Ask the Pastor: What Does Scripture Say about Gossips? What Was the Forbidden Fruit?
by the Rev. Walter Snyder
Religion Columnist
     Q: What does the Bible say about gossips, especially when they have no idea about the
truth?
     A: The Bible equates gossips with slanderers. Proverbs 11:12--13 says, "He who belittles his
neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding remains silent. He who goes about as a talebearer
reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing hidden." In the Small Catechism,
Martin Luther explains the Commandment, "You shall not bear false testimony against your
neighbor," by going beyond perjury and even lying: "We should fear and love God so that we do not
tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend him, speak
well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way." This recognizes the fact that most gossips
have a very good idea about the truth and either ignore it or use it as a weapon.
     Thus, even the truth should not be spoken unless the benefits far outweigh the pain it might
cause. Bringing up an old sin of another just to hurt that person is every bit as bad as making up lies
about that person, unless the truth will somehow bring great benefit to that person and to others.
People sometimes assume a self-righteous mind-set that thinks it is for another's benefit that painful
truths must be told. Yet Luther says in the Large Catechism, "If we gossip about another in all
corners, and stir the filth, no one will be reformed, and afterwards when we are to stand up and bear
witness, we deny having said so. Therefore it would serve such tongues right if their itch for slander
were severely punished, as a warning to others. If you were acting for your neighbor's reformation or
from love of the truth, you would not sneak about secretly nor shun the day and the light."
     True or false, gossip is harmful and to be always avoided. Our parents were, according to
Scripture, right better than 99 times out of 100 when they told us, "If you can't say something good
about someone, then don't say anything at all." If this were not so, then the Epistle of James would
be a lot shorter: The whole third chapter and much from other chapters wouldn't have been written.
     None of us is perfect, and James notes that if our speech were perfect, then we would be:
"For we all make many mistakes, and if any one makes no mistakes in what he says he is a perfect
man, able to bridle the whole body also. If we put bits into the mouths of horses that they may obey
us, we guide their whole bodies. Look at the ships also; though they are so great and are driven by
strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So the
tongue is a little member and boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire!
     "And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is an unrighteous world among our members, staining
the whole body, setting on fire the cycle of nature, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast
and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by humankind, but no
human being can tame the tongue---a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord
and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth
come blessing and cursing. My brethren, this ought not to be so. (James 3:2--10)"
     Q: From where came the idea that Adam and Eve ate an apple? Is this a biblical fact or a
myth established through time by man?
     A: We have no idea what the fruit was. Much of the Middle East, including many Hebrew
scholars in Old and New Testament times, spoke of it as a pomegranate. Other cultures often
mention a fruit with which they are most familiar, such as the orange, the plum, or another. It may
be that this was a one-of-a-kind tree and that its existence on earth has long ceased. It could also
have been something that perished in the great Flood. What it was is ultimately not important; what
matters is how God affixed his Word to it and how our first parents reacted to that Word.
     To Ask the Pastor, please write Ask the Pastor, PO Box 12, Emma, MO, 65327 or send
email to askthepastor@aol.com. I look forward to hearing from you.
     Walter Snyder is the pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Emma, Missouri and coauthor of
the book "What Do Lutherans Believe."