Commentary on the Ninth Commandment
By Khen Lim
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Here’s a story you may be familiar with. It concerns two
young Christians who were out evangelising on a house-to-house basis. For the
purpose of the story, let’s call them Tim and Bailey.
Tim and Bailey came across a home belonging to a middle-aged
woman who happened to speak English. And so they chatted about things. They
introduced themselves to the woman, giving her their names and saying they were
Christians and they came from a certain church downtown. They were up front in
telling her that they wish to share the Good News with her with an amazing
time-honoured promise. Having considered that they were trustworthy enough, she
invited them to come in and have a cold drink to escape the sweltering
afternoon sun.
After a few exchanges of where each of them was from, what
they all did for a living and so on, Tim and Bailey started sharing with the
woman about their walk of faith, the journey to be Christ-like. They each had
testimonies about their wretched past, how they were lost in the world, got
involved in a horrible life, being bad to people and then summarily getting
into trouble with the law. But then they each found Jesus in their own separate
ways and decided it was time to take up their crosses and committed their lives
to Christ. They were born again and now they’re on that journey to straighten
up their lives. In so doing, they explained, they were now at the woman’s home
to share the Gospel in a hope that more would be saved.
At some point, Bailey asked the woman, “Tell me, what do you
believe in? What’s your religion?” She was slightly taken aback by the
suddenness of the question but she did answer.
“Well…I’m a Buddhist.”
“That’s okay,” Bailey replied.
“I was also from a family with a Buddhist background though
while I went to college, I was invited to go to church. Soon enough I
discovered that many of my college peers were also Christians; so I figured
that since I was regularly going to church, I, too, must be a Christian. But I
wasn’t saved. So I wasn’t really a Christian.”
Tim took over.
“Both Bailey and I are now saved because we declared to
Jesus that we are sinners – that we have come to terms with all our sins – and
we professed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Saviour of the world who
has come forth to give His life to save ours. Now we will go to heaven. Because
we now know in our hearts that we are Christians.”
The woman nodded and said, “I can see what you’re saying but
I’d like to add that being a good person and doing good things are also a very
important priority in life.”
“Of course,” said Tim, “but that alone won’t get us to
heaven though.”
“Let’s take Judaism or Islam as an example. These two
religions require that a person follows a rigid set of laws that are necessary
in order to get into heaven. We’re not talking about grace here but about doing
things on your own and then believing that by doing so, we all get to heaven.
You’re talking about a meritocracy.”
“Oh?” the woman replied.
“Absolutely,” Bailey said.
“Living here, all of us know that the Muslims are compelled
to pray five times every day or they won’t qualify for a place in heaven. Jews,
on the other hand, are to keep all their commandments in the Old Testament or
else they face the same disqualification. For Christians, that is unimaginable.
In other words, we can never get to heaven on our own because it is impossible
to qualify since we can never be perfect enough.”
And with that, the woman accepted Tim and Bailey’s
invitation to go to church this weekend before they parted ways, wishing one
another a pleasant rest of the day.
Dealing with half-truths
That all sounds like a typical day in the lives of
evangelists who go out sharing the Good News except that the claims they made
about Judaism and Islam aren’t exactly the full truth. While it is always
dangerous to start comparing religions, if you intend to do so, it is important
to get our facts right because half-truths are misleading. People will wrongly
think that if you’re expert enough to talk about it, then you must be
trustworthy enough to believe. And that can be very deceptive.
The Judaist’s observation of the Torah can be very varied just
as Judaism itself isn’t theologically monolithic. We may think it is but it
isn’t. If we are to talk about God’s grace, know that it too exists in Judaism.
After all it was from the Jews that Christians learned it from. We know that
different sects in Judaism observe the Torah a little differently because some
are stricter than the others. The Hassidic Jews, for example, are certainly a
lot more orthodox than the Reform Jews who, among them, don’t even keep Kosher
or the Sabbath.
Moreover Israel did not earn the right to be chosen by God.
