What's Your Gossip Quotient?

By:  Kelli Mahoney  (modified slightly)
                                                                                                                                                     

Take This Quiz and Find Out!

Think you don’t gossip? Take this quiz to find out…

1. You and your friends are at a party. You see one of your friends smoking marijuana. You:

A. Pray for him.
B. Add him to your youth group prayer list.
C. Tell everyone at school.
D. Tell a parent and pray for your friend.

2. You walk by the magazine counter and see a headline about your favorite actress cheating on her boyfriend. You:

A. Check your wallet. You must know the details!
B. You’re tempted, but you walk away.
C. Leave the magazine, but check out the story online. You won’t financially support those types of magazines.
D. You walk away. Those magazines are junk.

3. You overhear your friend’s boyfriend telling everyone lies about their date on Saturday. You:

A. Confront him right there and tell him to take back the lies.
B. Run and tell your friend.
C. Post the story on MySpace.
D. Spread lies about him. Let’s see how he feels!

4. Your friends are sitting around when one starts telling you what she heard someone did at a party last weekend. You:

A. Listen intently. Then call everyone you know. You can’t keep a story that good quiet!
B. Listen and analyze her actions with your friends.
C. Go get another drink while they finish talking about it.
D. Tell them you don’t feel comfortable talking about it and change the subject.

5. You and your friends usually talk about:

6. Your friend confides in you that she has a huge sin in her life. You:

A. Tell everyone.
B. Tell your parents, because you need to know how to deal with it.
C. Write about it in your LiveJournal or myspace.com.
D. Tell no one. Just pray to God what to do.

7. How many times a week do you hear yourself saying, “Did you hear about….?”

A. At least once a day.
B. 2 to 5
C. 1 to 2
D. Never.

Scoring Key                                                                                                           

1. A = 4, B = 2, C = 1, D = 3

2. A = 1, B = 3, C = 2, D = 4

3. A = 4, B = 3, C = 2, D = 1

4. A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, D = 4

5. A = 1, B = 3, C = 4, D = 2

6. A = 1, B = 3, C = 2, D = 4

7. A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, D = 4

Your Scores:

7 to 14 – The Gossip. You are a gossip. You thrive on gossip and spreading news about others. Yet watch out, because people are probably gossiping about you, too. If you are trying to be a good Christian, you may want to look closer at what the Bible is telling you about your gossip behavior and learn to stop our gossiping in its tracks.

15 to 21 – Wishy-Washy. You don’t gossip all the time, but it may be something you want to work on. You may like to hear gossip more than you spread it. Maybe you like to read gossip magazines. Still, you may want to work on walking away from gossip as it starts so that you can be a better witness to those around you.

22 to 28 – The Anti-Gossip You are the anti-gossip. You tend to see gossip for what it is and confront it. You know that what you say reflects on the Lord, and you try to be more encouraging. You have a good understanding of what the Bible tells you about gossip, and you try to live the Word in your life.

Were you surprised by your results? If so, you may want to read more about gossip’s effects and what the Bible has to say about gossip so that you can start being a better witness to those around you.