[Pastor Ralph]

Q3. (Ephesians 4:29-32) What kind of "unwholesome talk" is common among us Christians? What three guidelines does Paul give us to measure the value of what we say? What is slander? How common is it among Christians? How can we prevent it?

[Commissioned]

Q3. (Ephesians 4:29-32) What kind of "unwholesome talk" is common among us Christians?
Among Christians gossip can be considered as "unwholesome talk" since it neither edify, build up nor encourages the hearer. It comes out as a "let's pray about it" matter. But all along the subject person is seen in a belittering way.

What three guidelines does Paul give us to measure the value of what we say?
The guidelines that the Apostle Paul gave to measure the value of what we say are as follows:
1) Is it helpful for building others up?
2) Is it according to the hearer's needs?
3) Is it beneficial to the hearer?

What is slander?
Slander is discrediting someone for the sole purpose of lowering their status in the view of the hearer.

How common is it among Christians?
This can become very common among Christians as people put others down and don't give credit where it is due for a job well done. Also, when jealousy creep in, you find people speaking unkindly about another person with the hopes of gaining the hearer as an ally.

How can we prevent it?
We can prevent it by obeying Christ commands to "love" each other and to treat them as we ourselves want to be treated.

[cct1106]

Speaking ill of someone is unwholesome talk. Slander is speaking untruth about someone. Its sad but more devastating when it is coming from a Christian Brother or Sister. Prevent it by letting God's Holy Spirit take it away.

[Eudora]

Q3. (Ephesians 4:29-32) What kind of "unwholesome talk" is common
among us Christians?

The most common I believe is the unwholesome talk of other denominations. The talk of another denomination judges the entire congregation and who among us can really cast that first stone. Do we not know of evil that lurks in all churches? Did we see satan work in the first church garden or did we not? We deceive ourselves when we look at anything other than Christ.

This happens to be one on my pet peeves if it were to be given a name. My anger really does get heated when I hear Christians bashing fellow folks who consider themselves Christians as well. How will they know different if we are all walking around with our noses stuck high in the air? What makes us think we are better than this one or that one? In truth, this is pride in religion and self flattering pride. It is ugly and must stop. Jesus will sit on His throne until we all submit to His will and not our own. He can not rule a kingdom if we are not kingdom people who think kingdom thoughts and speak kingdom likeness and bare His image of love in all unity. I remember a meeting of the women’s ministries at a church I had been attending when we were planning a women’s retreat. It was our duty to make the arrangements for the rooms for all the different churches that would be coming to this event. I was fairly new to this group and heard this statement from the ministers wife: “We need to be careful who we put with who because some people get angry if they do not get to be in a room with someone from their own church”

I slapped my hand down so very hard on the table and asked the ministers wife, just where did that person intend to sit in heavenliness? Was she going to be comfortable sitting with a born again Catholic or a born again Nazarene. Did they know that there is no denomination with God?” I had to apologize right away for my outburst and it really had surprised her because this is not like me at all, but like I said, this is one thing that does set me a fire.” God is no respecter of persons. What an overflow of the mouth that was!

What three guidelines does Paul give us to measure the value of what we say?

Speak wholesome!

Build up and not tear down!

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of the Lord has an awesome, awesome job to do and it is only because we lack knowledge in truth and because we are born into stubbornness and are an un yielding people that makes His job so hard. In the movie Forest Gump, remember what he said? “Sometimes there are just not enough rocks in the world”

We are supposed to be fruit tress that bare fruit. If we do not yield good fruit, eventually even a tree can turn into a rock when it becomes fossilized.


What is slander? A malicious, false statement meant to hurt and defame truth.


How common is it among Christians? Common but getting better. In my circle it is. As we see Jesus coming on the horizon, we better all get rid of every malicious layer in our skin, or we will be taken out and burned in the fire.

How can we prevent it? Ask God to burn that from our heart now, while we still can!

Father God, let every man and woman, young and old, call upon You to burn from deep with in us, all ugliness which at times tends to want to rise up against Your will for our lives. Help us to become kingdom thinkers and Kingdom warriors who seek Your Kingdom and Your righteousness. Add unto us all Your blessings so that we may dwell in Your house forever, all the days of our life so that we make gaze upon Your beauty. Father, would you please teach me to re-act in love instead of anger so that my out burst be a slow burning ember that can be put out with your Holy Spirit water? Thank You Father, for I know that You will receive this prayer and take action in my life. In Jesus name I pray. - Amen

[Ken7]

WE put down weaker believers. We become angry with those we disagree with.

1) Is it helpful for building others up?
2) Is it according to the hearer's needs?
3) Is it beneficial to the hearer?

We slander with gossip.

[PCHRIS]

The tearing down of people behind their backs and sometimes in front of their faces. We are taught in the Scriptures of how to handle conflict within the church body but for some its easier to go off and 'bag' other people than to come together and reconcile things together.