God chose Israel because He simply favoured it. Israel was to be (and still is)
God’s light to the world. Israel, on its own, can never equip itself to be the
mightiest or greatest of nations. Through its history, we know that it could
never lead in righteousness (Deut 7:7). Furthermore since many Jews do not even
believe in heaven, observing the Torah cannot be about getting into a place
they don’t even subscribe to and neither is it a means by which they gain
favour with God. The reason for the latter is simple – Jewish theology affirms
that, as a Jew, one is already a part of God’s favoured people. Again, it has
nothing to do with the Jews impressing God. God simply decided one day that
they would be His chosen lot.
In Islam, Muslims pray five times a day not because it’s a
guaranteed rite of passage to heaven. Learned and modest Muslims will tell you
that regardless of their good works and faith, there is no iron-clad assurance
of getting to heaven. The prospects remain that they would end up in hell.
Clearly Islamic theology isn’t monolithic either. Again, modern perception can
be very deceptive.
Sometimes evangelising can be a little like selling a
product. We talk to people. We introduce them to our faith. We tell them why
it’s the best thing in life to believe in. We talk about the wonderful things
about Christ like a salesperson would the product features and benefits. We
urge them to go to church in no different a way than to try to get the customer
to sign up an order. And when they decide to, we experience the same euphoria
as if that person has bought something from us.
Those who have been professionally trained in sales will
always know never to talk about products belonging to competitors. We are not
to mention them at all and not be persuaded to. We don’t do it because we don’t
wish to give any air time to our competitor’s offerings. Equally so, we don’t
know the competition as well as we know our own products. Besides being
unprofessional in badmouthing the competition, it can be counter-productive
especially if what you say turns up being deceptive half-truths as is the case
with the above example.
Lies are everywhere
If you look around life today, lies are actually everywhere
you go. And they are uttered so effortlessly. To say they are part of our
constantly shifting landscape, one thing stays no matter what and that’s the
lies that define a decadent society.
For those familiar with the early days of Ipoh’s Kinta City
shopping centre, you would remember that there used to be a Deli France outlet.
I recall those days when their openly-displayed overhead menu listed a range of
hot drinks on offer and one of them was chamomile tea, which I had never once
managed to order successfully. Of all
the dozen times I had been there to order, I was always told that it was “out
of stock.”
What are the mathematical chances that in all the many times
I ordered that I would at least have experienced success? So was chamomile tea
ever on offer from the very beginning? I was beginning to think not. I suspect
that at some point, management decided not to but no one really cared to strike
that product off their menu. But even so, why would the waiting staff tell me
it was “out of stock”? Why not say, “I’m sorry but we no longer sell that
product”? Why lie about it? What’s the big deal?
Over the years we get smarter. And so whenever we ask a
sales staff for something and he says it’s “out of stock,” we wise up to the
possibility that they might not even sell it in the first place. But that is
sad because misinformation can alter people’s attitude towards one another.
Such businesses have lost our trust because they weren’t honest. We in turn
change and harden ourselves in order not to be fooled further.
On a different note, what do you say when a lady friend
meets up with you and asks you how she looked in your eyes. You look at her
dress, her makeup, how she’s made up her hair, her footwear, the belt she’s
wearing, the choice of colours and even her handbag. You might think she could
do better. In your eyes, that dress didn’t suit her or the colours are clashing
rather embarrassingly. The belt could be completely out of place. And perhaps her
makeup is so overdone.
“You look good, Shirley!” you said and her eyes light up.
She’s so pleased to hear that from you and it set her up for the night out.
In a parallel world, you might instead say, “Shirley, you
look awful. The dress doesn’t suit you and the makeup is way too heavy. The
colours clash and the handbag is incompatible.”
Naturally don’t expect her eyes to light up. In the world we know of, telling the truth could get
us into some horrible mess. We are convinced that if we said something like
that, our lady friends would hate us forever. If that lady is your wife, you
could be consigned to the doghouse for the next number of weeks.
