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What does the Bible say?
Mt. 15:18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a man.
19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. (RSVCE)
Sometimes we hear someone say things like, “Susie is having an affair with a married man.” The person knows that Susie isn’t having an affair with anyone but has decided to injure Susie’s reputation and damage her good name.
The slanderer is committing the sin of malice which is the desire to inflict injury, harm, or suffering on another typically because of jealousy.
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The second sin is that of lying.
There are three other questions the slanderer needs to ask themselves.
Did I know that lying was sinful?
Is lying about a person having an affair a serious matter?
Did I freely chose to go against God’s law by knowingly spreading the lie? If the answer to all three questions are “Yes,” the slanderer has also committed a mortal sin.
Confession will be necessary to free oneself of the mortal sin.
The slanderer has stolen the good reputation of another and is obliged to make restitution.
Restitution can take two forms.
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The slanderer can make full atonement by declaring that he has made a mistake, to those to whom he told the lie, and to the person who was slandered as well.
The second form of restitution is telling all involved that he deliberately lied.
Slander is one sin with two dimensions, lying and malice. Both issues by themselves are serious but together they become deadly to the reputation of another.
In the Gospel of Luke a scribe asked Jesus, “Which commandment is the first of all?”
29 Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one;
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30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’
31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
People who slander another hate their neighbor and are not doing what Jesus commanded.
By examining the reason you slandered you can expose that which you find lacking in yourself.
The shame slanderers feel can bring about a positive change in their life by being the reason for not repeating the sin.