Without a leg…

I’ve got a “quotations” site listed in my RSS feed reader, and occasionally see some thought-provoking stuff come through.

Such as this one:

A rumor without a leg to stand on will get around some other way.
— John Tudor

Could there be any more truth to the above?

The wildest half-truths… the most ridiculous accusations. The rumors that have no business going anywhere at all. These run rampant as we, their human crutches, carry them places they have no business going.

What is it about the human condition that causes us to be so attracted to rumor and gossip?

(Duh… sin nature. I know.)

But seriously. Why?

Who amongst us hasn’t seen the damage and pain done by gossip and rumor? Who hasn’t seen lives affected? Who hasn’t experienced it personally to some extent?

Shouldn’t humanity as a whole be a bit wiser to this issue? Christ-follower or not?

Are we, as a whole, simply so callous that we just don’t care about truth? That it doesn’t matter to us that gossip and rumors destroy lives?

And for the Christian… that it destroys our witness?

I know there are a litany of other sins that we could say these same things about, but sometimes I really just don’t get how readily we jump into the fray to cause pain.