When you’re out attending to a dinner invitation with some
friends and your friend’s wife asks if your meal has been pleasant, you
wouldn’t, in the same sense, say it’s awful. If the food’s been truly smashing,
you’ll have no hesitation saying so. If the food’s mediocre or really poor,
you’re likely to resort to some diplomatic face-saving response, convinced that
in times like this, the truth is too hurting to share.
The fundamental truth is that in all of these, we are almost
always ignorant of our ignorance. We don’t always know what we’re saying and we
don’t know if what we say is always the appropriate thing to say. We think we
do; that is why we say what we say, but in within the big picture, it may not
really be.
Our civilised society tells us that the truth must always
prevail. The American motto encourages us that, “in God we trust,” which then
could lead us to therefore deduce that God then expects that He can also trust
us. English-speaking courts of law that are Westminster based often practise
the swearing in of prosecution and defence witnesses at the dock where they are
to “swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. So help
me, God.”
This is to say that factual accuracy cannot be determined if
false witness is presented as truth. Even so, justice has not always been
served and then many people’s lives over the many centuries have been destroyed
because they were falsely represented, falsely accused and falsely sent to
their incarceration or even deaths for the things that they did not do.
Scriptural perspectives
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American Old Testament Protestant scholar and theologian, Walter
Brueggemann (above), wrote in the ‘New Interpreter’s Bible: Genesis to Leviticus’
(Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994, p.431) that the Ninth Commandment (Exodus
20:16) is God’s way of honouring the right to one’s own reputation and
goodwill. Brueggemann questions the appropriateness of highlight the
competition’s flaws and weaknesses in order to elevate the value of one’s own
products but without due consideration for their individual perspective.
The commandment says, “You
shall not bear false witness against your neighbour” (NASB). The word
“neighbour” in Hebrew terms does not necessarily or specifically allude to the
person living next door to you. Rather the “neighbour” could be anyone else. He
could be a work peer, your sibling, spouse, church friend, travelling companion
or customer. Or a neighbour. The commandment to speak truthfully is to apply in
a great number of ways. Other than plain speaking amongst one another, God
commands that people must not lie in public or in a courtroom. They are also
not to lie in private be it through whispering, tale-telling, backstabbing,
defamation or character assassination by way of innuendoes, insinuations and
suggestiveness.
Like all the other commandments, the ninth is there for a
reason. God hates for us to be false witnesses to others for at least three
reasons.
Firstly just as we are created in His image, we are also to
reflect His character. Since God doesn’t and never lies, we must also be like
Him – we should therefore not lie also:
“God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man,
that He should repent; has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken,
and will He not make it good?” (Num
23:19, NASB)
We are called by God’s Name and therefore we are to be
representative of His true Self in the world. To do that means we must be
truthful. He will not tolerate it when we deceive others thus bring reproach
upon His Holy Name.
Secondly bearing false witness against others is destructive
to the victim of such deception. In turn we make others suffer the consequences.
The problem is that often this suffering isn’t just momentary but instead can
be very damaging to the victim’s character, integrity and reputation and
therefore can adversely affect his well-being not just among friends but in
business as well.
“You shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against
the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself; I am
the Lord.” (Lev 19:18, NASB)
Instead of afflicting others, we are commanded by the Lord
to love others as themselves. Pretty much Jesus and Paul have said the same
thing in Matthew 22:39 and Romans 13:9. In loving others, we obviously cannot
lie to them as well for to love others is to also be true to them.
Thirdly false witnessing is so destructive in society that
courtrooms can never function unless testimonies are conducted in truth. This
was the case then as it is still today. No judicial system can ever be founded
on lies and deceptions. As the judges and jurors are to uphold the integrity of
the courts of justice with honesty and sincerity, so it is with the witnesses
that are called upon to testify. There cannot be any aspect of the judiciary
that is tainted by lies and deceptions. Without truth prevailing, society will
break down and law and order will become non-existent. Chaos will rule and
invariably, every single innocent soul will suffer.
