Tact, compassion, and gentle speech are encouraged and modeled in Scripture, but when Nicodemus had a conversation with Jesus “by night,” he presumably was interested in privacy. Nevertheless, the Apostle John incorporated that private conversation into his Gospel for the entire world to see. I doubt that John sought permission from Nicodemus to quote him? I doubt there is any teaching in the Bible that suggests that he should have? Since Nicodemus eventually became a believer, he probably was glad John included his conversation with Jesus to the whole world.
Hebrews 4:13 says, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” This verse suggests that an Accounting will happen in a public context (“we”).
In an article titled, “Privilege and Confidentiality,” Pastor Randy Booth said, “It seems that if a person prefaces their remarks with a statement such as ‘This is confidential and it cannot leave this room’ or, ‘Don’t tell anyone I told you this,’ then no matter what follows those statements it is presumed that we are morally bound to keep them secret. How can we promise to keep secret that which we do not yet know? Such unconditional commitments must be avoided if we are to be faithful to Christ.”
Consequentially, please do not share a comment that you do not want others to see. Pastor Booth added, “Pastors may especially find themselves in this situation and therefore must make it clear what limitations apply to these situations. In our day, ‘confidentiality’ and ‘privilege’ is one of the sacred cows of professional ethics.”
We agree that it has become a “sacred cow,” but Romans 12:2a says: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
We also read, “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them” (Ephesians 5:11). Should a Christian get permission from the perpetrator of a “fruitless” deed before exposing his evil?
The pastor continued, “The concept of privilege and confidentiality, as we have come to know it today, is not a product of biblical thinking. Instead, these concepts stem from the false doctrine surrounding the necessity of a priest to intercede for our sins. This false doctrine produced the Roman Catholic Confessional where sinners were to regularly go to confess their sins. After the sinner confessed his sins to the priest, the priest could then intercede in behalf the sinner and actually forgive their sins.”
No priest, other than the Lord Jesus, the Only High Priest, can forgive sins. Please, therefore, confess your sins to Him – not to us here. We on this website do not need to hear them.
In conclusion, this website discourages all forms of gossip and slander. We do not agree to unconditionally maintain information in confidence since to do so would possibly require us to disobey other commands of Christ. If we receive information from a third party regarding a sin, conflict, other problem of another person, we may find it necessary to reveal the source of our information to the troubled party in order to provide godly help for that person. The idea that we may never talk about another person, under any circumstances is a false and unbiblical notion. We may not gossip about or slander another person, but we may discuss that person and matters pertaining to them when we are genuinely seeking to obtain the truth in order to bring about a just and righteous resolution to a problem. Generally, we should remain silent where Scripture permits silence, but we must likewise speak up when faithfulness to Scripture requires such revelation.
