The Morrison kids are on the case!  With bulldozers across the street, the “Attic Agents” are concerned about their neighborhood, and they’re determined to solve the mystery.  The clues seem to be pointing toward certain people in Coleraine, but will get all the facts straight, or in their enthusiasm, will they jump to conclusions and damage somebody’s reputation?

How about you…

Have you ever hurt someone’s feelings or reputation by telling negative stories about them?

Check this out…

Take a look at these words of wisdom found in the book of Proverbs:

A perverse man stirs up dissention and a gossip separates close friends.

That’s Proverbs 16:28.  It’s a good one to memorize and to take to heart.  There are a couple of big words to think through to make sure you’re getting the message clearly.  First: “perverse” means twisted or turned to a wrong purpose.  So, a “perverse man” is one who has turned away from the purpose he is meant for.  Second: “dissention” means disagreement or quarreling.

One of the qualities of the style of writing in the Proverbs and other poetic writing in the Bible is to say the same thing 2 or 3 times in a row to emphasize the point.  So when this verse says the first statement:

                A perverse man stirs up dissention

He wants the reader to really get the point, so he says the same idea in a different way:

                a gossip separates close friends

So, the point is that when we gossip, it is the same thing as being a “perverse man”, and the main purpose of both those kinds of people is to turn close friends into enemies who fight each other instead of getting along like they did before the “stirring up” and the “separating”.  Make sure you don’t say anything that could put you into those kinds of positions—just remember Proverbs 16:28.