Hatred and slander.

Hatred and slander.

 

He who conceals hatred has lying lips, and he who utters slander is a fool. (Prov. 10:18)

 

Although the two parts to this proverb seem to be about different sins — hatred and slander — they actually are two sides of the same coin.

‘Hatred’ means ‘extreme dislike.’ ‘Slander’ means false and damaging utterance about another person.

Hatred for one person will induce us to damage his name.

 

The proverb refers to two kinds of persons. 1. One who hates another person, but hides it while speaking to him; he is a liar. 2. One who damages another person’s name while speaking about him; he is a name-damaging liar.

The first liar speaks nice words to us to hide his contempt for us; he may even say about us things which he himself does not believe; he may shower on us praises of which we are not worthy. But he may speak badly about us while talking to others,   thereby damaging our name.

The first part of the proverb teaches us a very good lesson.

Our ‘thought and word’ must tally with each other, which is called ‘being truthful’.

If we want to speak well of a person, we must think well of him.

If we think well of a person we won’t hate him.

To think well of a person we must always see his positive side.

  

The second liar uses his tongue to gossip and slander.

Slander spreads lies about other people and unfair criticism   damages another person’s reputation for no good reason.

Gossip has historically been considered a very serious sin, as it is too difficult to set right the damage done.

Like falling dominoes or ripples in a pond, slander and detraction continue to spread out from the original source and can never be fully undone.

Wisdom frequently means remaining silent about things we know concerning another person.

To be prudent, we may go to the person ourselves and address the issue in a conversation.

This can clear up the false elements of the slander and may help the person change the direction of his or her life for the better.

Cruel rumours usually harden the hearts and so do little good for anyone involved.

 

This proverb is a warning against harbouring hatred in our hearts and expressing it in our speech damaging the name of the person concerned.

Hatred in the heart tempts a person either to deceive others about it, or to commit the sins of slander or unfair criticism.

The solution is to be careful about our words, certainly, but first of all the lesson is to guard against the interior attitudes that breed hatred in our hearts.

Lourdu Selvam.

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