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Bearing False Witness
May 25, 2025 · 28 min
What does it really mean to “bear false witness”? Does the ninth commandment warn us against ALL falsehoods? Shawn Boonstra doesn’t think so. From gossip to political spin, lies intended to wound a...
Series Season 9 May 25, 2025 · 28 min · Season 9
What does it really mean to “bear false witness”? Does the ninth commandment warn us against ALL falsehoods? Shawn Boonstra doesn’t think so. From gossip to political spin, lies intended to wound a... ...more Show the full description Show less What does it really mean to “bear false witness”? Does the ninth commandment warn us against ALL falsehoods? Shawn Boonstra doesn’t think so. From gossip to political spin, lies intended to wound a...
Series Season 9
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Authentic with Shawn Boonstra confronts life’s toughest questions head-on: What is our purpose? What is true love? Explore the depths of human existence and
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In this video 0:00 The Ninth Commandment: Beyond Simple Lies8:47 Guarding Reputations and the Power of SpeechComments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
The Ninth Commandment: Beyond Simple Lies 0:00 Today, we're gonna be looking at the ninth commandment. You know, the 1 that talks about lying. And today, I'm gonna show you what that commandment might actually be saying about you.0:32 Over the last few weeks, we've made our way through most of the Decalogue or the 10 Commandments, and we've arrived at the penultimate commandment, the 1 that appears to prohibit lying. Or at least that's the way that0:43 most modern readers think about it. But I'm gonna challenge that thinking just a little bit because it's not really talking about simple falsehood per se. It's talking about a specific class of falsehoods, namely0:55 the lies we tell in order to devalue other people. You know, how you take somebody down a notch. The commandment itself simply states, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.1:07 Now, if you read the rest of the Bible, you'll discover that it places a really high premium on basic honesty. But the ninth commandment is specifically talking about guarding your neighbor's1:19 reputation, and I can't help but smile when I happen to read the commandment again during the last election cycle. Now, I'm gonna be really careful about how I say this because my1:31 personal politics really don't matter. Let's just say I'm neither a registered Democrat nor a Republican. And to be honest, I wish more preachers would just keep their political1:43 preferences to themselves. After all, you're supposed to be preaching the gospel. And when you weave current events and politics into your preaching that way, you're essentially alienating half of your potential1:54 audience. I mean, if they don't like your politics, they're just gonna tune you out when you talk about Jesus. Now that doesn't mean a preacher can't weigh in on moral issues, and it doesn't mean that they shouldn't
2:06 promote a cause like, say, religious liberty because after all, the freedom that I have to sit here and talk about my faith ultimately depends on how free the nation happens to be.
2:18 But when it comes to general political preferences for preachers, silence really is golden. Now, all that being said, the latest round of political campaigns here in the
2:30 United States had me thinking quite a bit about the ninth commandment because it forbids telling lies about other people. And unfortunately, the trend in recent decades has been to
2:41 completely ignore that principle when you're out stumping for votes. Candidates on both sides appear to love taking any brief statement and playing a game of gotcha with it. Any
2:53 video clip that potentially makes the opponent look bad, and they run with that, which is something you'd kind of expect a politician to do. But far too often, they're sharing an edited
3:05 version carefully designed to make it look far worse than it really was. And these people know full well that they're twisting the facts, but that doesn't seem to matter when the only objective appears
3:17 to be winning. And honestly, you'd have a hard time convincing me that a lot of political candidates don't know that they're twisting the facts. They're just too twisted. After all, anybody with
3:29 access to Google can check their claims in less than 30 seconds. And I guess what really worries me about all this is that far too many people seem to be getting comfortable with the idea that the
3:40 end always justifies the means. No matter what you say, lying is fine as long as you win. And I guess I can partly understand it. I mean if you're gonna run for