False witnessing is similarly condemned in the New
Testament. In revealing the reason why, Colossians 3:9-10 reminds us that we
have disposed of our old self and the baggage of wickedness and in its place,
we are put on a new nature in which we can now renew ourselves to be more like
God. In that sense, we are new before and in Christ and because of that, we are
to be reflective of His nature:
“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a
new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Cor 5:17, NLT)
If we ever need further conviction of the seriousness of the
Ninth Commandment, it pays to revisit Proverbs 6:16-19 (NLT):
“There are six things the Lord hates – no, seven things he
detests: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart
that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out
lies, a person who sows discord in a family.”
The conviction of these verses can be further amplified by
the following from Exodus 23:1-2 (NLT):
“You must not pass along false rumours. You must not
cooperate with evil people by lying on the witness stand. You must not follow
the crowd in doing wrong. When you are called to testify in a dispute, do not
be swayed by the crowd to twist justice.”
In Matthew 15:18-20 (NLT), Jesus affirms the same thing:
“But the words you speak come from the heart – that’s what
defiles you. For from the heart comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual
immorality, theft, lying and slander. These are what defiles you. Eating with
unwashed hands will never defile you.”
Elsewhere in the Bible, many references abound that affirms
the deceitfulness of one who lies (Ex 23:1, Prov 12:17, 14:5, 14:25, 24:28, Ps
27:12, 35:11), one who displays disdain for the work of justice (Prov 19:28),
one in which Solomon had said will not go unpunished for his false witnessing
(Prov 19:5,9) and one who will perish in his defiance and unrepentance (Prov
21:28).
The New Testament relates to false testifying from the
perspective of gaining eternal life (or not). Matthew 19:16-19 (as well as Mk
10:19, Lk 18:20) records Jesus telling the man with the question of what to do
to gain eternal life to keep the commandments. When the man asked which of the
commandments, Jesus answered:
“You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must
not steal. You must not testify falsely. Honour your father and mother. Love
your neighbour as yourself.”
(NLT)
Jesus says that, false testifying not only comes from a
deceitful heart but it also makes people unclean (Mt 15:18-19).
In strict Hebrew traditions, false witnessing, lying,
deception, spreading of rumours and gossiping and so on are all prohibited.
They are very well defined in Exodus (20:19, 23:12), Deuteronomy (5:20),
Proverbs (19:5) and Isaiah (29:20-22). The tradition establishes that a charge
can only be founded on the evidence of not one but at least two, if not three
witnesses (Dt 19:15, 17:6-7 et al).
In the days of the Old Testament, abhorrence of false
testimonies was punishable in astounding fashion provided they are suspected
and upon the judges’ investigation, found to be true. In such cases, the false
witness will be sentenced to receive the same punishment he had hoped to be
exacted on the falsely accused:
“…then both the accuser and accused must appear before the
Lord by coming to the priests and judges in office at that time. The judges
must investigate the case thoroughly. If the accuser has brought false charges
against his fellow Israelite, you must impose on the accuser the sentence he
intended for the other person. In this way, you will purge such evil from among
you” (Dt 19:17-19, NLT)
In other words, if the accuser had given false testimony in
a murder case, he would, upon damning evidence, be subject to the death
penalty. Proverbs 21:28 adds that those who were eagerly receiving and
listening to false testimonies would be punished as well (although it is unsure
what punishment would be meted out).
Biblical evidences
I. The stoning of
Stephen
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Scripture is also full of real examples of false witnessing.
Not all of them are remote or unknown. In fact the most obvious ones are very
well known.
The first is the apostle Stephen who was put to death by
stoning on the basis of a lie. He was brought before the council by “some men from the Synagogue of Freed
Slaves” where false witnesses were set to pounce on him. They said, “This man is always speaking against the
holy Temple and against the law of Moses. We have heard him say that this Jesus
of Nazareth will destroy the Temple and change the customs Moses handed down to
us” (Acts 6:13-14, NLT).
The truth was far from that. Stephen instead alluded to “the temple” as the Body of Christ (Jn
2:21) and not the Temple of Jerusalem. The Gospel of John puts it very clearly
here:
“…when Jesus said ‘this temple,’ He meant His own body.
