Truth Revolutionaries Exodus 20:16 7-25-2021
The 9th Commandment states, “You shall not bear false witness agai8nst your neighbor.”
In her interpretation of it, Joy Davidman begins,
There once was a pious and religious man who said he knew of a plot to overthrow the government, and his conscience made him tell. Many were very willing to believe him because the plotters he named belonged to an already unpopular minority, suspected of taking orders from a foreign power. Certain politicians especially were ready to believe him because they had an axe to grind and reputable opponents they wanted to discredit.
Our friend proved to have an inexhaustible memory. Each new questioning brought out new facts and new names; government officials weren’t above suspicion, and popular hysteria knew no bounds. It seemed you couldn’t trust anyone; people you had known and respected for years were ferreted out by the infallible informer, stripped of their livelihood and their freedom.
A host of others sprang up to follow their master in denunciation. Men began to eye their closest friends with suspicion and to look for revolution under their beds at night. This frenzy lasted for several years, during which time civil liberties were cast aside, rules of evidence forgotten, and slanders accepted as proof.
The man was Titus Oates. The place was England. The year was 1678. And the conspiracy was known as the popish plot, which for some time had English protestants believing that their innocent Catholic neighbors were about to murder them by fire and by sword.
Eventually Titus Oates was caught, tried, and convicted for his perjuries. And when he was, he was whipped from one end of London to the other. Such lies are not easily tolerated once they are discovered. Back then, lying was much more serious than it is today and people detested a false witness.
How quickly lies can spread and how readily some are drawn to plots and will believe intrigues and conspiracies and gossip if it is directed against the right group and done in the right way.
Or as Hitler wrote in Mein Kompf, people are simpleminded and easily corrupted and therefore fall prey more easily to big lies than small ones. So if you are going to lie, lie big and keep repeating it often and people will start believing it because despite what facts may say otherwise, they cant imagine someone coming up with such a great untruth.
Yet the commandment stands, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Certainly, such an example is extreme and could never happen here. Or could it?
It’s only been 70 years since our country had its own version of Titus Oates and his popish plot. An almost identical scenario played out in the halls of Washington DC, affecting people from Hollywood to New York. This one was led by a man named Joseph McCarthy and instead of Catholics hiding under every bed planning how to overthrow the government, his bogeyman was the communist threat with spies and sympathizers lurking around every corner, infiltrating and subverting our government. A 1950’s version of the deep state conspiracies so popular in some circles today. Instilling fear among many about whether they could really trust their neighbors. In Congress hearings were held, witnesses were called, testimonies given. With very little real proof many lives were ruined because of mere accusations and suspicions. And it went on for months unabated. And when the lies were discovered, McCarthy and his cronies were run out of town in complete disgrace.
I was just reading an article on Bible translation just the other day which mentioned the translation of the RSV Bible first published in 1952. It created a great deal of hysteria and handwringing, many labelling it “the communist Bible” primarily because of one word. Matthew 1:23 was translated to say a young woman instead of virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and they will call him Immanuel. A special committee had been set up in Congress called, The Un-American Activities Committee of the US House of Representatives, one of the things they did was to hold hearings investigating the translators of the RSV Bible looking for communist ties.
Given the current atmosphere, it doesn’t seem that anything has really changed and if anything, has gotten worse. Proof and evidence are no longer necessary for many who seem more than willing to believe the worst in others, eager to believe almost anything about those they don’t like.
Now anyone with a computer or even a cell phone can post a conspiracy or accusation with nothing to support it, then watch it go viral if they choose the right target and woo the right audience. Like an anonymous person simply known as Q (as in QAnon), without any evidence, posted that there is a cabal of Satanic cannibalistic pedophiles running a child sex trafficking ring run by Hillary Clinton and the Democrats. And there are many who still don’t even question it, they just accept it as fact because they read in on some Facebook or web page. And from there, one lie after another has been added to a long and growing list
Politicians and PAC’s and special interests discovered a long time ago that preying on peoples fears and prejudices is by far the most effective means of raising money. They may be motivated to send in $10 if they hear a positive message but will send in $100 if they are frightened or angry. That’s why politics and campaigns can seem so dirty and negative.
