Comments on: Tattling http://necessaryroughness.org/archives/1427 two kingdoms, hundreds of thousands of miles Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:32:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Rick Ritchie http://necessaryroughness.org/archives/1427#comment-14144 Rick Ritchie Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:27:30 +0000 http://necessaryroughness.org/archives/1427#comment-14144 I think the problem with tattling is rooted in the idea of honor. The idea of honor took somewhat of a beating with the advent of a New Testament ethic. But what was ruled out was having honor as a highest value. The Old Testament culture was an honor culture. And in some more recent times, we've seen a partial honor culture coexist with Christian values. I think things are best when much that we know from General Revelation is cultivated, but kept subservient. "Tattling" works against the idea of being able to trust people. There may be times where simple honesty requires that we do tell what our neighbor did that was wrong. Most won't consider that tattling. But we must be careful here. I think that tattling is generally what we call it when someone wishes to get unearned attention or curry favor with an authority, often not caring whether they got their story right to begin with. It may be self-perpetuating. Those who tattle are not trusted. Therefore they often are not privy to the whole story. Yet they imagine they are. So they go spill another story without having all the facts. And on, and on. I think the problem with tattling is rooted in the idea of honor. The idea of honor took somewhat of a beating with the advent of a New Testament ethic. But what was ruled out was having honor as a highest value. The Old Testament culture was an honor culture. And in some more recent times, we’ve seen a partial honor culture coexist with Christian values. I think things are best when much that we know from General Revelation is cultivated, but kept subservient.

“Tattling” works against the idea of being able to trust people. There may be times where simple honesty requires that we do tell what our neighbor did that was wrong. Most won’t consider that tattling. But we must be careful here. I think that tattling is generally what we call it when someone wishes to get unearned attention or curry favor with an authority, often not caring whether they got their story right to begin with. It may be self-perpetuating. Those who tattle are not trusted. Therefore they often are not privy to the whole story. Yet they imagine they are. So they go spill another story without having all the facts. And on, and on.

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