James 1 says "be quick to listen", but who or what should we not listen to?

[Lukamu]

I'm leading a Bible Study on James 1 by asking/answering questions. One of the questions is: should we be quick to listen to everything and everyone? Or are there some people or situations where we should not be "quick to listen"? Some examples might be: gossiping, slander, crude humor, blasphemy, etc.

Are there any verses or passages that I can use to help make this point?

 

[tturt]

Here's a couple:

"Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end.
There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand." (Pro 19:20-21)

"The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise." (Pro 12:15)

Pro 24 goes into detail including "...and in multitude of counsellors there is safety."

 

[Lukamu]

Here's a couple:

"Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end.
There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand." (Pro 19:20-21)

"The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise." (Pro 12:15)

Pro 24 goes into detail including "...and in multitude of counsellors there is safety."

Thank you for responding. It looks like all of those verses deal with times when we SHOULD listen to others. I'm asking if there are times when we SHOULD NOT listen (by listen I mean to be an audience to someone, not as in agreeing or obeying). Examples would be: if someone starts gossiping about other people, we should not encourage gossip by listening to it.

 

[timf]

Swift to hear is in contrast to slow to speak. You might consider Proverbs 10:19, 13:3, 17:27, 18:13, 21:23

Here is a short video study of James that might be useful;

Christian Pioneer - Bible Strudy - James

Christian Pioneer - Bible Study - James

christianpioneer.com

 

[eleos1954]

I'm leading a Bible Study on James 1 by asking/answering questions. One of the questions is: should we be quick to listen to everything and everyone? Or are there some people or situations where we should not be "quick to listen"? Some examples might be: gossiping, slander, crude humor, blasphemy, etc.

Are there any verses or passages that I can use to help make this point?

Here are some that might work

What Does the Bible Say About Quick To Listen And Slow To Sp?

 

[Neogaia777]

I'm leading a Bible Study on James 1 by asking/answering questions. One of the questions is: should we be quick to listen to everything and everyone? Or are there some people or situations where we should not be "quick to listen"? Some examples might be: gossiping, slander, crude humor, blasphemy, etc.

Are there any verses or passages that I can use to help make this point?

No one has to listen to or tolerate anything they don't want to hear or listen to, but we should always consider everything that might seek to make us smarter, or much more wise.

God Bless.

 

[hislegacy]

Phil 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

 

[Neogaia777]

No one has to listen to or tolerate anything they don't want to hear or listen to, but we should always consider everything that might seek to make us smarter, or much more wise.

God Bless.

Yes, and also what might make us more loving or kind also, etc.

In short, anything that might make us more holy, or might help us grow in our christian walk, or might make us much more like God more fully, etc.

But anything that isn't that, or that is just basically a part of the rest of the world's garbage basically, we don't have to listen to, or even tolerate, if we don't want to, etc.

I don't anymore, etc.

Might mean you'll have fewer friends though, etc. Or family that likes you, etc. But it's all way, way, way much more worth it especially in the end, if you have or got God in exchange for it/them instead, etc.

God Bless.

 

[tturt]

Pro 24 -
1 Don’t be envious of evil people,
and don’t desire to be with them.
2 For their minds are occupied with violence,
and their lips speak of making trouble.

7 Wisdom is too lofty for a fool;
he keeps his mouth shut at the city gate.
8 He who plans to do evil
people call a schemer.
9 The evil plans of the foolish are sin,
and people detest a scorner.
10 If you slack off on a day of distress,
your strength is small indee

Don’t lurk like an outlaw near the home of the righteous,
don’t raid the place where he lives.
16 For though he falls seven times, he will get up again;
it’s the wicked who fail under stress.
17 Don’t rejoice when your enemy falls;
don’t let your heart be glad when he stumbles.
18 For Adonai might see it, and it would displease him;
he might withdraw his anger from your foe.
19 Don’t get upset because of evildoers;
don’t be envious of the wicked.
20 For the evil person has no future —
the lamp of the wicked will go out.
21 My son, don’t get involved with revolutionaries,
but fear Adonai and the king.
22 For disaster from them will suddenly appear,
and who knows what ruin they both can cause?
23 These also are sayings of the wise:
Showing partiality in judgment is not good.
24 He who tells the guilty, “You are innocent,”
will be cursed by peoples, reviled by nations;

25 but with those who condemn him, things will go well,
and a good blessing

28 Don’t be a witness against your neighbor for no reason —
would you use your lips to deceive?
29 Don’t say, “I’ll do to him what he did to me,
I’ll pay him back what his deeds deserve.”

 

[Neogaia777]

Pro 24 -
1 Don’t be envious of evil people,
and don’t desire to be with them.
2 For their minds are occupied with violence,
and their lips speak of making trouble.

