Oh snap! I’m running out of Commandments!

For those of you just joining us, for the last bunch of days, I have been taking an in depth look at the Ten Commandments. I figure I never look at them and, probably, you never look at them either. Never-the-less, if you are American, you should leard them so you will be prepared when they become the law of the land in the next few years. I found my copy here.

The Ninth Commandment

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

In order to understand this one, you need to know that “bear false witness” essentially means “lie.” So, in other words, you shall not lie against your neighbor.

Note that this does not say “shall not lie ever.” God is a modern kind of guy. He knows that sometimes, just to keep the peace, you need to tell little white diplomatic lies.

“Honey, does this make me look fat?”

“No, dear, you look lovely.”

God would never send you to hell for that.

No, God is concerned about the big ass lies - the ones that effect your neighbor. Hence “against your neighbor.” I think this is why we have to swear on the bible in court movies - we are specifically swearing that we are not breaking this amendment.

Of course, if you are not Christian and you swear by the bible, you are really having a good laugh at everyone’s expense.

The point today is that your right to lie ends at the point that it somehow harms me. For example, if you are trying to look skinny and survive because you are about to be eaten by cannibals and this exchange happens:

“Honey, does this make me look fat?”

“No, dear, you look lovely.”

And the second speaker is not telling the truth, they are telling a lie that will cause harm to the other person, so then they will go to hell.

Same words, different context. So, you see, it isn’t the fibbing that is the sin, it is whether your fib harms your fellow humans.

Pretending that you like Metallica when you’ve never listened to them to impress the local metalheads is also ok, though they are likely to laugh at you because Metallica is so lame these days.

It is always ok with God if you hurt somebody by telling the truth, though.