Woodrow Kroll on Gossip

Back to the Bible has a helpful, biblical, and free 10 lesson series titled What Keeps Me from Growing? by Woodrow Kroll.  Lesson #4 is called "Gossip," and a few weeks ago our prayer meeting group went through it together.

This lesson is a very good 5 page document with lots of helpful information.

His lesson fits corresponds with the message of Resisting Gossip.

• Kroll defines gossip this way: "It’s spreading idle talk or rumor, especially about the personal or private affairs of other people. It’s most often useless or spiteful tales, almost always told behind the back of the person about whom you are gossiping."

• He also distinguishes between disseminating information and gossip by focusing on the type of information shared (what I call "bad news") and the intent (what I call "out of a bad heart").

Kroll hands out some good "red flags" to watch for:

1. Be concerned when you hear “secret information” being circulated or if you hear
anyone else’s name is used in a conversation connected with that information.

2. Gossip often masquerades as “concern” for others. 

3. Sometimes a gossiper will seek you out as their “confidante,” someone to
unload on about their “heavy heart” for another person. 

4. A gossip thrives on the negative, the secretive and the sensational.

5. In church, gossip is often passed along as a prayer request.

He ends with a "baker's dozen" of verses that relate to the problem of gossip.

There are things I would nuance or say differently, but I can recommend this resources as a very helpful one for followers of Christ.

Read the whole thing.