It’s an interesting time for the British press, as lawyers for Prince Harry and several other high‑profile figures are in court, accusing the publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday of “grave breaches of privacy”. According to the allegations, journalists systematically and unlawfully gathered private information over about 20 years, using private investigators, phone hacking and bribery to illicitly access private documents. The publisher denies the allegations.
Stories were published which included lurid details of the celebrities’ personal lives, relationships and behaviour. The articles were greedily absorbed, discussed and repeated by millions of people, who were excited to have scandal and ‘dirt’ on the privileged subjects. It didn’t matter how the information was gathered or its moral value.
But it does matter. Gossip hurts people. More importantly, God has strong opinions about it. The Bible strongly condemns this voyeuristic interest in scandal:
Since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless (Romans 1:28-31).
The strong language shows just how badly God thinks of such behaviour, and He places it alongside other evil character traits. Taking voyeuristic pleasure in bad behaviour is as bad as indulging in it personally: ‘Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them’ (v. 32).
By comparison, God is pure and always speaks the truth, He has done so since the very beginning: ‘I the LORD speak the truth; I declare what is right’ (Isaiah 45:19).
Because of this, we can trust Him, and what He says really does matter to every one of us:
‘There is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Saviour; there is none besides me. Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance’ (vs. 21-23).
God promises that we can live for ever in His Kingdom – this is the core message of Glad Tidings. And we read about that wonderful prospect: ‘They will bring into it the glory and the honour of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false’ (Revelation 21:26-27).
Andrew Hale
Read more about the future, in this month’s edition of Glad Tidings.