These arePaul's guidelines-
Is it helpful for building others up? Does it edify? Does it enlighten? Does it encourage?
Is it according to the hearer's needs? Or only our need to vent our frustrations? Does he really need this? Does she really need this? Some things need to be said, however hard. But many of the things we say could just as well be left unsaid.
Is it beneficial to the hearer? If love is our mainstay, then benefiting others is our way of life.

Slander is malicious gossip.
It is common amongst Christians, the thing that gripes me is when you confront people about it they give the cliche, "Oh, I am only human" and thats when I usually point them to this Scripture, Ephesians 4:22-25.
Praying through these Scriptures, taking off the old and putting on the new, DAILY.

[JustJeff]

From what I see, and have been guilty of myself, slander is at the top of the list for unwholesome talk amongst us. Rather than trusting in the Lord to deal with those whom we might not agree with, or like for that matter, we seem to think that talking about the person behind their back will make things better. That just causes more problems.
Paul tells us in verse 29 to mark our words, speak words to encourage and build the body up which means that we should talk directly to the person whom we might disagree with in a loving way rather than behind their back. The result should be positive for both parties. That will stop slander dead in it's divisive tracks.

[masika]

Most of the wholesome talk that come out of Christians are foul or abusive languages. We tend to look down upon non-believers , we are forgettng that we are saved by the grace of God and not according to our good deed. There is nothing good we can do to earn our salvation it is only by God's Grace.
Three guidelines Paul gives are - Everything we say should be - Good,
-Helpful, and
-Encouraging those who hear them.
Slander- Is the utterance of false charges or misrepresentation which defame and damage another reputation OR
-False and defamatory oral statement about a person.
Slander is most common among Christians and the only thing to get rid of it is by the help of the Holy Spirit to dwell in us and guide us in our talk.

[BJB123]

"Unwholesome talk" to me means gossip, talk with a loose tongue, speaking unkind things about others, hurtful thing, etc.

Three Guidelines:
1.Is it helpful in building others up?
2.Is it according to the hearer's needs?
3.Is it beneficial to the hearer?
If you cannot say something good, then, DON'T say anything at all. That's my philosophy.

Slander is cutting others down, saying unkind things to the face or to the back of others. Slanderous words are killing words, hurtful words.

I believe that slander is very common among Christians. It should not be because Christians should not speak slanderous to or about anyone Christian or not. Sometimes in Business meetings, people will get angry and say things that are very hurtful and slanderous which causes the unity and body of Christ to be divided. Slander and gossip to me is the biggest cause of the lack of unity in churches today. People can prevent slander by practicing self discipline. People who have this type problem should be on their knees before the Lord and repent.

[June]

By being critical of another. Saying something bad or evil.
(1) Is it helpful for building up another.
(2) Is it according to the hearer's needs.
(3) Is it beneficial to the hearer.
Slander is anything that puts another down with disrespect.
Always say things that makes another feel good, builds them up and not repeat anything that is not of wholesome nature.

[kiqstart]

Q3. (Ephesians 4:29-32) What kind of "unwholesome talk" is common among us Christians? What three guidelines does Paul give us to measure the value of what we say? What is slander? How common is it among Christians? How can we prevent it?


Sometimes they gossip, but they think they are not because they are justifying what they are saying.

[Lisa Rupert]

Q3. (Ephesians 4:29-32) What kind of "unwholesome talk" is common among us Christians?
Let's see "unwholesome talk" when we speak about others without lifting them up. We do it to gain our own fair. When we don't fully understand and disagree we speak against it. When we gossip about someone or something without regards to the situation we speak unwholesomely about it. Not showing our best, not living a Christ-like life. Believing that we are divine and only we have a special place in God's Kingdom, the unclean have not a chance. Forgetting the type of person we once were before we "Put on our new self". Not demonstrating love and compassion the way God provides love and compassion for us.
What three guidelines does Paul give us to measure the value of what we say?

Is it helpful for building others up? Does it edify? Does it enlighten? Does it encourage?

Is it according to the hearer's needs? Or only our need to vent our frustrations? Does he really need this? Does she really need this? Some things need to be said, however hard. But many of the things we say could just as well be left unsaid.

Is it beneficial to the hearer? If love is our mainstay, then benefiting others is our way of life
What is slander?
Slander (blasphēmia) is "speech that denigrates or defames, reviling, denigration, disrespect, slander."15
How common is it among Christians?
We Christians get into the earthly unclean beings of ourselves and we forget that we are examples of Christ.
How can we prevent it?
I remember a man once told me that his father taught him "Never leave a man the sameway you found him, always lift him up". I try to follow this analogy when engaging with all of God's creation.

[charisbarak]

Gossip is common among Christians. Putting down others, or their ministries, to make yourself and your ministry look better is another common way for Christians.

This is great--if we (yes, me) would think about this before opening our mouths:
Is it helpful to building up others?
Does the hearer need to hear it?
Is it beneficial to the hearer?
I would add: Is it true? Would I mind if the person I was talking about found out I told this other person? Oh, to think FIRST.

Slander is common among Christians. We sometimes don't care for a certain person--but we can love them as Jesus told us to. It may not be the slander someone would take you to court over, but if it hurts another person--it is bad enough. It should hurt us to realize that we have done this, against God.

