Have you ever noticed how nosey some religious people can be? And they tend to use the excuse of having a need to pray for someone’s tragedy.
“But it was done out of love…” was one excuse I heard lately.
There exists a fine line between gossip vs. the sharing of information for the excuse of adding someone to a prayer list. In fact in most instances I see no difference.
Webster defines gossip as “a person who habitually reveals personal or sensational facts about others.” Whether or not the revealation was done in a negative light or for the purpose of praying for someone is not mentioned.
Humans have a problem with gossip. If someone hears a juicy rumor or horrible situation about another, there is a tendency to share it with a 3rd party, if only to see that person’s reaction about it. If we truly want to emulate Christ, then we wouldn’t even mention a person’s negative situation, if only to that particular person. It’s something we all need to work on, including myself.