Featured Should Christians be tattletales?

In all cases, refer to Matthew 18:15-17. If he/she isn't a member of your church but another, make sure at least one of the "two or three witnesses" is from his/her church.

 

No........................

 

So in which of the three cases did the "brother" trespass against you?

 

My answer would be no, we have no responsibility to be "tattletales."

My own rule of thumb is to ask myself if someone is being hurt or is someone in danger?

 

No, Christians should not be tattletales. It is usually a corridor to gossip, which local churches never address. The purpose of any situation like this is restoration, not the joy of gossip or punishment.

When someone comes up to me with a story like this, it takes a few seconds to determine its two possible purposes, gossip or restoration as described in Matthew 18. Usually it is the former, and I dismiss the comment and walk away.

 

This is snitching on someone plain and simple. People that rat on people for small stuff that is mentioned in the OP do so for one reason, to get the other guy in trouble. In the prison system a snitch is considered one of the lowest form of a dog, they are marked. In the area where I live snitching on someone can get you in deep trouble fast. Where I live people live by the code, mind your own business.

 

LOL....my dear mother was an Italian and to those people there is a code of conduct you follow ....(1.) Respect your elders. (2.) Family first. (3.) Keep your mouth shut...ie if you don't know what your talking about, then shut up; mind your own business & NEVER RAT OUT ANYONE. But make sure you handle it privately....what goes around comes around and revenge is a dish best served up cold are big with that type. Oh and, onyour way home pick up some cannolies. NOT KIDDING....LOL

 

The first words of v. 15 are "If your brother sins ... " without further qualification. Doesn't say "against you." Doesn't say "against the cable company." It says, "If your brother sins ... " Period.

What does that tell you?

 

I might report the stealing of cable because that person is sinning not only against the cable company but everyone who purchases cable services the legal way. Thieves shoplifting cable services can cause problems for the overall system. It causes the cable company to have to spend extra to prevent such occurrences and guess who gets to absorb those extra costs? Hint: you and me

 

My county steals from me every year in the form of taxing me for my farm. We don't have a wheel tax so the loafers go free while land owners have to foot the bill for the county government. Every one is on the take. I should get to vote ten times in a county election and these loafers not get one vote. As the Italians say, forget about it.

 

For example, if I knew a church member was cheating on his or her spouse, I would NOT go to the spouse. I would go the offending party, and follow the example in Matthew. Going to the spouse is nothing but gossip, and will destroy the marriage, and maybe children are involved.

As Baptists, it is our sacred duty to declare war on gossip and stop worrying so much about the lottery tickets, drinking, and what movies we watch. There is nothing that makes me angrier than a gossip.

 

There's a difference between tattletelling, and "telling on' someone. Most of it has to do with motivation.

In the first case, I'd give the person an ultimatum. Tell them to stop stealing (and it IS stealing) or you'll tell. You have an obligation to protect your employer's interests. This includes things like this.

In the second case, it is not harming anyone. I'd leave that alone. If the cat did any damage, they'd be personally liable anyway.

In the third case, absolutely. They are stealing outright. I couldn't condone their sin (which in this case also harms someone; the cable company) by remaining silent. I look at it this way: would I want someone to tell me if someone were stealing from me?

Now, I do believe in handling all these in the smallest way possible. Only escalate it to the point that you have to in order to resolve the problem.

In the first and last cases, someone is clearly sinning. To remain silent is to condone their sin, and enable it.

 

Wow, I'm surprised someone would think an allergy would be harmless, but I guess if one hasn't dealt with severe ones, they wouldn't really know.
An allergy, especially if the exposure is unknown, could potentially end up very serious with lung infections, pneumonia, loss of working time, medical bills, and even put the person into shock and sensitize them to other things and medications. Your body, if repeatedly exposed to something your allergic to, builds up this stuff in your blood and your body starts over reacting to other things, and getting sensitive to things you never had a problem with before.
Allergies just aren't something to mess with. Some are very severe. Hours upon hours of exposure will likely leave a highly allergic person suffering for a good time after and end up, at the least, with some major discomfort and medical bills. My daughter can tolerate a few hours of exposure but then suffers a few days of icky symptoms after. Anymore than that and it ends up being a lung infection for her, and she is extremely healthy otherwise!

It really makes no sense to let that happen to someone.

Someone's allergic to peanuts. You know it. Someone sneaks peanuts into their food. Do you tell? WELL YEAH! Just because a cat allergy is slower doesn't mean it is okay. And some peanut allergies are just as low as cat allergies. Just a little, because they haven't been exposed as much. So would you knowingly let someone allergic to peanuts be exposed if they hadn't been exposed very much already, because you don't want to tell and you know the reaction will not be deadly right away? LOL No...I hope.

 

In response to the complaint of cat allergies, the person in question removed the cat, up to their room. I think you are missing the point of the question. It's a question about "tattling" that the person broke the rules. Not whether they were insensitive to someone else.

 

I guess you've never read Matthew 17:24-27.

 

It would be a judgment call. The very question you ask shouts you are not a gossip. A gossip is swift to tell without consideration of the circumstances. Of course, if a child is being abused, it is time to go to the authorities. Common sense goes a long way.