7 Wisdom is too lofty for a fool;
he keeps his mouth shut at the city gate.
8 He who plans to do evil
people call a schemer.
9 The evil plans of the foolish are sin,
and people detest a scorner.
10 If you slack off on a day of distress,
your strength is small indee

Don’t lurk like an outlaw near the home of the righteous,
don’t raid the place where he lives.
16 For though he falls seven times, he will get up again;
it’s the wicked who fail under stress.
17 Don’t rejoice when your enemy falls;
don’t let your heart be glad when he stumbles.
18 For Adonai might see it, and it would displease him;
he might withdraw his anger from your foe.
19 Don’t get upset because of evildoers;
don’t be envious of the wicked.
20 For the evil person has no future —
the lamp of the wicked will go out.
21 My son, don’t get involved with revolutionaries,
but fear Adonai and the king.
22 For disaster from them will suddenly appear,
and who knows what ruin they both can cause?
23 These also are sayings of the wise:
Showing partiality in judgment is not good.
24 He who tells the guilty, “You are innocent,”
will be cursed by peoples, reviled by nations;

25 but with those who condemn him, things will go well,
and a good blessing

28 Don’t be a witness against your neighbor for no reason —
would you use your lips to deceive?
29 Don’t say, “I’ll do to him what he did to me,
I’ll pay him back what his deeds deserve.”

This tells me that we should mostly be "indifferent" towards people who do evil, and not associate with them, or be around them when we don't have to be, and keep our loved ones away from them as much as we possibly can, etc.

Or, IOW's, leave them to themselves and let them hang themselves eventually, but also don't rejoice when it happens, or you see it happen either, etc.

Maybe, "maybe", offer them the Gospel at least one time when it happens maybe, etc.

But if they reject it still even then, go immediately back toward being indifferent towards them again maybe, etc.

God Bless.

 

[com7fy8]

"swift to hear" includes being always ready to hear God.

And we have Proverbs 18:13 >

"He who answers a matter before he hears it,
It is folly and shame to him."
(Proverbs 18:13)

So, I would say being swift to hear also includes making sure we do not only go by what certain people are trying to get us to think about a decision or an issue. But be ready to learn what they might not be telling us; ones can tell us only certain things, in order to control what we think.

 

[com7fy8]

Beware of how people can take your attention away from what God wants us to pay attention to. Being swift to hear, then, can include staying prayerful about where God is guiding our attention.

Or else, we can get tangled in trying to get the truth from unreliable and worldly people who have no intention of helping us to get the real truth about something.

What God has for us will be clear, no need to argue and struggle and be confused.

Both sides of an issue can be wrong and not about to help us find what God really has for us!

What God has is likely to be better than what arguing and accusing people are guaranteeing.

 

[com7fy8]

Make sure with God. Only hearing humans is not enough.

Look at Joshua chapter nine, verses 1-14. Here we have a case of God's Jewish leaders evaluating a situation by the evidence. But the evidence was rigged! They did not make sure with God, and so they were fooled.

So, make sure with God, even if evidence looks so convincing, I would say. Plus, hear from God about if you should even be paying attention to that issue and what ones are claiming to be its evidence.

For example . . . those people in John chapter eight said they had evidence of the guilt of the adulturess. But her guilt was not what Jesus was concerned about.

And, once, a woman was making her case that I would make a good husband for her. Well . . . that evidence did not matter, because she needed to first get with God and how she needed to share with Him. And then discover how He would guide her better than how she could hope while she was unhappy and desperate.

Being "swift to hear", then includes how we are not being impatient and discontented. Or else, how well might we hear while we are being negative?

So, it was good for me to hear God, and not only her. And be kind about it.

And perhaps you can see how various people do not make sure with God about who they marry. Possibly they instead are listening to what they are thinking about how they want to use someone. And that someone is good at putting on the "you can use me" act! Acting nice, so you think I will be nice about doing what you want. Talking smart so you think I will be smart enough to understand what you want. It looks as though a lot of people fall in love with this acting, and don't really know the actor.

 

[com7fy8]

In 1 Samuel 30 we see how David handled a very hard situation. He and his men had lost their wives and children when the Amalekites raided their home city of Ziklag in Philistia.

First, they all wept until they had no more energy to weep. And ones got to talking about stoning David. Well, that did not bring their children back.

And may be they did have good reason to kill David . . . their leader who had brought them to Philistia to find refuge from Saul, and maybe who should have left men to guard their families while he had them parading elsewhere with the Philistine army.

Yes, they could have had evidence, even, against David. But their thinking about that was not what they needed to hear.

But what worked? "David strengthened himself in the LORD his God," we have in 1 Samuel 30:6. Then he heard from God about what to do.

But first he needed to prepare so he could hear from God and hear in the right way, by first becoming strengthened in the LORD.

And after they got their families back, certain bad actors tried to get David to give the bounty to only certain soldiers who did the fighting and not to the soldiers who stayed behind with David and his men's own stuff.

But David refused to heed them. Because David was about family . . . about sharing as family and therefore with everyone.

So, being about family can affect who we listen to, how we hear and do things.

And God our Father is about family. And so He acts for His family purpose (Romans 8:29), not only for judging. And so we need to hear in His family way so we are not swift to speak with judgment, and are not swift to wrath which is anti-family and isolating us from sharing and caring with one another.

 

[Neogaia777]

In 1 Samuel 30 we see how David handled a very hard situation. He and his men had lost their wives and children when the Amalekites raided their home city of Ziklag in Philistia.

