Ten Commandments Part 16
Commandment # 8 (Protestant 9) “You shall not bear
false witness “
In 1678 Titus Oates claimed that he knew of a plot by a minority group
to overthrow the British government. He provided names and facts. Certain politicians, with axes to grind and
reputable opponents they wanted to discredit believed him. Men began to view their friends with
suspicion. People who had been respected
for years were ferreted out, losing their livelihood and freedom. The frenzy he created went on for several
years. Oates was eventually convicted of
his murderous perjuries. The conspiracy
he had fostered was the so called Popish plot, which saw English Protestants
believing that their innocent Catholic neighbors were about to murder them with
fire and sword.[1] This type of activity is perhaps slander at
its worst. But there are many ways that
this commandment can be violated.
The
commandment deals with lying, slander, detraction, flattery, and false witness. It includes such things as rash judgment and
calomy, the harming of the reputation of another. If name and reputation are destroyed, what is
left?
Slander and flattery are both lies, differing in
manner and circumstance. Slander is an
untruth about another person to his detriment.
It usually suggests they have succumbed to a vice. Flattery ascribes more worth to an individual
than he really has. She is presented in
a greater light than she really is.
Detraction presents another is a letter light than he really is. False witness states what is not true about a
person. Perjury is a form of false
witness made while under oath to tell the truth. The effects of false witness are very
serious. The innocent are condemned and
the guilty are exonerated. For this
reason the punishment for false witness is also severe.
We
can also be guilty of rash judgment when we assume something is true about
another without any foundation of truth.
Each of the above situations deals with the problem of tampering with
the truth. We need to remember the words
of Proverbs 12:22 “The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in men who are
truthful.”
There
are other ways we can tamper with the truth.
Gossip is insidious. A Medieval
tale tells of a woman plagued with gossip who goes to her priest for help. He tells her to go home and come back with a
feather pillow. When she returns he
tells her to cut open the pillow and let the wind blow the feathers about. She does, and he then tells her to put all
the feathers back in the pillowcase.
When she protests that the task is impossible, he says “so is it
impossible to reverse all the damage your gossip has done.” We violate this commandment when we sell
something used and don’t give an accurate assessment of its condition. We see it violated in false advertizing and
political promises made with no intention of carrying them out.
The
violation of this commandment is a detriment to human flourishing. We find that when we are lied to the walls go
up, destroying relationships. It leads
to the breakdown in community as trust is diminished.
On
the positive side, this commandment is a call to be truthful. It promotes truth. It calls us to stand up for those who have
been injured by lying. It calls us to
refuse to listen to gossip. We are
called to live in truth. In the Old
Testament God reveals himself as truthful.
In the New Testament Jesus is revealed as the fullness of truth (John
1:14-16). By nature, we desire
truth. It is not enough to follow
conscience which may be misinformed. We
are called to bear witness to the truth.
You wanted me
to live in truthfulness, Lord. But I
have wantonly destroyed the bridges between me and my fellow man. There was always a reason for a lie or a
half-truth: my convenience, the example
of others who lie, the lack of courage to admit my mistakes. Now dissimulation has even become a habit for
me; and I live among people for whom it is just the same. The distrust between us grows increasingly
greater. We deserve it, Lord, that you
should let us perish in our untruthfulness and that we should lose you for all
eternity. We cannot help ourselves,
Lord, but be merciful and let us learn to trust each other again.[2]
No comments:
Post a Comment