Say only what you know: Amebo is not a Christian’s Destiny!

Amebo is sweet. It is like real life Africa Magic. It’s the rationale behind the popularity of “reality TV”. 

Naturally, human beings like stories of whatever kind. People like to listen to and carry jist.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with jisting. Jisting, in itself, is not a sin.

 But as humans, we have a tendency to embellish and exaggerate.  When we hear something, the creative nature of our brains paint a picture of how the scenario must have looked. 

 Then jara comes in. After all, it’s not really a lie. This is where we need to be careful. When we start adding jara to what we have heard and spreading that jara, especially when it involves people, “jist don turn to amebo”.

It is very easy for jara to turn to malicious gossip.

We need to say only what we know. Just yesterday, my brother bought some things on his way home. He was tired and wanted to go upstairs so he just dropped them on the dining table and mumbled, “agbalumo and bread”.

 My sister thought she heard “they gba-ed me on the road”. I heard only the agbalumo part. So I asked my sister what he said and she told me what she heard and. Before the day was over, it had been concluded that agbalumo seller hit my brother on the road.

My point?

 A story can change drastically when we don’t say what we know and are sure of. And in this story, the jara was unintentional. Imagine the damage that intentional jara can do.

The Bible has given us guidance on how to conduct ourselves. Psalm 15:2-3(Good News Bible) says that those who obey God (that’s we Christians) do not slander others or spread rumours about their neighbours. Our words should be true and sincere.

Let us ensure that we behave as those who obey God should.  We are only human and some things are just in our nature. This is why we need to ask God to cleanse us from our hidden faults and keep us safe from wilful sins (Psalm 19: 12 - 13).

By Demilade

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.