The whole truth

DEVOTION

EXODUS

THE WHOLE TRUTH

Ex 20:16

16 "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

NIV

There is certainly more here than meets the eye. At first we would simply say that if asked to testify in a court of law that we would have to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help us God. But what about gossip? Now if that which we spread around about another, if it is the truth, would that be a false witness? However the point about gossip is that it is difficult to discern if it is true or not. For the most part gossip is not a first-hand telling of the facts, it has been told and retold and retold again to a point that each telling may have moved slightly from the first supposed facts. If whatever we hear about another person would harm them in some way and we continue this narrative about them to others, it is none other than gossip that qualifies as a false witness. The opposite of this could also apply as a false witness. That is if we know the truth and suppress it we have acted against the spirit of this law. If we know something that would help a person not be defamed or defrauded of his possessions and remain silent we are bearing a false witness. Could this also apply to our relationship with God? Could we possibly be guilty of giving a false witness about God? If we teach or simply share something that is not correctly aligned with the truth have we committed an act against this law? Here is where we run into the trouble with denominationalism as each has a slightly different take or interpretation of what the truth is. One of them, if not all of them could very well be giving a false witness about God. So what are we to do? First, it would be wise not to ascribe to what someone else believes, including a whole denomination which could be bearing a false witness about the truth. Second, we have to allow the Holy Spirit to be our teacher regarding the truth about God. He will lead us into all the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, because he is God. Some denominations suppress certain aspects of the truth, some openly oppose some of the truth, and still others misrepresent, either willingly or unknowingly, the truth. So again, we are left with making sure we tell the whole truth, never mispresenting any information about a person or about God.