3:52 office and spend all that money, you really do need to highlight the ways your opponent wouldn't be an ideal choice. You know, pointing that kind of stuff out does seem like fair game, but lying about it,
4:04 taking your opponent's statements out of context, or knowingly spreading falsehood, that's wrong. And to quote a notable psychologist I was listening to a couple of years ago, morally
4:16 speaking, nobody ever really gets away with anything. Evil deeds are always guaranteed to catch up with you. At some point, to quote the book of Numbers, your sin
4:28 will find you out. I mean, you might not actually get caught, and you might even get to the very end of your career without anybody knowing what you did, or at least they can't prove it. But your own heart,
4:40 it will never forget. Cheating your way through life with manufactured falsehood is going to take a toll on you. I can pretty much guarantee that. It might be years down the road, but it will
4:52 catch you. It might even lead to things like anxiety or guilt or some other mental health challenge. After all, lying can be downright exhausting. You have to remember the last lie you told
5:04 and the 1 before that and the 1 before that and the 1 before that so that you can seem consistent to the people who listen to you. It's a lot of mental stress that honest people don't have to deal with, and
5:16 it's gonna demand a price from you because it's simply not the right way to live. You're always going to know that you wronged somebody or that you didn't really earn your own station in life, or you got
5:28 there dishonestly. It's just really really hard to live an authentic human life when you're in the habit of living, well, let's say in authentically. But now, let's drop
5:40 the politicians because it's just too easy of a target. I mean, we all love to pick on them because they're kind of the low hanging fruit. Their lies are easy to spot because they live in the public spotlight. So
5:51 instead, maybe let's talk about you. Just how careful do you think you are when it comes to guarding the reputation of others? It's a pretty big question because if you think about it, a person's reputation
6:03 is really their most valuable possession. Money and property come and go pretty easily, and so do things like power or fame. But the 1 thing that follows you all the way through
6:15 life, that'd be your character. And the sad thing about character is that so many people love to believe nasty rumors. It gives them a sense of schadenfreude. It lets them
6:27 say, okay. My life isn't perfect, but at least I'm not like that individual. It's kinda like that story that Jesus told about the Pharisee and the tax collector praying in the temple. You probably remember
6:38 it. The Pharisee looks over at the tax collector, a man that everybody hates because he works for the Roman government, and the Pharisee says, God, I thank you that I am not like other men.
6:51 It's a way of reassuring yourself that you might be a little bit rotten, but it's not all that serious because you can find worse people who clearly deserve public condemnation. But for just a
7:03 moment, think about all the little crumbs of information you leave behind every time you go out and do something, absolutely anything, and ask yourself if a dedicated gossip would be able to collect that
7:14 information and make something of it if they wanted to. Believe me, it happens, and it happens a lot. In fact, I've had it happen to me. So then ask yourself, how often have you
7:26 distorted what someone else is doing or saying? You might not actually write articles or appear on a TV show, but you know you talk about people. Sometimes you wait until you're in the car going home so that you and
7:38 your spouse or your friends can verbally assassinate the people you just finished visiting. And how often do you kind of bend the truth or highlight things that people said in a way that makes them look bad
7:50 or distorts what they actually said? I've had people walk out on the platform after I finished speaking who used closing statements to try and rework what I just said to
8:02 make it fit their agenda, to make me agree with them. They'll latch on to just 3 or 4 words I use somewhere in the talk and build a thesis out of it saying something like, well, as Sean just said when I
8:14 said no such thing. So how often do all of us do that, even inadvertently? Honestly, I think we all do it because we're all self interested and we're constantly trying to appropriate everything around us
8:26 to suit our agenda. We want other people to endorse what we do or what we believe because somehow we think that gives our ideas more credibility and will co opt other people's words and
8:38 actions to make it look like they support us when they don't. It's another case of bearing false witness, and I'll be right back after this.
