The Most Familiar Sin

 I wasn't actually planning on a second writing this week, but I got an urge to do this based on some sudden inspiration.  This is a mini Bible study of sorts, as it does deal with a particular theological issue, and it does merit some attention.  Therefore, let's settle in and learn a new perspective on something so familiar we often take it for granted. 

The Ten Commandments (also known as the Decalogue) is one of the "Four Pillars" of Catholic faith. It is so important that the Catechism of the Catholic Church has 25% of its content devoted to it.  Many of us know these by heart, and in all honesty, they are just common-sense moral law that does benefit us if it is followed.  One of the most interesting of these commands is found in Exodus 20:16, and it is commandment that forbids "bearing false witness."  Now, if you grew up as I did, you more than likely have the understanding that this is talking about lying.  While telling lies is definitely a sin and not a good thing to get into, in reality this command has more context than that interpretation, and this is where we are going now. 

First, let us look at the verse in its full context - the whole sentence is "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor."  A regular old lie doesn't have to be directed against anyone else - many of us are guilty at some point of lying about ourselves, either by bragging about things we didn't accomplish or denying some other misdoing we may be guilty of.  And, yes, we all have done that whether we admit it or not.  It is still wrong, but it doesn't quite meet the criteria of "false witness" against anyone else.  So, what does it mean then?  Let us unpack this a little.

The Decalogue consists of two sets of guidelines/commands.  Five are directed toward God, and the remaining five are directed toward how we relate to one another.  This is why Jesus expanded the Shm'a of Jewish faith in such a way as to more or less be inclusive of the entirety of the Decalogue.  We see that in his exchange in Matthew 22:36, when I believe he was doing a teaching moment with his disciples. One of them asked him in verse 36 what the greatest commandment was, and he answers in verse 37 with the Shm'a - "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." He calls this in verse 38 the first and greatest commandment.  But, then in verse 39 he adds something else - "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Jesus was not proposing anything radical here, but rather he gave a very succinct summary of the Decalogue to his audience, and he further stresses that these two things are upon which all the law and prophets rest (v. 40).  In the older Anglican liturgy based upon the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, this is included at the beginning of the Anglican Mass and I believe at one time it was also part of the Tridentine Latin Mass found in the 1962 Roman Missal as well (feel free to fact-check that if you disagree, as maybe I am mistaken on that, but I am almost certain it is in the old Mass somewhere).  In those liturgical texts, it is called the Summary of the Law, and it adds a catechetical dimension to the liturgy.  In addition to being a summary of divine law though, it is also a summary of human life - our actions toward God are interconnected with how we relate to others.  Based on that, the Decalogue names several things that we are commanded not to do - rebelling against parental authority, murdering someone, stealing from others, coveting what others have and trying to essentially play "keeping up with the Joneses," and of course bearing false witness against someone else.   Again, looking at it this way, the context goes beyond just fibbing about eating cookies before dinner or accusing the dog of eating your homework - this affects someone else directly.  After really thinking over this, I came to the conclusion that the broader meaning of this is not restricted to just lying.  Rather, it is more destructive activity that is directed against someone other than the self.  And, that is where we are going now. 

