Dear Readers,
In the 1st Epistle of Peter, Chapter 2, it says: ‘Therefore, put away....all malicious gossip.’ Rabbi Julian-Chaim Soussan said: "What is the intention behind talking? There is always this undertone of putting someone down, of fascination, of devaluation. It's not about someone spreading lies, it's about someone telling something that is even true, but creating a negative effect with it." One can see how one's neighbour sins, but I have no mandate to tell others about it. Or do we? If so, from whom?
But I would like to draw attention to another perpetrator who does nothing. Exciting: a perpetrator who does nothing! This is the person who likes to hear negative things. The person who, when asked, ‘Let's meet up....I'll tell you something about someone else!’, is immediately on board and happy to listen. Where does this person get their mandate from? From whom?
What is the motive behind it? Envy, resentment, a need for recognition, a thirst for prestige, for both! For the one who speaks and for the one who listens. It's about denigrating another person. Without a mandate!
What would happen if someone wanted to say something about another person again, but no one listened? They would no longer have an audience.
Jesus said in Matthew 12:34: ‘You brood of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil?
It does not fit with the applied gospel, with what Jesus teaches, namely to do good. And do that with a mission!
Kind regards,
Wolfram Laube