Was It a Lie?

One of the dominating news stories this past week has been that of a prominent American television anchorman and his “misremembering” events of more than just one news story. For him, it has been a very costly situation as it will cost him dearly for years to come.

Some are very critical and rightly so. If we cannot trust our professional journalists to be reporting the news and their experiences accurately, how can we know what is really happening in the world around us? Others have justified what happened saying that all of us can have episodes of faulty memory.

It seems we cannot know with certainty if this was “faulty memory” or outright lying. However, we must be aware and concerned about how all of us express ourselves. The Holy Bible is replete with instruction forbidding misrepresentation and lying. The Ten Commandments tells us that we must not bear false witness against our neighbor (Exodus:20:16Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.).   Colossians:3:9Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; states quite plainly, “Do not lie to one another.”  God puts great emphasis on truth. In fact, He clearly instructs us to worship Him in spirt and in truth (John:4:24God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.).

Trust is highly important and it can only be built upon a foundation of on-going and verifiable truth. Imagine how much better the world would be if we could always trust what our politicians, news reporters and celebrities were saying.  Although we have no control over what others say, each of us has control over what we individually do and say. Now could be a good time to review the Ten Commandments to be sure we are living in step with how our Creator has instructed us to live. The booklet, The Ten Commandments [1], is a very good source in this regard.