A Story of Gossip
This entry was posted on 10/26/2006 9:56 AM and is filed under Gossip.
A friend of mine once told the story of how a 16 year old girl of his parish got pregnant. To address the sin of this girl, the board of elders got together and decided that she would be disciplined and removed from the roles of the church unless she were to stand before the whole congregation and repent of her sin against them.
I was floored for two reasons.
First, because there was no mention of the guy. Was there some type of “immaculate conception” going on here? How come the guy gets away clean? Is it because his belly doesn’t swell with the pregnancy?
Second, I was floored because we act as though these sexual sins are worse than any other.
I asked whether or not those “gossipers” who tittered and tattered about this girl’s pregnancy and about her “parents’ failure to raise her right” would also be forced to stand before the congregation and repent of their sin.
“Of course not. That doesn’t affect the congregation the same way.”
EXCUSE ME? The gossipers did MORE damage to the unity of the church than that girls’ pregnancy, and the church just turned a blind eye and a deaf ear.