And do you know who are the most likely to believe and propagate such lies and conspiracies on QAnon and others? Those who self-identify as evangelical Christians
One especially popular conspiracy in some church circles claims the Covid vaccine along with 5G are how we will all receive the mark of the beast and how Bill Gates and other dark forces are going to inject microscopic nano probes into the American population in order to track and spy on them.
What happened to, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor?”
If anything, Charles Colson’s’ description of our society as a post truth society is even more true today than when he first said it over 20 years ago. A society where truth no longer matters because it’s all in the eyes of the beholder and a matter of how you spin it.
Since we make our own truth, things like evidence and proof no longer matter because someone can simply post some thought or accusation online or repeat it over the airwaves with no evidence and no support other than what they feel or think or heard or read someone else say.
People who don’t understand the science or rules of evidence or minimum standards of proof, will sure believe anyone who will support their suspicions. And once it’s posted or aired, it takes on a life of its own.
Time and again we see the depths people will go out of fear of those who are different by the color of their skin or their country of origin or the political party they belong to Too many are more than willing to believe the worst if it is directed against the right group
Is that really the type of world we want to live in? and Jesus set us free for One like Titus Oates and Joseph McCarthy tried to create, both claiming to be religious and pious men yet ruled by suspicion and mistrust of all who are different, who will pass on speculations without any real proof or evidence, feeding on lies and conspiracies? All this despite the commandments clear statement,
YOU SHALL NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS AGAINST YOUR NEIGHBOR
The word used here for neighbor does not mean the person next door, that would be a completely different Hebrew word. Instead, it uses a word which, as Douglas Stuart writes in his commentary, has nothing to do with proximity or familiarity. Your neighbor connotes any other human being you may have dealings with.
Is that not what Jesus said when asked who is my neighbor, he expanded it to mean any person you come across that is in need.
The commandment against bearing false witness is about honesty towards others, ourselves, and most important of all, honesty with God Honesty that takes many forms
• It certainly applies to lying and the need to be truthtellers
“‘Do not lie. “ ‘Do not deceive one another. “ ‘Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.” (Leviticus 19:11–12, NIV)
Paul told the Colossians “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices” (Colossians 3:9)
In such a world as we live in, one of the most revolutionary things we can do is be truth tellers, to stand up for and speak truth. To be people of integrity and honesty. People who will not say whatever they need to get their way or make a sale or win an argument or tear down an opponent. But to be people of truth because we serve the one who is faithful and true.
• Bearing false witness is not just about lying to others, though that is certainly implied, most directly it is talking about lying about others, that type of lie can ruin their life
• Caricatures and stereotypes of any kind are breaking the commandment because in each case we don’t bother to see the person but make assumptions and jump to conclusions based on our own prejudices and preconceived ideas
• Labeling and shunning and jumping to conclusions about those who may disagree with us or hold different views would be a form of bearing false witness because we have made a decision about them or their beliefs or their character without ever really getting to know or listen to them
• And in what has become too common, it certainly applies to things like passing on gossip and rumors about others, disparaging things about others that someone told us Uncritically accepting and unwittingly repeating and spreading conspiracies about some group we don’t like simply because we did a simple google search and read on the internet or heard from our favorite talking head on TV Egged on by living in an eco-chamber where we only listen to those we know will tell us what we want to hear and think, confirm our suspicions and feed of fears about those we don’t like or agree with
If I am going to be very specific, this applies to whatever network we watch, regardless of whether it is CNN or Fox or MSNBC or some other station, despite denials to the contrary, they all reflect a bias, exaggerating and inflating accusations in order to put those they don’t like in the worst possible light
You shall not bear false witness, the command states Passing on lies and conspiracies is just as much a breaking of the command to not bear false witness and therefore sin before God, as starting them.
