"You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor." Exodus 20:16 (NIV)
The ninth of the ten commandments that God gave to Moses for the Children of Israel and all mankind. One should not speak falsely and lie on or to others, but should tell the truth.
Our legal system, and the legal system of most if not all other societies, is based upon the principal that witnesses should "tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." Societies and personal relationships fail when people cannot be counted on to tell the truth. It is very upsetting for someone, especially someone that you considered a friend, to look you in the eye and tell you a lie. Some people claim that they tell "little white lies" to avoid hurting someone's feelings. There is no such thing as a little lie, a lie is a lie. A lie is speaking falsely to someone about someone or something. Lying in not Christ-like. Good Christian conversation is not based upon lying. The Bible states that there is a special place reserved in hell for "... all liars ..." (Revelation 21:8) It would be much better for all of us, if we cannot tell the truth, then we should not say anything at all. We need to pray for forgiveness and pray for God to guide our tongue.
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