"Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers."

                            -Ephesians 4:29 

Yes it is. According to the dictionary, gossip is intentionally spreading intimate, private rumors or facts. It doesn't matter whether or not it's true. If it's something that we wouldn't say to the person's face, then 99% of the time we should keep our mouth shut.

Excuse #2: "They hurt me and I need to vent."

In this life we will have our feelings hurt many times over. That's just the way it works. We have misunderstandings, differences of opinion, etc. But, it has been my experience that "venting" usually just rekindles the fire, angering me even more that I already was (not to mention that now I've got somebody else involved, upsetting them as well).

"Debate thy cause with thy neighbour himself; and discover not a secret to another:"

                            -Proverbs 25:9

If our feelings have been hurt so bad that we feel the need to tell everybody who will listen about what happened, then we would probably be wise to confront the person and work things out personally. If we don't feel that we are able to do that, then we should pour out our heart to the Lord instead of to everybody else.



The Bible tells us that the words of a talebearer are as wounds (Proverbs 18:8). Throughout my life, there has been many times that I've found out other people had said something bad about me and, honestly, there are few things more painful. I would imagine that we all know the feeling of finding out that someone we thought was our friend has been talking about us behind our back. If we have any decency whatsoever, we will do anything and everything possible to keep others from experiencing that same pain.