Guarding Reputations and the Power of Speech
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9:21 You know, there's a sense in which the ninth commandment is kinda tied to the sixth 1, you know, the 1 that deals with murder. The apostle John in those 3 little letters over by the book of Revelation reminds us
9:32 that hating people is actually a form of murder. I mean, just listen to this. This is from first John 3 15. It says, everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know
9:44 that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. So how in the world does hating somebody make you guilty of murder? Well, for starters, living in a world of hate and anger is likely gonna shorten
9:56 your own life because when you can't forgive people, it can really do a number on your mental health. Listen to this statement I found from the folks at Psychology Today, and I think what they're saying is really pretty
10:08 accurate. It was a website, and it said anger, too easily or frequently mobilized, can undermine relationships or damage physical health in the long term. Prolonged release of the stress
10:20 hormones that accompany anger can destroy neurons in areas of the brain associated with judgment and short term memory and weaken the immune system. And then it continues a little
10:32 bit later by saying this, heart rate and blood flow increase and the muscles tense. This can compromise the immune system and cardiovascular system, which can even shorten the
10:43 lifespan when sustained. So for starters, living in a state of anger or resentment can do a real number on your health to the point where it actually shortens your life, kind of like
10:55 smoking would, which means that in some ways, hatred becomes a really slow form of suicide. But, of course, hating someone else also takes a big toll on that
11:07 person, which is how the business of bearing false witness is linked to the sin of murder. If you're hating someone to the point where they know that you hate them and they feel it, well, that's obviously gonna put a
11:19 dent in their quality of life. And then when you start projecting your hatred in front of other people, well, now you're attacking that person's public value. You're diminishing them in the eyes of others, and that can
11:30 have a tremendous impact on their well-being. I mean, let's just do a little bit of a self check, and I'll warn you, this isn't gonna be easy. It's gonna step on all of our toes. Have you ever
11:42 talked down a candidate for a job just because you didn't personally like them and you'd rather not have them around as a coworker? Have you ever heard that somebody is up for promotion, but you think you deserve that
11:53 promotion? So instead of just selling yourself to management, instead of promoting your own skills or qualities, you criticize the other candidate, hoping that HR will see them in a negative light.
12:05 Or let's be really brutally honest. Have you ever felt threatened by someone else's obvious talent or their ability to make friends, or their looks, or their money, or just about anything,
12:17 and you felt the need to take them down a little bit? Have you ever managed to convince someone to just turn against the person you hate, Maybe even cut them off entirely. Or have you ever said something about
12:28 somebody that wasn't really a direct attack, but it was still clearly designed to raise questions about that person. Hey, you know, Mike really knocked it out of the park with that sales report yesterday. What an amazing
12:40 forecast. Was it? Really? You thought that was a good report? You know the kind of thing I'm talking about. I mean, I I think we're all guilty of it at some level because as we've
12:52 already mentioned, we're all a little bit egocentric, and I'm not even convinced that we do this consciously most of the time. What the Bible is telling us to do is deliberately guard other
13:03 people's reputations, which falls in with the golden rule, the 1 that Jesus taught us. So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the
13:15 law and the prophets. Now I know it's not easy sometimes because some people really are profoundly unlikable. They're abrasive. They're dishonest. They use people, whatever
13:27 the issue is. And it's precisely that terrible person who's going to give you an opportunity to learn what the ninth commandment is really all about. I mean, it it's easy to keep the
13:39 commandments when everything's going well, and it's easy to avoid becoming what the Bible calls a tale bearer when you're dealing with the people you like. But if the commandments are just a set of fair weather social
13:50 guidelines for when everything's going well, well, then they really don't mean much if you think about it. It's when you find yourself swimming against the current of life and things are really, really hard. Well, that's
14:02 when keeping the commandments can become a bit of a challenge. But it's also at that point that they start to make the most sense. I mean, it's easy to keep from murdering or plundering the people
14:14 you like. It's easy to avoid adultery when you're getting along with your spouse. But when you don't like somebody, the rules can suddenly seem a little more challenging. I mean, of course, you're not gonna spread
14:25 rumors about your wife or kids because you like them, at least hopefully. But what about those people who rub your fur the wrong way all the time? The ones who irritate the daylights out of you. What about those
14:37 people? Here's the problem that emerges when you start spreading lies about others. It's almost impossible to clean up the damage you do. The way human nature works is that once you've convinced someone not
14:49 to like someone else, well, that impression can be really hard to undo. I remember this guy I met about 30 years ago who became the victim of some really brutal gossip. Somebody very close
15:01 to him started telling a story that wasn't true. And because a lot of people love a bit of juicy gossip, the story spread very quickly, and it sparked a little bit of a social feeding frenzy.
