He was a
co-worker of mine. It seemed like no one
could pass his standards in life and I wondered why he was so critical. It made him difficult to be around. The funny thing is, he rarely uttered actual
negative words about anyone but rather inferred it by his tone or non-specific
words. Even if the words were only
inferred, it would be difficult to look at that person spoken of in the same
way again without those negative comments staining your view of them.
9. You shall
not bear false witness against your neighbor (anyone). Ex. 20:16
"You shall not spread a false report. You shall
not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. You shall not fall
in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding
with the many, so as to pervert justice, nor shall you be partial to a poor man
in his lawsuit. Ex. 23:1-3 ESV
Keep far from a false matter… Ex. 23:7
Oh sure, we
may never lie about another person at a trial, but this commandment is about
false testimony no matter where or whom it is spoken to. In the expanded version, we are to be fair
and impartial, keeping ourselves from the kingdom of the enemy which is based
on lies and deception. False witness is
anything that will injure another person, and includes slander, gossip*, libel,
etc. All of these could be true, partly
true, or completely false, and could even be done with ‘good’ intentions, yet
by delivering negative information it puts another person in a bad light.
You are of your father the devil, and your will is to
do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not
stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks
out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Jh. 8:44 ESV (deception, Rv. 20:10)
He is called the "accuser of the brethren"
(Rv. 12:10), adversary (1Pt. 5:8),
and the word "devil" literally means "false accuser, slanderer."
But the things which come out of the mouth come from
the heart, and they defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts,
murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies; Mt. 15:18,19
James 4:11 states not to speak evil about a brother
for if we do, we become a judge- and only God should hold that position. Speaking evil of another damages their credibility,
reputation, character, and injures them.
As my parents said, if you cannot say something to a person’s face, you
should not say it at all. If a man sins,
we should be following Mt. 18:15+; Gl. 6:1,2; Jm. 5:19+; and Ep. 4:25 to deal
with it or if it is against us, let love cover it (1Pt. 4:8; Pr. 17:9).
“These six
Jehovah hates; yea, seven… a lying tongue… a heart that plots wicked plans… a
false witness who speaks lies…” (Pr.
6:16-19) God hates these things so much
He made a rule that the false witness was to receive the punishment he had
intended to bring on the person falsely accused (Dt. 19:16+). You wanted them to lose their job, you lose
yours. You wanted them to be kicked out
of the ‘church’, you get exiled instead.
Why is it we
are quick to judge the character of another person, assuming they meant to be
hurtful when most people aren’t out to hurt us?
Why do we speak these things aloud to others? Are we intending on hurting those of which we
speak? Could it be we have a root of animosity,
bitterness or resentment in us?
Certainly we can’t claim to reflect God’s character when we allow
defamatory things to flow out of our mouths.
Perhaps we’re not guilty of giving false witness, but how
often do we listen to it without confronting the speaker? Isn’t that allowing the devil to steal, kill
and destroy another person? Is that what
Jesus would do?
Commandment # 9 -broken daily
*Gossip is second or third hand information that someone
dumps on you without your prior consent and without the consent of the person
being gossiped about.
Slander is accusatory speech that is injurious to a
person's name and reputation. It's essentially character assassination.