First, they all wept until they had no more energy to weep. And ones got to talking about stoning David. Well, that did not bring their children back.

And may be they did have good reason to kill David . . . their leader who had brought them to Philistia to find refuge from Saul, and maybe who should have left men to guard their families while he had them parading elsewhere with the Philistine army.

Yes, they could have had evidence, even, against David. But their thinking about that was not what they needed to hear.

But what worked? "David strengthened himself in the LORD his God," we have in 1 Samuel 30:6. Then he heard from God about what to do.

But first he needed to prepare so he could hear from God and hear in the right way, by first becoming strengthened in the LORD.

And after they got their families back, certain bad actors tried to get David to give the bounty to only certain soldiers who did the fighting and not to the soldiers who stayed behind with David and his men's own stuff.

But David refused to heed them. Because David was about family . . . about sharing as family and therefore with everyone.

So, being about family can affect who we listen to, how we hear and do things.

And God our Father is about family. And so He acts for His family purpose (Romans 8:29), not only for judging. And so we need to hear in His family way so we are not swift to speak with judgment, and are not swift to wrath which is anti-family and isolating us from sharing and caring with one another.

It is my opinion that we need all kinds of people from all kinds of different situations and backgrounds and circumstances.

Also experiences as well, etc.

And not to sound like a braggart or anything, and I'll try to say this as humbly as I can, etc, but I've been/done, done/been, just about everything there is to be or do, etc.

But not saying I know everything there is to know now, etc, because I will still very much acknowledge my very great need for others, and their knowledge still, etc.

I love to always learn and forever be the student, etc. Learning on or about new things is very exciting for me, etc.

And I have a lot of free time on my hands now, since I no longer work, or have a wife or kids anymore, and my two cats are my very, very best, most favorite family/friends, etc.

God Bless.

 

[Lukamu]

"swift to hear" includes being always ready to hear God.

And we have Proverbs 18:13 >

"He who answers a matter before he hears it,
It is folly and shame to him."
(Proverbs 18:13)

So, I would say being swift to hear also includes making sure we do not only go by what certain people are trying to get us to think about a decision or an issue. But be ready to learn what they might not be telling us; ones can tell us only certain things, in order to control what we think.

So far I've decided there are arguments for and against.

For listening (to everything): How else are sinners going to find Jesus? If we won't listen to them, why would they listen to us? Listening doesn't mean agreeing, but being able to understand and accurately articulate another person's position. Caution is advised, but we need to be quick to listen in order to lead others to Christ. Should we only love those who we agree with?

Against listening (to everything): We are called to be pure, and how can we do that if we don't guard our hearts from evil things? We can talk to sinners when they are willing to put aside crude language, gossip, and evil. This passage begins "Dear brothers and sisters" which means that it's directed at Christians, not unbelievers.

 

[WolfGate]

We can talk to sinners when they are willing to put aside crude language, gossip, and evil. This passage begins "Dear brothers and sisters" which means that it's directed at Christians, not unbelievers.

Are you equating "listening" with "agreeing" or "being influenced by"? IMHO, we can talk to non-Christians even when they use crude language, gossip and speak evil. We can model what Christ teaches by either acting differently or directly confronting inappropriate topics (such as racist language or topics that advocate harming others). The qualifier to that, of course, is that we should only be engaged when mature enough not to be influenced by the people or topics.

 

[anetazo]

2 Timothy chapter 4:3. Time coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their needs.

Stay away from churches who teach tradition of men and false doctrine.
Stay away from motivation speakers.
Any brethren who brings false doctrine. Mark them, and avoid them.

Proverbs 29:6. A sinful man is trapped by his sins, but man who is right with God sings for joy.

Dont slander, plot evil, pride, gossip, lying, selfishness, compulsion, anger, lust, wrath, list continues.

Key is, be led by the spirit. Don't walk in the flesh. Carnal minded people do this. Don't walk in the path of reprobates.
Jeremiah chapter 4:5. Listen to God. All wisdom and knowledge comes from God.
Fools are destitute of the truth. Fools look everywhere, but in the bible.

Jeremiah chapter 23. Many false voices are speaking. False brethren. TV is flooded with fake shepherds. Denominations won't teach sound doctrine.

Jeremiah Wright 6:10. If out hearts are unclean, its impossible to listen to God.

Discipline and obedience is essential.

Jeremiah chapter 11:11. Though they cry to me, I will not listen.
Listening to misguided preachers teaching traditions of men and false doctrine. Thier unclean hearts is barrier between God and them. Get the picture.

Jeremiah chapter 16:12. Stubbornness. Wont receive instructions. Won't listen to sound doctrine.

Second thessalonians chapter 2 . God has been sending strong delusions on those who love not the truth.

God will give those with unclean heart spirit of stupor.

Acting on compulsion is false motives.
Obedience to God is only way.

Use spirtual discernment. Weed out the garbage. Feed the flocks good pasture.

Peter chapter 4. Judgment starts with house of God. Those who are teachers and pastors, are accountable to Jesus.

I hope its sound doctrine.