After He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered He had said this,
and they believed both the Scriptures and what Jesus had said.” (Jn 2:21-22, NLT)
As for the destruction of the Mosaic Law, Stephen had meant
that Jesus had come to fulfil and not to destroy. Jesus had said:
“Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to
abolish the Law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to
accomplish their purpose.” (Mt 5:17, NLT)
In fact when the high priest asked Stephen if the
accusations were true (Acts 7:1), he took the opportunity to recount God’s
covenant, which towards the ending part, was a clear indictment against the
Sanhedrin the testimony of rebelliousness, stubbornness, idolatry, disobedience
and also the persecution of the prophets that manifested in the murder of the “Righteous One” (Acts 7:51-53). Anger
consumed the Jewish leaders and in verse 58, Luke recounts that they dragged
Stephen “out of the city and began to stone
him.”
II. The indictment of
Jesus
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Jesus Himself was of course the most outstanding victim of
false testimony before the Sanhedrin. Matthew 26:57-68 (NLT) documents this in
great detail, underscoring the lies that the Pharisees told to Caiaphas the high
priest that culminated in the charges of blasphemy against Jesus. Verses 59 to
61 recount the lie:
“Inside, the leading priests and the entire high council
were trying to find witnesses who would lie about Jesus, so they could put him
to death. But even though they found many who agreed to give false witness,
they could not use anyone’s testimony. Finally two men came forward who
declared, ‘This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the Temple of God and rebuild
it in three days.’”
It is not difficult to see that in Hebrew law, these
witnesses would be put to death because of their lies had there been a judge
who could have tried them (Dt 9:17-19). If that judge was God, we would surely
know the outcome.
III. The killing of
Naboth
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Israel’s King Ahab gives us the third major example of false
witnessing in 1 Kings 21. Once he coveted Naboth’s vineyard, there was no
stopping him in getting it at whatever costs even if it meant ignoring God’s
Ninth Commandment. Because Naboth refused to sell it to him out of a reason of
inheritance (1 Kgs 21:4), Jezebel, Ahab’s wife, conspired to gain it through
deception:
“…she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, sealed them with his
seal and sent them to the elders and other leaders of the town where Naboth
lived. In her letters, she commanded: ‘Call the citizens together for a time of
fasting, and give Naboth a place of honour. And then seat two scoundrels across
from him who will accuse him of cursing God and the king. Then take him out and
stone him to death.” (1 Kgs 21:8-10, NLT)
IV. The execution of the
Amalekite
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In another biblical narrative found in 2 Samuel 1 (but first
begun in 1 Samuel), Saul had killed himself by his own sword after he was
grievously wounded by the Philistines on Mount Gilboa. With no hope of
escaping, let alone a victory, Saul’s suicide was inevitable. In 2 Samuel 1,
the narrative takes a sensational twist when an Amalekite sought audience with
David, bearing Saul’s crown and his royal arm band.
He happened on Mount Gilboa and stumbled across a dead Saul
whereupon he seized his crown and band and now before David, he presented a
completely different story, testifying falsely that he killed the king,
claiming that he was asked to do so in order that he would be put out of his
misery. David had the Amalekite killed, saying, “You have condemned yourself…for you yourself confessed that you killed
the Lord’s anointed one” (2 Sam 1:16, NLT).
In this example of false witnessing, the Amalekite could not
have escaped death because either way, he cooked his own goose. Firstly he said
he killed the king of Israel. That is a death sentence no matter the
circumstances. As a king of Israel, Saul was the “Lord’s anointed one” (2 Sam
1:16) and no one (except God) could end his life. And if he falsified his
claims of having killed Saul (which he did), the Jewish law was that a claimant
who is a false witness would also die of the same sentence. Therefore having
given false testimony to David regarding Saul’s death, the Amalekite had
committed a serious crime befitting of a death sentence. Either way, he was
doomed.
