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Within a Christian church, I’m trying to seek Godly Wisdom when it comes to venting about somebody else’s bad behavior. The reason being is that I do Not want to end up gossiping. However, I would want to vent about somebody else’s bad behavior in order to seek spiritual advice/counsel/comfort. When it become gossipy then it’s bad but if venting about said problems leads to a better church then it’s ok. I struggle to know when and when Not to, and how and how Not to do the aforementioned actions. ( Side Note: This just came to me now, but I suppose James 1:19 will shed some light It can be sort of deduced that James 1:19 indicates that we should be careful & cautious about complaining about others which is indicated by the word "slow". ) What biblical scriptures / passages would help us get better discernment & guidance when facing the aforementioned challenges?

Whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbour, and casts no slur on others. - Psalm 15:3 The psalmist David speaks of the type of person who can dwell near the Lord. When we speak against someone's reputation this is never a light thing. One who God dwells near should have absolutely no slander in his lips or in the heart. We all judge others or form opinions in our minds of others, we must be quick to cast down thoughts that are not based on our personal experience of the individual. When we hear stories or third-party stories of another brother and sister in the Lord and then cast a judgment we err. It is even worse when we take part in slandering someone when we have never known or spoken with the actual individual being blamed. Even if a brother or sister has erred in a significant way this is not our job or right to slander them, rather we should seek to pray for them and show the love of God. If we are praying for our sister or brother we will not be able to sin against them, but when we are sinning against them we can never truly pray for them. Polycarp bishop of Smyrna says, "Not quickly crediting an evil report against any one, not severe in judgment, as knowing that we are all under a debt of sin. If then we entreat the Lord to forgive us, we ought also ourselves to forgive; for we are before the eyes of our Lord and God." Though we know the theology that God is ever-present seeing all things, we usually act as if God cannot see. When we talk about others, ruin someone's name, write words that accuse we do not realize all of these words are in the sight of God. Our Lord even said that every single small word we utter or write will be held for account in the last day (Matthew 12:36). In the passage we are looking at the last statement is of significance. In Hebrew the words for "casts no slur" essentially gives us a word picture of someone picking up an object to throw at someone. Here we have words being spoken to others in reproach and scorn. The word "slur" in hebrew gives the sense of something that is despised. One who is a child of God cannot carry such hate in their heart no matter even if evil was done to them. When we speak about others in such ways we end up hurting ourselves spiritually and the Lord does not dwell near us. When we judge others like this we end up judging our Lord who became sin for that individual. We end up speaking against him as a despised thing. All humans are made in the image of God and when we sin against them we in a sense sin against God. David in his confession of sin against other humans realized that the sin was against God (Psalm 51:4). Let us do not wrong to our neighbour even to those who have hurt us.

Why Jeff Maples Fails to Understand Divine Liturgy In the Defense of Ritual In my last post, I responded to Jeff Maples’ many slanders against the Eastern Orthodox faith. In that time, Maples has made a couple more posts. For his latest post, he decided to make a trip down to Charlotte, NC and visit Hank Hanegraaff’s new church. Reporting on his trip, he’s had a lot of choice words for the Orthodox Divine Liturgy. Here, I’ll just give some brief responses. His first criticism is, 1.) I have sat through many Catholic masses. I was married in a Catholic church, and I can definitely say I’ve “been there done that.” But I’ve never sat through anything so long and tedious as the Greek Orthodox mass. Perhaps being a special Saturday night “resurrection service,” this wasn’t the norm, but it was excruciatingly long. 2 1/2 hours in and no sign of slowing down. That’s right, his first criticism essentially boils down to ‘can you believe they spend 2 1/2 hours praising and adoring God?’. He is correct though, a liturgy lasting that long is not the norm. However, given that it was a Passover service, celebrating the resurrection of the Lord our God Jesus Christ, why wouldn’t you want to devote more time to remembering such an event? I mean it’s only the day which marked the salvation of man and victory over the grave....... Maximus Confesses -Internet Apologist, Lay Theologian, Philosophy Fan, Libertarian, Devout Melkite Catholic.Apr 19

Hey everyone, How would you respond to people who slander or make remarks about God in a vile way? Saying stuff like, "God is cruel." and other things? I tend to get defensive over the issue and I find myself always defending God or correcting them.