The summer before our son Matthew’s senior year of high school, Peggy and I took him on a college visit to the University of Chicago. We gathered with other prospective students and their parents in an auditorium for a Q&A session with a panel of UChicago undergrads. At one point in this information session, a young guest asked, “Why should I not come here?” One panelist answered perhaps a bit too hastily, “We sometimes call this ‘the place where fun comes to die,’” he replied, adding, “The library is full on Friday night.” That’s all Matthew needed to hear. He enrolled at Washington University in St. Louis.
Truth be known, we are all called to be the place where some things “come to die.” To the church in Rome—and by extension, the rest of us—Paul writes, “If you live according to [the sinful nature] you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”1 To the believers in Colossae, the bold apostle elaborated: “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”2 We could name other death row misdeeds—retaliation, accusation, division, and others—and perhaps we’ll delve into some of these in future posts. But today, let’s focus on character assassination and its various forms: gossip, slander, and embellishment among them.
Writing on the eighth commandment, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor,”3 Martin Luther esteemed the treasure of reputation: “God wishes the reputation, good name, and upright character of our neighbor to be taken away or diminished as little as his money and possessions, that every one may stand in his integrity.”4 We are called to guard the good name of others, not disparage it. They may have “diminished” their good name on their own, perhaps even severely so, but this is not license for us to “pile on.” Do their flaws excuse us from seeking their wellbeing or justify us for defiling it more broadly? Do we not to some degree hold their reputation in our hands, or more to the point, upon our tongues?
We are often positioned to build up the good name of another, or to sully it. Paul exhorts us to choose the former: “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs . . .”5 We can build up or tear down; we have this choice. Then choose the former: Be the place character assassination comes to die.
Father, fill me with a heart of compassion, so that I may love and support others with the same love and support I need and desire from others. In Christ I pray. Amen.
1 Romans 8:13 NIV
2 Colossians 3:5 ESV
3 Exodus 20:16 KJV
4 Martin Luther, “The Large Catechism: Part I, The Eighth Commandment,” The Book of Concord Online, par. 256, accessed October 30, 2026, https://thebookofconcord.org/large-catechism/part-i/commandment-viii/
5 Ephesians 4:29 NIV
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