The many faces of false witnessing
From what we now know of false witnessing, we can see its
many varied faces, of which, telling lies or deceiving people would be the most
obvious. However there are others, some of which can be quite subtle:
-
Speaking falsehoods with the aim to deceive
This means the victim is being deliberately misled with no
intention to ever getting to know the truth.
-
Flattering someone through false attribution of qualities
This comprises inappropriate praise or the deliberate
failure to remedy a situation when it is only proper that this should be done.
Flattery is a distortion of the truth. It is a misattribution of good qualities
or talents when it should not have been done. Flattery is often done with an
ulterior motive where one ingratiates himself to others for personal profit or
malicious reasons.
-
Detracting
for malicious reasons
This is when a person
purposely discloses another person’s faults and failings in order to put him
down or to damage his reputation. The disclosure can be to people who are not
only unaware of these shortcomings but see no real reason why they should even
know about them.
-
Knowingly
imputing false defects to another
Called ‘calumny,’ a
person can charge defects upon another person with the added awareness that
what he says are untrue. This is similar to a wrongful accusation.
Other forms of false
witnessing including the following:
-
Spreading rumours in conspiracy with
the perpetrator
-
Ignoring the need to tell the
truth knowing well that this needs to be done
-
Knowing the truth but not acting
on it for justice to be done
-
Having the premeditated desire to
deceive even if it didn’t actually happen
-
Failure to come forward to
counter a lie when you know it is untrue
-
The malicious spreading of gossip
with the intent to undermine someone else’s character and integrity
That’s a rather long
list of examples but it can get even longer if we try harder. The point is
there is so much lying going around that maybe, just maybe, we might want to
ask the improbable question – is lying always so evil?
Some people suggest
that the seriousness of a lie is measured against the nature of the truth that
it deforms, the circumstances, the intentions of the one who lies and the harm
suffered by its victims. In other words, one is asked to accept that lies can
be categorically big and small. Big ones are serious because the impact on the
truth is more substantial, the motives are more serious and therefore the
victims suffer more substantially. Smaller lies are less so because the impact
is smaller and thereby the motives are not as serious and the victims don’t
suffer as much. These are seemingly called ‘polite lies’ while
others might refer to them as ‘lying conveniently’ or ‘lying out of diplomacy.’
In our earlier
examples, when the lady friend asks how she looked, it would be a convenient
lie to say, “Oh, you look lovely” when you believe she doesn’t. You couldn’t
get yourself to be blunt and say, “You simply look awful,” because that would
have caused unnecessary hurt. However you could respond by saying, “I really
shouldn’t comment because I’m terrible with fashion.” That might not be too far
off the mark. After all, opinions on fashion are often a matter of opinion and
taste. Since yours might not be agreeable with your lady friend, your reply
isn’t a lie and that you’d prefer to not comment.
Similarly in the
dinner invitation when your friend’s wife asked if your meal was pleasant, you
need not come out and say it’s awful for the same reason. Perhaps you could
think of saying, “I don’t know if I’m correct in saying this but it’s not too
bad” or something else to that effect. The point is you did not say it’s good
but by the same token, you aren’t sure about your comment either since you said
you could be incorrect in your judgement.
What about when an
incoming phone call asks for someone in your family who doesn’t wish to talk to
that particular person? It would be a lie to say, “He isn’t here” or “He is
busy right now” when you know that in both cases, you are incorrect. However
you could say, “He is presently unavailable.”
It would have been
much better if we could simply be as direct as we like and say what’s on our
minds but as Christians, we are also told not to cause others to stumble with a
less-than-gracious attitude. It is easy to point to the need to be truthful,
saying that if relationships that are based on sincerity and honesty would make
that entirely possible all the time. That might be true but when it comes to
matters of personal pride, it can be ruinous if we are blunt, undiplomatic and
simply unappreciative. After all, it is in that blessed state that Christ
Himself had pointed out, saying, “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ (Mt
5:37).