How can we prevent slander? I think this saying I grew up with says it "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all!" I think realizing how much of a sinner we are ourselves, we have no room to say anything unkind about anyone else!!

[haar]

The common unwholesome talk among Christians include such talk that is not healthy; dirty language, abusive and immoral language etc.

The three guidelines are:

1. We have to speak only what will build one another
2. What we speak must be only that which is for the need of the hearer.
3. It has to be beneficial to the hearer.

Slander is any unwholesome talk about some one that is meant to degrade, demean and lower him before others. This is very common with Christians unfrotunatelly, as we find ourselves taking at the back of others.

We can prevent this only by submitting our selves to the leading of the Holy Spirit who will control our behaviour as we can NOT be Christ-like in our our own ability or power.

[Helen Williams]

We say things that can make others look small in the listener eyes. If it will hurt, tear down and not build up, we should not speak it. The three guidelines that Paul gives us to measure the value of what we say are: (1). Is it helpful for building others up? Most of the time we are concern about making ourelves look good. (2) Is it according to the hearer's need? Somethings should not be said, maybe the timing might be off. Is this really what the hearer need at the moment? (3) Is it beneficial to the hearer? Some words spoken are not helpful but can do more harm. Always speak in love.

What is slander?
Slander is when we make other look small in the eyes of the hearer. When this happen we are trying to make self look important and bigger. This can be very common among christian. Remember when the desciples was wondering which one would be the greatest in the kingdom. The greatest is the least, we are all servant.

We can avoid this by letting the Holy Spirit guide us. We should taste our own words before we speak them. If they taste bitter to us, we know they will taste bitter and not sweet to the hearer.

We have to stop being selfish and start thinking of our fellowman in love.

[Stan]

Q3. (Ephesians 4:29-32) What kind of "unwholesome talk" is common among us Christians? What three guidelines does Paul give us to measure the value of what we say? What is slander? How common is it among Christians? How can we prevent it?

The most that I feel hurt the church is the way that we some time are drawn to talk about other people behind their back, not know the problems they could be facing, belittleing them and not showing the christian love that Jesus said we should.

Is it helpful for building others up? Does it edify? Does it enlighten? Does it encourage?
Is it according to the hearer's needs? Or only our need to vent our frustrations? Does he really need this? Does she really need this? Some things need to be said, however hard. But many of the things we say could just as well be left unsaid.
Is it beneficial to the hearer? If love is our mainstay, then benefiting others is our way of life.

Slander is telling something hurtful about some one that is not true and knowing that it is not true when we tell it.

I pray that it is not to common but I guess that it is more common than should be. We can prevent it by never being drawn into talking about others. We need to pray for those who we know are and ask for strength in never falling into the need to ourselves. We need to study and seek out other christians that don't feel the need to talk about other people and their problems.

[linda bass]

The biggest kind of "unwholesome talk" I can think of that occurs among Christians is gossip.
Christians talk about others behind their backs and call it concern for their souls.
Or someone will bring up a "juicy bit" of gossip about a person and disguise it as a prayer request.

The three guidelines Paul gave us to measure the value of what we say are
1) Does what we say build others up? Does it edify, enlighten, or encourage them?
2) Is it according to the hearer's needs? Does he or she really need to hear what we have to say?
3) Is it beneficial to the hearer.

Slander is putting down someone by malicious gossip in order to make the slander feel better about themselves.
Unfortunately, this is quite common among Christians.
We can prevent slander by refusing to listen to it, by walking away when we hear someone start to be slandered.
If we have been guilty of slander, we need to confess it to God as sin and repent of it.

[sis. dee]

Q3. (Ephesians 4:29-32) What kind of "unwholesome talk" is common among us Christians? What three guidelines does Paul give us to measure the value of what we say? What is slander? How common is it among Christians? How can we prevent it?

Gossip is the biggest unwholesome talk that is very common among us Christians.

1) Does what we say build others up? Does it edify, enlighten, or encourage them? 2) Is it according to the hearer's needs? Does he or she really need to hear what we have to say? 3) Is it beneficial to the hearer.

Slander is putting down someone, bad talking them.

This is very common among Christians.

How can we prevent it? I believe by praying and ask the Holy Spirit to guide our mouth.

[Minchar]

Q3. (Ephesians 4:29-32) What kind of "unwholesome talk" is common among us Christians? What three guidelines does Paul give us to measure the value of what we say? What is slander? How common is it among Christians? How can we prevent it?

I believe that gossip is unwholesome tale that is common among Christians. Paul gives us three guidelines to use to judge or measure the value of what we say. First, is this conversation edifying or building up this person or the body of Christ. Second, is this conversation bringing unity or division. Our we just using this conversation to vent out our frustration. Thirdly, does this benefit the hearer? Slander is defaming a person, causing others to look down on someone because of something negative we said about that person. Slander is very common among Christians. We call it venting our frustration about someone when we are really slandering that person. We can prevent slander by using those three guidelines Paul gives us.