Foolish Questions

But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law; because these are unprofitable and useless.

Titus 3:9

 I’ve seen a lot of controversies, arguments and broken relationships because of people’s inability to stop digging for information.  This may be pretty basic to you, but it took me a long time to realize that sometimes people use “innocent” questions as an excuse to start gossiping with me.  It also took me a long time to realize that I don’t have to answer every question.  Those realizations gave me relief.  There are some questions I’ve learned to avoid.

1. Did she say anything about me?
2. What did she say about me?
3. Why did she say that?
4. Who was there?
5. What do you think is going on with . . . ?

There’s no reason for a person to come to me or through me to find out about another person.  The fact that 2 people cannot speak directly to one another raises a red flag for me.

The last thing that stirs the pot is people who want to “vent” their frustrations over something that happened in the past. My pastor gave me this rule of thumb.  Problems should only be discussed with a person who is a part of the problem or, a person who is going to be a part of the solution.  To address it to someone else is to gossip.

I wish I knew that before. _________________________________________________________________________________

The purpose of If I Knew Then What I Know Now is to share some insights that I wish someone had told me about when I was younger.  There’s a fuller explanation on my first post, written on May 14, 2012.