15:14 And at 1 point, this poor guy came to my office and sat in a chair crying. He said it's like cutting open a pillow in the wind. There's no chance I'll ever find all the feathers back. And and he was right.
15:26 I happen to know for a fact that the story wasn't true. And eventually, everybody else came to the same conclusion, but the damage had already been done. And so, there was this perpetual question mark over this
15:37 guy's reputation. I mean, intellectually, everybody knew he was innocent, but they'd already trained themselves to see him in a negative light. And so they still had a visceral sense of distrust whenever they saw him.
15:49 And remember, he was innocent, but the damage was already done and it put a massive dent in his quality of life. But now, let's go a little bit deeper because I'm convinced that the
16:01 biggest victim of bearing false witness would be God himself. And it's on this point that the ninth commandment is also related to the third 1 which tells us not to take God's name in vain. There are people who
16:13 love to get online and talk badly about God, but what they're really doing is repeating stories they heard from somebody else. It turns out when I actually sit down and talk to some of these people, they've never
16:24 actually read the Bible. Go go figure. They're just repeating what they heard somebody else say. They're trying to pass themselves off as smart, someone in the know, and they're not. And what they're really doing
16:35 is bearing false witness. But worse than that, when Christians behave badly, they're actually bearing false witness about the character of God. When somebody sees them behaving
16:47 badly, you already know what the world is gonna say. If that's what Christianity is, I want no part of it. People blame God for that person's behavior, which means that the Christian is now bearing false witness,
16:59 not through words, but through actions. Because you don't actually have to say something to spread falsehood. Alright. I've gotta take another quick break, but I'll be right back after this.
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17:43 There's a famous passage over in the book of James that gives us a pretty good understanding of the kind of damage we can do when we're not intentionally trying to guard the reputations of other people.
17:55 Here's what it says. This is from James chapter 3, and it begins in verse 2. For we all stumble in many ways. Well, that's a pretty honest assessment. For we all
18:06 stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. You know, I only wish I answered to that description we
18:18 just read, but I'll I'll say this. I'm still working on it. It continues. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also
18:30 though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of
18:42 great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire. Now for somebody who lives in Colorado, that's about the perfect metaphor. Last summer, somebody built
18:54 this tiny little campfire up in the hills and they left it unintended. At least that's what we think happened. And by the end of the day, more than 8000 acres were on fire. 8000 acres. It
19:06 was snowing ashes in my backyard, and we had to keep the windows closed because of all the smoke. And over the next 24 hours, I watched the evacuation zone creep closer and closer and closer to my
19:18 house until it finally stopped just a few blocks away. Forest fires are really hard to control, especially when it's dry and windy. And if the wind suddenly blows the wrong way, the fire is gonna
19:30 spread faster than you can imagine. You're just not in control of what happens. And what James is telling us is that the same thing happens with the stories we tell. It's easier to spread those
19:41 stories than to contain them. And when it's over, the damage can be unthinkable. Lost homes, dead victims, an ugly scar in the forest, or in the case of gossip, permanent scars on
19:53 somebody's reputation. So where you and I are tempted to think that rumors are a minor offense, James takes the opposite position. They're really a form of murder. If I
20:05 steal your car, I can always replace it. But if I steal your reputation, if I damage your social value, you might never fully recover. I've actually diminished your quality of life, which is
20:17 a little like killing you very slowly. James continues. He says, and the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole
20:28 body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but
20:40 no human being can tame the tongue. In other words, you and I have a much bigger problem in our mouths than we do with the wild animals who wander into our yards from time to time. I've had
20:52 close-up run ins with bears and moose, and I can assure you that your adrenaline really starts pumping when it happens. But, ultimately, those kinds of encounters are much less damaging than the
21:04 damage we can wreak with our own speech. He continues, and he's still talking about the human tongue. He says, it is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it, we bless our Lord and
21:16 Father, and with it, we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. So now
21:28 James really carries this all the way into the moral end zone. You cannot, cannot call yourself a good Christian if you use the power of speech to worship God on the weekend, but then you use it to rip
21:40 people apart during the week. Those people you're attacking, they were also made in the image of God just like you were. They have incredibly high value to God just like you do. And no
21:51 matter how much you don't like those people, that doesn't change God's mind. He still loves them and he loves them unconditionally. So either you align yourself with the way God treats that person or you become
22:03 guilty of breaking the ninth commandment. I mean, let's just think about this. If anybody has the absolute right to point out somebody's faults, that would be God. And
22:15 from time to time, you'll notice he actually does that. Whenever his people were in danger of losing their way or violating the covenant, God sent prophets to set them straight. But here's what I want you to notice.
