Pages
Recent Blog Posts
Syndicate
| Subscribe to the mailing list |
Powered by Wordpress
You shall not bear false Witness Against Your Neighbor
Monday, November 13th, 2006This blog is for having fun and throwing out ideas about a sermon topic.
The one in consideration today is “bearing false witness against one’s neighbor” and we want to expand it to include lying in anyway that hurts another person. Actually, even saying something true in such a way that it raises doubts about a person is a violation of the spirit of this commandment. I saw a mock advertisement. ”( ___brand name___) is used by pedophiles and wife batterers, do you want to buy a product that supports this kind of behavior?” Statement is true, but raises suspicions by implications that leave a person with conclusions that may be untrue. Sometimes by just raising question like, “Doesn’t _____ believe in the Trinity?” suggests that so and so must have done something that demonstrated a disbelief in the Trinity. (Just a random example) There are many, many ways to undermine confidence in someone else without actually lying, right?
I have copied some info from a couple of sources below. Most of them you’ve seen in the email (but not all). We can use that stuff as the kicker to get the conversation rolling. Feel free to do some free association on the topic or to go another direction that I’ve stated above. We’ll just see what we come up with at the end of the week.
Stan
“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. “
The comments below are from :
You shall not steal, you shall not deal falsely, and you shall not lie to one another
- Leviticus 19:11 (NRSV)
You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people. . . I am the LORD.
Leviticus 19:16. (NRSV)
Again, you have heard that is was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear falsely. . .’
But I say to you, Do not swear at all. . .
Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.
- from Matthew 5:33-37 (NRSV)
The commandment contains several technical legal terms, suggesting its original meaning was a warning against false accusation in a court of law (Childs):
 |
ed saqer (lying witness or false witness) |
|
nh (testify or answer) |
|
rea (neighbor = referred to full citizen within the covenant community) |
Several measures protected the accused in ancient Israel:
|
Witnesses to a crime testified before a court of elders. |
|
At least two witnesses were required for evidence to be valid (Num. 35:30, Deut. 17:6, 19:15). |
|
The witnesses had to start the execution in capital punishment cases (Deut. 13:10, 17:7, 19:16-20). |
|
Punishment for a lying witness was the punishment that would be given for the crime of the accused. |
A “negative” reading of the Commandment. We must:
|
not lie or deceive |
|
not be silent before falsehood |
A “positive” reading of the Commandment. We must:
|
be witnesses to the truth |
|
promote personal relationships, communities, societies where truth can be told |
Questions:
Is it a “lie” to deliberately withhold truth to keep alive or nurture a possible false impression in the mind of others?
|
Letting a misunderstanding that is false continue without trying to correct it |
|
Creating a false impression by “true” statements that have a double meaning. Example: during the Civil War, some underage (less than 16 years of age) youths eager to volunteer for the army would write the numeral “16″ on a piece of paper and stand on it before the army recruiter, so they could tell him “I’m over sixteen” without technically “lying.” |
Is it a “lie” to deliberately withhold the truth, not for purposes of nurturing or keeping alive a false impression, but to impart an incomplete or unbalanced understanding?
|
Is an “absence” of truth (a “vacuum” of truth) a kind of “falsehood?” |
|
Is an “incomplete” or “unbalanced” understanding a false understanding? Is the presentation of a “skewed” reality using partial truths the same as a lie? |
1. Slander - to make false charges or misrepresentations of Another to defame or damage their reputation
|
motzi shem ra = drawing out a bad reputation |
2. Jewish tradition describes the “evil tongue” (lashon hara) and “the dust of the evil tongue” (avak lashon hara), in which rather than make a false charge, we use a partial truth or an exaggerated truth to tear Another down
|
gossip (rechilut) often involves the “evil tongue.”
The commandment is “a recognition that community life is not possible unless there is an arena in which there is public confidence that social reality will be reliably described and reported.” (Brueggemann) **************************************************************************************
Also for your consideration is this blurb from a devotional In Christian Century Magazine, August 8, 2006 Issue.
“Ephesians gives us a different model for relationships: “let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.”
The epistle’s author is not against speaking truth. But speaking truth happens within the context of being members of Christ with one another. We speak truth when we do so in love. We’re truthful when we build up others and help them grow, when we’re kind, tenderhearted and forgiving, “as God in Christ has forgiven you.” To “speak the truth in love” (4:15) is not one way (among others) to speak the truth; speaking is not truthful if it does not also “build up” and “give Grace.”
Ephesians is one of my favorite biblical writings because of the lush, spatial language with which it depicts God’s grace. God is ‘”rich in mercy” (2:4), has “lavished” the “riches of his grace” on us (1:7)…. God has “broken down the dividing wall…the hostility between us” (2:14). Part of the good news of Ephesians is that peace is the actual state of being between persons-not just a goal for the future, but a reality in the present. The reconciliation that we enjoy with God through Christ can also be a state of reconciliation among persons. Truthfulness and reconciliation are twin aspects of our life together.” (Paul Stroble, author) *********************************************************************
Ok, what do you glean from the above sources? What is your experience with this commandment? What do you think would be an effective way to approach this commandment? What other scriptures come to your mind?
Any stories, movies, plays, art, music, etc come to mind that might bear on this topic? |
One Response to “You shall not bear false Witness Against Your Neighbor”
Leave a Reply
Information
This entry was posted on Monday, November 13th, 2006 at 7:17 pm and is filed under Sermon Prep Blog.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed.
January 3rd, 2007 at 12:41 pm
Question: What are the consequences for saying, “I swear before God that I did not do a certain thing” and knowing you are lying?