I Don't Gossip?

For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. 2 Corinthians 12:20

The apostle Paul knew the people he was writing to, and was aware of their hearts. They claimed to be following Jesus, but they had some serious shortcomings. We think this verse can be discounted compared to some ‘bigger’ sins considered more significant, so why did he have to bring slander and gossip up at all? After all, we know better nowadays and don’t do that in our church, and anyway I wouldn’t stoop to that level when talking about anyone, and certainly never about my fellow believers. Right?

Do you ever listen to the words as they come out of your mouth, raw and unfiltered? Others listening might hear clues like, “Did you see what she did”? Or, “They made a right mess of that”. Or, “I wouldn’t have done it like him”. Or, “Other folk don’t like her, and I can see why”. Or, “He’s no good at that job, so he should quit and let someone else do it.” Or, “Are they really Christians, because you would never know”. Do you see yourself in these critical comments now?

Face it. You gossip, and so do I. Paul saw it in his Corinthian friends, even though they didn’t, and we are no different. Gossip is one of those sins we can see easily in other people, but don’t recognise it in our own lives. Because everybody does it, we just fit in so readily. The final word must come from Paul’s word to his church in Ephesus:

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29

Fergie Falls Foul.

The question is, who can we trust then? Answer, certainly not a newspaper offering you a cool half a million pounds for access to their ex husband! How stupid can a person be?


I had figured Fergie to be a wise and clever person, and certainly not the kind of woman who would fall for such an obvious (well it seems obvious to me) scam. We have seen stories of politicians getting caught on camera bending and breaking moral laws, and the laws of the land as well. Now we see another high profile person being caught on camera, selling her ex-husband's access to an undercover newspaper reporter for £500,000! She's not even married to him, and hasn't been for many years now, but she obviously thinks she can pull strings, as she thinks she owns him.


The whole fabric of our society seems to be getting more and more corrupt, and it is now evident that this moral corruption goes from the highest levels in society and politics, right down to the junkie on the street. We talk glibly about our role models. Who are these people? To go back to the beginning, who can we really trust? All of our nation seems to be stained by some kind of corruption. 


We have been failed by the people at the top, so the new role models are the celebrities. The high living, drug taking, loud, foul mouthed, beautiful people who can't stay with the same partner for a year, and who will have an opinion on anything, and charge you for it. What chance do our nation's youth have? I shudder to think what our society will be like in 20-30 years. We are sowing seeds which will be reaped in years to come, and we only have ourselves to blame. It wasn't someone else. We decided to go along with it, and be one of the silent ones, condoning corruption by our silence. 


I wonder what price we are prepared to pay before we decide to speak up, and better still do something about it. The answer lies in the hands of our Mums, Dads, Grans and Grandas. It would only take a small change to the family unit, but it would have far reaching effects. I think the family adults should be the new role models, and not our questionable celebrities. Certainly not our politicians and 'Royalty', because they don't know how to behave themselves either.

Another One Bites The Dust

Labour was today forced to suspend another candidate after it emerged he had posted explicit and offensive messages online. John Cowan, who was fighting for a seat in South East Cambridgeshire, boasted about his seedy life on internet forums. 

A Labour Party spokesman said: 'The allegations that came to light after nominations closed are totally unacceptable and well below what the party expects of our candidates. 'The general secretary of the Labour Party has suspended the candidate from the Labour Party and we are taking action to ensure he is never again a Labour candidate. 'The Labour Party's relevant committees will be asked to consider whether he should be expelled from the Labour Party.'

The would-be MP is the latest Labour candidate to see their dreams of working in Parliament scuppered by controversial comments they have made online. Earlier in the campaign, Stuart MacLennan, 24, was dumped after admitting posting a string of deeply offensive comments on Twitter.

Another one of our prospective MPs has been sacked unceremoniously by the Parliamentary Labour Party, and rightly so. The account shown above is not the full story, and it all begs the question... "What is known about our standing MPs when they are selected"? While some people are trying to figure out who would be best suited to run our country, and yes, who would have the moral and ethical judgement needed, we have someone like this who has somehow slipped under the radar. This man wouldn't know decency or honour if he fell over it!

I, for one, cannot believe that the selectors didn't know the kind of man they were putting forward. That being the case, then the Parliamentary Labour Party have a lot to answer for. Is this the tip of an iceberg? Will the ramblings of the internet's many social networking sites be the undoing of any more, either now, or even after they have been elected? I fear it will happen. I am not concerned that these people are caught and fired, but I am worried that this shows a culture of what is going on, and condoned by the silence of the appropriate parties.

Our country needs honourable men and women to stand up for decency and humanity. This kind of person's lifestyle is at odds with any move towards a better society. All political parties should take note, and take a lot more care in who they endorse. After all, they are all going to make it easier for us, the ordinary voter, to disown them and throw them out. Not before time!