My Take on 'Gossip' Magazines

There are many people, especially girls, who enjoy reading 'gossip' magazines. To clarify before I go on, I'll define what I mean by that: magazines that feature scandalous stories about the personal lives of celebrities.

Examples of these are:

• Heat
• Now
• OK!
• Hello
• People
• Star
• Us Weekly

Many girls think it's harmless fun to read these magazines and have no issue spending upwards of £3 per issue on each one. For some reason, our society has got to a stage where we are so obsessed with celebrities that we want to know their every move. People will spend money, sometimes daily, so that they can track what's happening in the life of their favourite celebrity: what they're wearing, who they're dating, who's marrying, who's divorcing, who's cheating, how they're working out and what they're eating.

Here's why I would never spend a penny on said magazines and why I find them sinful to read even if you didn't buy one and you're feeling bored in a doctor's office:

• Gossip magazines are notoriously known for reporting speculation, rumours, lies and distorted or exaggerated facts. So tell me why you want to read something you know isn't completely, if at all, true?
• Would you want people looking at awful photos of you that have been taken without your awareness or permission? No? Then why do you want to look at such photos of other people?
• You are paying companies for the privilege of reading lies. People can actually make a living from creating fake stories about other people. Would you want someone to profit from selling lies about you? It's hurtful to hear something false said about you, before knowing someone got paid to tell it!
• Paying people to write lies also encourages their bad behaviour. Why would they stop if they know you'll pay for it? Why should they report the truth if you're satisfied with lies? They want to get your money not report what's true. The truth is, if you won't pay for it, they won't write it!
• The Golden Rule: seriously, you can't get upset if someone says something nasty about you if simultaneously you're reading potentially nasty stuff about other people e.g. look how much weight X celebrity has gained! Is Y cheating on her husband?
• The Bible also says that gossip is a sin. Leviticus 19:16 says it's sinful to slander someone (definition: the action of making a false spoken statement about a person that's damaging to their reputation). Psalm 34:13 says, 'Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies'

There you have it, why I despise gossip magazines. So please no more comments about how it's over-exaggerating to refrain from reading them. My beliefs are clear and non-negotiable :)

Reflection on Today's Meeting 14/08/11

This post is just to share some of my thoughts during Meeting today.

Firstly, I was astounded at the contribution during Afterword by a young woman I'll call 'Ella'. Ella was born blind. She looked beautiful today in a pretty purple summer dress with a glittery black shawl. She spoke following on from ministry given by another person in the meeting about suffering.

The ministry was about the sin that can evolve from feeling like you're suffering as a result of not having the material things others have. The wealth others have. But how it's always possible to turn from that feeling and not let it develop into the sin of hating or stealing.

Ella said that she felt the same "material suffering" growing up and that it did make her feel hatred and resentment for people. But she overcame it by realising that she was in control of those feelings. But also, that those feelings will result in just punishment and overcoming them will result in just rewards. I thought it was amazing how she was able to overcome resentment in her situation and that she didn't 'play on' her blindness.

She highlighted that material suffering isn't the only suffering we face, but it is often the one most talked about. But even the suffering she faces by being blind and the difficulty it brings, doesn't make her resentful. That would cause her to sin and damage her character. She avoids it. But she admitted that she does slip, but agian faces the jst consequences of that. I thought it was powerful what she said. I wish I could have written that down word for word.

The second thing that happened today, was the shared lunch. I thought it was lovely that as Quakers we can bring different foods, homemade and purchased and share them all together. It was so nice to eat with each other and talk about various different topics. But at the same time, we remembered those in less fortunate circumstances. We pause for silence before we eat and when we're done. Giving a moment of thanks and appreciation without diving in to fill up as quickly as possible. At the same time, we thought about the famine in Africa and donated money on a plate that would be sent to help that cause.

To Those Who Play the Blame Game

I was having a conversation in Meeting today about people that play the blame game. When things don't go right in our life, like when we don't have the things we want, the money we want, the things everyone else seems to have. Or when something goes wrong, like a child being born with a condition, a diagnosis of something terminal, etc, we look for someone to blame.

Why do people blame God? Why do we think He does this to people? That He is the cause of these things?

I follow the Evidence Bible on Twitter and the other day this wonderful article was posted: click here to read it

I encourage you to check it out, because it explains why people like to blame God for what goes wrong in their life and why it's wrong to do so. Many people won't like the answer, it's not what they want to hear. They would prefer to run and hide. But it's the truth