What To Do With Your Criticism

This evening I would like to speak to you for a few minutes from my heart on a matter that I think is of vital importance to the church. How and when to Express Your Opinion.

1. Not every opinion has to be expressed.

I ran across something very interesting as I read the section (pp. 53- 61) on “Gossip and Slander” in Carole Mayhall’s book, “Words that Hurt, Words that Heal.” [Colorado Springs: Navipress, 1986] In this book is a very interesting definition of slander. We usually associate slander as “the utterance in the presence of another person of a false statement that is damaging to that person’s character or reputation” The author of this book however holds that this is not the biblical definition of slander. She hold that slander as portrayed in the Old Testament and the New Testament is “the open, intentional sharing of damaging information and is characterized by bad reports that blemish or defame a person’s reputation whether they are true or not.” (p. 54)

The Bible says in James 4:11, “Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law…” The New International Version translates this verse as, “Brothers, do not slander one another.”

One commentator writes on the meaning of this scripture in this way, “The context shows what kind of adverse speaking is meant. It is not so much abusive or malicious language that is condemned, as the love of finding fault. The fault finding temperament is utterly unchristian. It means that we have been paying attention to the conduct of others which would have been better bestowed upon our own. It means also that we have been paying this attention, not in order to help but in order to criticize unfavorably… But over and above all this, this fault finding is an invasion of divine prerogatives. It is not merely a transgression of the royal law of love, but the setting oneself above the law, as if it were a mistake and did not apply to oneself. It is climbing up on the judgment seat on which God alone has the right to sit, and publishing of judgments upon others which He alone has the right to pronounce.” [Alfred Plummer, The Expositor’s Bible. ed. W. Robertson Nicoll. (Grand Rapids: Baker Book) p. 251]

“There are men who pride themselves on their candor, and it degenerates into brutality. One such man said to John Wesley once, "Mr. Wesley, I pride myself in speaking my mind; that is my talent." "Well," said John Wesley, "the Lord wouldn’t mind if you buried that! –[Griffith Thomas]

Not Every Opinion Has To Be Expressed and …

2. When Expressing Criticism It should be Done Correctly

If you have a criticism that must be made then

•Make it to the person whom it concerns and

no one else.

To share your compliant with anyone else other than the person it concerns is gossip, plain and simple. If you are talking to others trying to rally support to your cause then you are guilty of spreading discord among the brethren. Let me must say that In the life of a church if you have a question about something ask, don’t just assume.