact location with just three words.
For example, "kind.woof.rash" is in the middle of Sheep Meadow in Central Park, New York City, NY. There's no hidden meaning in the words, and the words for a given spot on the globe will never change. It relies solely on GPS signals, no internet connection required, to obtain your 3-word location. To send out or receive 3-word locations to/from others, however, does require some kind of communication connection (cell system, wifi, etc.).
Without any data communication (other than GPS), you can still navigate to any 3-word location with simple compass directions.
In case you were wondering... Dividing the planet's surface into 10x10-foot squares requires 57 trillion 3-word combinations. Turns out that three words can do 64 trillion unique combinations!
It comes in very handy when trying to locate a friend's seat at a huge stadium or arena. It comes in handy when sending someone to your location in a large park while needing emergency services (which is why our CPR teacher was sharing the info). It works with Google maps and Navmii (an offline map system). They say the system is best used for outdoor locations.
The system is free for us regular folk. It's paid for by company subscriptions (e.g. Land Rover, Ford, and DHL use it in their navigation systems).
Cool.