What do you say to
your dinner host who had spent the whole day toiling in the kitchen to bring
that meal to you? Would you be ‘truthful’ to tell her you hated it? Would you
then be uncaring not to take into account the effort she had made? Does it not
concern us to be charitable towards one another in what the Bible calls a sense of kindness of heart? (1 Cor 13)
Handling
secrets
What about secrets?
Does holding on to secrets mean that we’re false witnesses? If we don’t tell
others what we know, does that imply we are being deceptive?
We’ve been extolling
on the importance of speaking the truth and the goodness that is agreeable with
God. However the right to communicate the truth is not without conditions or
considerations. There are cases when we need to carefully assess whether or not
truth should be revealed to someone who may even ask for it. There are also instances where there may be a contractual
obligation to withhold. Here are some of those situations:
For the wellbeing and
safety of others
Sometimes what we know
in secrecy could do far more damage if we choose to reveal it. Wisdom might
indicate that there will be times when we do not simply say things to prevent the
hurt from afflicting others.
In respect of privacy of
others
When someone decides to
share a piece of truth with us in strict confidence, there is the principle of a
contractual obligation in place. And the principle is to keep a secret a secret.
Fulfilling this promise is an important part of being an honourable person
unless you are harbouring information of criminal intent or of sin against God.
Or both.
For the good of the
situation
Sometimes we maintain a
secret because the ‘big picture’ convinces us that it is instrumental in
helping shape a favourable outcome. We do this because it benefits everyone concerned
and not just the person who shared the secret with us.
In preventing a scandal
outbreak
If by exposing a secret
we end up starting a scandal, then that would be completely disastrous because
in such an outbreak, many innocent bystanders may also get hurt. That is not
what we, Christians, want to do. If we are responsible for having caused a
scandal to erupt, the accusations will come thick and fast, and we bring shame
to God.
Having said that, holding
on to secrets is not carte blanche for lying freely. It does not allow us to
say whatever comes to our mind just so we can deflect pressure to reveal the
secret. We cannot say things like, “I don’t know anything about that” because
we do know what the secret is. We cannot say, “I don’t know what you’re talking
about” because you do know what they’re talking about. We cannot also say, “I’m
not privy to that information” because you have that information with you.
We cannot falsify our
responses simply to keep hold of a secret. In other words, we are not to tell a
lie under such circumstances. What we can say are any of the following:
-
“I cannot tell you what I know
because I’m obligated not to.”
-
“I am not disposed to discuss
this matter with you.”
-
“It is not appropriate for me to
comment on that.”
-
“This is something private and I
intend to keep it that way.”
-
“This is not something for you to
know.”
-
“I am neither privileged nor
permitted to disclose it.”
Steps to
heal and redeem
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Steps to redemption
Let’s admit it. In all
our lives and at some point in our past, we would have erred on the side of
sin, even if we didn’t think it that way. We would have fibbed in one way or
another, out of convenience or perhaps, as we led ourselves to believe, to protect
someone else. A lie is a lie and the Ninth Commandment is very clear on that.
And so we should come to the point of admitting that most if not all of us have
committed this before, at least once.
What can we then do to
redeem ourselves? Here are four steps:
Firstly we must stop
ourselves from false witnessing any further. To do that, we must once and for
all recognise it as a sin before a holy and righteous God who never lies and
therefore perfected against sin. In 1 John 1:8-10 (NLT), John the apostle says
the following:
“If we
claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the
truth. But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us
our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned,
we are calling God a liar and showing that His Word has no place in our
hearts.”
Even the righteous
among us have sinned. The first step in redemption is to acknowledge our
sinfulness and the fact that we have lied before. Unless we do this, the
following step is not possible.
Secondly we must come
to terms that because of our lies, we would have caused hurt to at least one
other person or more. We must then take note of this. Know who the people are
that we had hurt or offended. Understand why they were hurt by reviewing what
it was that we’d said. Knowing all of these is paramount in the part we can
then play in helping the hurt to heal their wounds.
Thirdly it is then
time to approach those we had hurt. For each person, look into his eyes and ask
for forgiveness directly. Tell each one in your own words your willingness to
do whatever you possibly can to set things straight and to right what was
wrong. You will tell them under no uncertain terms that it is your
responsibility to restore things to the extent that these people can now begin
to heal from their wounds.
