Don't #1

          Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. (James 4:11)

          We’ve thought about a lot of things we are to do, and if we were doing those, we probably wouldn’t have to worry about not doing the negatives. Unfortunately, the negatives are so natural to our lives, we can do them while doing the positives. They need more than simple replacement – they need conscious effort. Since slander is a national pastime. Just so we’re clear…

          Slander is the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person's reputation. (Libel is written/published slander.)

          Gossip: casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true.

          Technically, slander and gossip aren’t the same thing, but in practice, slander is often gossip, and gossip, slander. They’re so easy to do, and we can even sound spiritual while we do it. We don’t ask for prayer for someone, we provide a five-minute explanation of why the prayer is needed. Do we think God doesn’t know? Do we think those with us need the details in order to lift the need to God? Maybe it’s something else, but have you noticed how much we seem to think we have to tell, or be told?

          James tells us that when we speak against people, we’re judging them and the law. We have a right to voice our opinions, we say, and that’s true, but that doesn’t mean that doing so is the right thing to do. We may even claim to have a responsibility to inform others about how bad a political candidate is. Really? When we warn others against a candidate, we’re trying to harm that candidate – to keep him/her from being elected to office. How often do we do this because of our love for that candidate as an individual? I suspect it’s more often hatred.

          This is something I’ve seen a lot in the past five years. Christians have railed against Mr. Trump – and at least some of what they’re saying is true, but they are saying it to destroy him and his presidency. Strangely, they aren’t promoting any other candidate, they’re whole focus is on getting him out of office. It doesn’t matter who gets in. Some of them are even suggesting that we vote for candidates whose platforms are clearly anti-Scriptural and anti-Christian… anyone as long as it’s not Mr. Trump.

          I’ve asked a number of them to provide the name of a viable candidate whose platform is acceptable to me (i.e. Conservative.) From what James says above, I think that’s the only right and Christian way to approach the question. Tell me who you think I should vote for, whose platform is acceptable – not who I should vote against, because then you’re not slanderously voicing hatred.