22:27 While God has that right, he still tends to favor us in ways that we do not deserve. 1 of my favorite passages in the whole bible comes from Paul's letter to the Romans because it says something really,
22:38 really profound. This is Romans chapter 5 beginning in verse 6 where the bible says, for while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
22:51 For 1 will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person 1 would dare even to die. But God shows his love for us and that while we were still sinners,
23:02 Christ died for us. Now there's a lot of material in that statement from Paul, and I'm almost out of time. So I'll encourage you to just read that whole chapter sometime. Read the whole thing. Personally, I find that
23:14 particular chapter of the Bible completely life changing. Here's what I want you to notice for today though. God did not wait for you to get things right before he decided he wanted to save you. Christ did
23:26 not die for perfect people. He died for sinners. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. I'll be right back after this.
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24:08 I think maybe some of the most incredible material found anywhere in the Bible might be those places where God speaks about his own people in really glowing terms. And it's remarkable because you and I both know we
24:20 don't deserve that. And what God is asking from us in return for all that love and attention is that we model that same kind of love when it comes to our fellow human beings. Those other
24:31 people are also made in the image of God just like you, and God wants them in his kingdom. You and I have no right to bad mouth anybody, not even if what
24:43 you're saying happens to be true. I mean, imagine having God list all your negative qualities. You You know, he just gives you a list with bullet points. How long do you think that list would be if God
24:55 was making it? You know, you've gotta wonder what kind of a world we'd be living in if everybody actually made an effort to boost each other instead of always attacking. Imagine how much
25:07 nicer social media might be or how civilized government could become. And I'm not really talking about honest debate. I mean, there should always be room for honest disagreements. We
25:19 have to make room for that or nothing ever happens. What I'm really talking about is character assassination, the practice of going after a person instead of that person's position.
25:31 Philosophers would call that an ad hominem attack, and it's widely recognized as a logical fallacy. If you resort to that, you've already lost. You're hoping people will think poorly of a
25:43 person, and because of that, go and dismiss their arguments. And it's a dishonest way of conducting business. I mean, just just try to imagine the kind of election cycle we might have
25:55 if people really just stuck to the issues and always always told the truth. Imagine the kinds of good and honest people that might actually be willing to serve the public if that's the
26:06 environment we lived in. I'm actually convinced that a lot of good people are shying away from public service because of the way they know they and their family are gonna be dragged through the mud should they seek
26:18 public office. And sadly, I'm I'm not convinced that we're gonna be able to change a whole lot. The Bible doesn't indicate that society gets better as time moves along. In fact, it
26:30 indicates exactly the opposite. It gets worse. But even if it is getting worse, that doesn't let you off the hook. Even if everybody else is doing it, even
26:41 if everybody else is breaking all of the commandments, you're not supposed to. You're supposed to reveal the love of God in this world. They're supposed to be able to see the character of God in your
26:53 life, And I get it. I know. It's not easy. I mean, I've got the same flaws as you and some worse ones, and I'd be lying if I told you I've never broken this commandment or the others.
27:05 But I also know that in the long run, it is well worth representing God in your everyday transactions. Go back and read some of the stories you find in the Bible. Someone like Daniel, a
27:17 lowly captive, because he was always honest, and he even spoke highly of the Babylonian king when he addressed him. Well, in the end, he was trusted when real trouble started to emerge.
27:29 Be that person. Be the person whose character is trustworthy, the 1 people turn to when there are real problems in life. Thanks for joining me today. I'm Shawn Boonstra, and this has been
27:41 another episode of Authentic.
Shawn Boonstra
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