Fourthly and finally
we must then go before God and open our hearts and confess. We are to tell Him
our wrong ways and that we have sought to make things right. We must apologise
for our sins and ask for His mercy even if we know we don’t deserve it. Lastly
we must ask the Lord to help us to overcome our past tendencies to bear false
testimony.
Steps to healing
For those who have
been aggrieved by someone else’s lies, there are five restorative steps we can
all do and none of them can be done on our own accord, for we must seek God the
superior healer.
The first thing to do
is to stop the channelling of anger. Whether we have aimed our anger at
ourselves or we have vented our spleen at others, this has to stop. We cannot
allow ourselves to take matters in our hands and seek justice our way. A good
reminder is to read Romans 12:17-19 (NLT):
“Never
pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you
are honourable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. Dear
friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the
Scriptures say, ‘I will take revenge; I will pay them back,’ says the
Lord.”
The second is to seek
God and pray. In all our lives, it is not uncommon that we would be hurt by
someone else. Sometimes that hurt could even come from someone who loves us and
we them. When seeking God, tell Him everything for He loves us and can relate
to our pain more than we ever realise.
The third step is to
be very aware of our vulnerability at this point of feeling hurt. Just as we
can lose control of our anger, we can also allow the devil to undermine us. 1
Peter 5:7-11 (NLT) tells us:
“Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you.
Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a
roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him and be
strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world
is going through the same kind of suffering you are. In His kindness, God
called you to share in His eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you
have suffered a little while, He will restore, support and strengthen you and
He will place you on a firm foundation. All power to Him forever! Amen.”
When we are weak, the devil will attempt to take advantage
of it. The above verses remind us to stay strong in our faith and to let it
work like an armour against the devil to whom we must, fourthly, stand firm and claim God’s promises. Let us
proclaim the promises of God and know that they are as bright as the future
that is ahead of us. It is time, therefore, to believe!
Lastly leave everything in God’s Hands and to stay safely in
and under His grace. Jesus says in Matthew 11:28-30 (NLT), “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens and I
will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you. Let Me teach you because I am humble
and gentle at heart and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy
to bear and the burden I give you is light.”
Let God absorb our hurt and pain. In exchange, He will bring
healing to us through His grace as we find rest in Him for our souls. We must
constantly remind ourselves that even though we do not deserve His love, God
will never abandon us. His promise resonates in our lives as He says in Hebrews
13:5 (NLT):
“I will never fail you. I will never
abandon you.”
With a God that never leaves us unguarded and unsafe, we
should feel assured that only in Him can we find healing and comfort. Though
men can bear false witness against us, God is there to comfort us.
No trust, no truth
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The most fundamental premise in life is that there can be no
trust without truth. Without trust, there will be no meaningful relationships
in our lives. Without truth, all we have is cynicism and fear, falseness and
insecurity. To live without truth is to witness our lives being ruined as we
fall victim to a society of deception. All of us will become exposed to deceit
and become susceptible to ideologies that do nothing but sow fear, confusion
and terror. Simply put, when we cannot trust what anyone says, there is no hope
to live a proper life.
The truth was central to Jesus’ life and ministry. For 78
times through the Bible, Jesus says, “I
tell you the truth” as a confirmation to all of us that the Son of God
comes bearing truth. Jesus was dedicated to truth. He teaches the truth. He
never lies or compromises or deceives. His truth was often too bold for many to
accept. His truth sets us free (John 8:32) but His truth also costs Jesus His
life as He took the punishment of our sins in order that we would no longer be
in bondage.
It is worthwhile, therefore, to remember what Jesus said:
“For this I have been born, and for this, I
have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth
hears My voice.” (John 18:37b, NASB)
The Ninth Commandment exhorts us to love the truth and to
love one another as God loves us by proclaiming the truth and bearing witness
to it with utmost sincerity and in mutual love and respect.
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