Do NOT speak falsely of others!

Exo 20:16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

Honor God.
Bow down to no idol.
Do not use God's name without honor.
Keep the Sabbath.
Honor your parents.
Do not kill.
Do not commit adultery.
Do not steal.

And the ninth commandment- do NOT speak falsely of another. Don't lie about another.

Is lying ever good? Seriously, is lying ever a good idea? We often believe so. And why not, rather than hurt someone isn't it better to lie? Is this what the commandment is saying? Don't speak- that means do not talk if what you are going to say is a lie- is a falsehood against another person. Don't LIE about anyone!

Have you ever told a lie about someone else?
Has anyone ever told you a lie about someone else?

Some might say it's okay to tell al lie, a falsehood about someone else if it's to paint them in a good light and not to hurt them, but is that true?

Wasn't God telling us that we are NOT to speak lies about others, period. Can't you hurt someone by painting them in a good light when it's undeserved? How many well intentioned lies have backfired on people, millions?

I'd venture to say that lying about someone is never good- because speaking falsely- speaking untruths is the opposite of what God is- the truth. Jesus said He was the truth- John 14:6.

If Jesus is the truth then who is the representative of lies and lying?

Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

The devil is the father of lying. Lying began with the devil. If lying began with the devil and lying is of the devil and the truth is of God then can it be fine with God for us to lie? How can it ever be a good thing to speak falsely against someone?

Don't tell me this is an old outdate law that Jesus did away with. Why would He ever do away with this law? Why?

Yet people daily tell falsehoods about others, people lie about others all the time and think nothing of it.

We have laws against lying about other people, don't we? Slander, defamation, libel- read more about that here- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defamation#United_States

Yet telling falsehoods about others is something that goes unpunished more often than not. Consider all the childhood school bullying where one child tells a lie about another that starts a chain of events that makes the life of the person lied about miserable. Yet rarely is anything done to stop this from happening. Some people will gossip about others embellishing on things and turning the truth into lies.

I don't have to go on and on about speaking falsely against others- everyone knows what it means to do so. We KNOW speaking falsely will NEVER be condone by God and is truly a sin.

When we break this law of God we are sinning and we must repent, we must seek forgiveness for that sin- it isn't something minor to be overlooked. Too many people believe that as long as they aren't committing what they consider to be the *BIG* sins, they're fine - no harm, no foul. God will NOT see it that way, God cannot see it that way.

By the grace of God may we understand this commandment fully, knowing that at NO time are we to EVER speak falsely about one another.

Please Lord help us with this. Help us to recognize when we are prone to doing this. It has become such an engrained part of our society that it has to many become a normal way of life. Help us Lord, guide us into all truth and keep us from the evil of false accusation, false witnessing, from any falsehood.


In Your amazing Love!


Amen.