• Then too, sometimes lies are just as much what we don’t say as what we do because sometimes the greatest lies are told in silence
So, for example the person who says I saw John kill his wife on the street corner, the one who said I saw John on the street corner, and the one who said nothing at all, yet each knows John did not kill his wife, all share equal guilt
• And we need to be honest about ourselves, not bearing false witness about who we really are or trying to be something we are not.
I remember when I was young our family went to a movie set where they were making a western movie. This was before CG and often the filming was done at the studio not on location. Standing in the middle of the street the buildings all looked so real. But if you bothered to look closer, you saw that what had looked like a bank or saloon or stable was nothing but a façade, the mere front of a building with long poles to hold it up.
There are too many who walk around life like that, putting up a façade to hide who they really are or influence what others may think of them but it is all a lie, a mask they wear, to hide who they really are in order to make a better impression or get someone to like them or portray a certain image
People all around us are looking for the real us, but we hide behind the walls and facades we have created, afraid to let them see
But it’s not real and therefore bearing false witness to hide from people who we really are.
We become like the story of the salesman that called a home one evening and a child answered the phone. In a very quiet voice the child said, hello.
The salesman asked, is your mommy or daddy home? Yes. Can I talk to one of them please? Their busy right now and cant come to the phone. Well is there anyone else their with you? There’s a policeman. Can I talk to him please. No, he’s busy. Is there anyone else at home? There’s a fireman. Can I talk to him then? No, he’s busy also.
Well if your mom and dad are busy, the policeman and fireman are busy, what are they doing so that they cant come to the phone?
They’re looking for me.
1 Cor 15:10 says it is by the grace of God I am what I am and God’s grace to me was not without effect
He made you so why try to hide?
George Orwell once said, “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” And as followers of the one who is the truth, came to testify to the truth, and to lead us into all truth, do we not have an obligation to be truth revolutionaries!
Consider just some of what scripture has to say about the importance of truth
Psalms 15:2 says the one who will live with God is the one who does what is righteous and who speaks the truth from their heart and whose tongue utters no slander Ps 145:18 says God is near to those who call on him in truth John 1:14-17 says Jesus came full of grace and truth and that grace and truth come through him John 4:23-24 says if we want to come into the light we must live by the truth and in order to worship him it must be done in spirit and in truth John 8:23 says it is the truth that will set us free In John 14:6 Jesus said he is the truth John 14, 15, and 16 all refer to the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of truth who will guide us into all truth In chapter 17 we are sanctified by the truth Jesus told Pontius Pilate he came to testify to the truth and all who are on the side of truth listen to him In Eph 5:9 Truth is called a fruit (natural outgrowth) of the light And we are told to stand firm with the belt of truth buckled around our waist 1 John says we are to walk in the truth God is called faithful and true 1 Cor. 13:6 says love rejoices in the truth Paul calls the gospel the message of truth
On the other hand, Satan is the source of lies, the father of lies and those who do his work suppress and distort the truth
So you better believe God cares about truth in all its forms and the issue becomes will we be on Gods side of truth or Satan’s side of spreading conspiracies and false witness against those we don’t like or agree with
And in a world of deceit, as his people and called by his name, we are to be truth revolutionaries People who not only stand up for truth but expose falsehood who confront rather than pass on the lies and gossip and conspiracies which can be only too common
You shall not bear false witness against you neighbor the commandment states
Where this becomes especially important is being true before God People have been trying to hide from him since Adam and Eve first did in the garden It didn’t work then and it still doesn’t work
The cross is a stark reminder of the truth about each of us and what we are really like. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God
God made you, he knows the secrets of your heart and spite of that he says I love with an everlasting love. Why would you even try to hide from him
Jesus already took our place and paid the penalty for us knowing full well what each of us was really like no matter how hard we try to hide it.
Unless we are honest with him about ourselves, confessing our sin and need how can the blood of Jesus cleanse us from all righteousness as 1 John 1:9 talks about
It’s that honesty that leads to repentance
Whether it’s too others, about others, to or about ourselves, or to God, the commandment stands, You shall not bear false witness.