There are verbal violations of personhood that can be damaging to another person if they are committed, and some even can carry consequences of civil law because they are so serious.  They include gossip, defamation of character (slander, libel, etc.), and stereotyping and profiling others based on externals like race or ethnicity.  One example of this has to do with how I was raised up until my early twenties, and it unfortunately was clothed in "Christian" lingo to justify nasty habits.  Back in the day, many of the Pentecostal churches I knew of then had what were called "prayer groups" or "prayer circles," and although there were many sincere people who really had the heart to intercede for others, unfortunately what more than often happened was that these groups would be controlled by individuals - usually bored housewives who were members of the particular congregation - who had selfish motives.  The common characterization of such people was either "old bitties" or "cackling hens," and oftentimes the "prayer group" ended up being a gossip club in which certain of these people would delight in something bad happening to other church members or people in the community.  Unfortunately, some of my own relatives engaged in this nonsense, and they thought that somehow they were doing "God's work" when in reality they just wanted to defame and gossip about others, often bookending it as "please pray for so-and-so..." and they would then launch into a juicy discussion of the intimate details of their targeted victims.  It is one reason why many people would not attend those particular churches, despite many good people also being part of them.  This was a classic example of what "bearing false witness" means, and unfortunately, they were aiding often in the spiritual isolation of people and imperiling souls of folks who had serious needs and were hurting.  What often was worse were the pastors - some pastors were blissfully ignorant of what was going on, and others actively engaged in this sin with their erring church members because those members had money or influence.  The trust it betrayed to the communities where this took place often caused many small churches to close as people began to catch onto the slander and gossip emanating from so-called "good church folk." This was not necessarily limited to Pentecostal churches either - it affected churches of all denominational identities then.  Given that gossip is a verbal sin against another person, it is the true definition of false witness.  Another example is far more insidious though, and I want to get into that now.

A couple of years back, there was a young lady on a social media platform that befriended me, and for a while she seemed OK.  However, despite being a devout Catholic, this young lady also delved into apocalyptic conspiracies as well as being quasi-charismatic in the way she presented herself.  To be fair, this lady had some trauma caused by things in her past, and she used religion as a sort of defense mechanism to supposedly protect her against anyone she felt was "toxic," and in doing so she claimed some prophetic gift or something.  I was all too familiar with this from my Pentecostal days, and in all honesty she was starting to be a source of concern.  On one particular day - I think it was around my birthday or something - this girl was talking about a particular Ukrainian Catholic parish I was familiar with as I had visited it many times years ago when we lived in that particular area.  As an innocent question, I asked her if this was the parish located on such-and-such street in that particular city.  The reaction I got from her on that was totally off the rails - she accused me of sabotaging the church, endangering people, etc., but then she got really personal by trying to "prophesy" that she felt I had some "hidden sin" and it was just so outrageous I had to block her on social media.  This girl, in a defensive and aggressive manner claiming to "protect" the members of that parish, claimed a level of spirituality that many saints canonized by the Church neither claimed to possess or rarely exercised.  By exalting herself like that, she tried to use religious justification to defame my character, and in doing so she engaged in the sin of bearing false witness against me - I had witnessed her doing that to others as well, and to be fair to her, she had some psychological issues I believe that drove this behavior, but still it was detrimental to others. The conclusion I got from this was being thankful that God was God and she wasn't - using charismatic gifts (which I have to say I don't believe she genuinely possessed either) to manipulate and defame others is another serious sin - witchcraft.  I now want to touch on that briefly before I wrap up this conversation. 

After being involved in the Pentecostal tradition for many years before I finally came home to the Church, I can tell you I have seen it all - the crazy, the bizarre, and even also some genuine moves of God.  There are some individuals in that tradition - and they are among more mystical Catholics as well - who are presented with a problem.  Can one commit an outright sin in the name of God, especially when claiming some special "gift?"  The answer is clearly no. Scripture builds upon Scripture, and no part of Scripture will be contradictory to the rest. That is why when people have these "gifts" but use them in ways contrary to Scripture and Church teaching, they have one of three problems.  One, it could be possible that a demonic spirit is counterfeiting the gift.  Two, it could be the person is utilizing a supposed gift as a weapon.  Three, the person is genuinely confused and may believe they have a supernatural gift when in reality there may be other explanations.  The true test of a "gift" though is whether or not its manifestation lines up with Church teaching and Scripture - if there is something off about it, then it must be rejected and ignored before it is used to cause trouble.  Many, many things alleged as "words from God" or "discernment of spirits" have in reality been the sin of false witness against someone else, and when a supposed gift - real or not - is used vindicatory to manipulate either a person or others against a person, that is a form of witchcraft and is no different than necromancy or gazing at crystal balls or tarot cards.  There is no place in the Body of Christ for that garbage, and if it is a problem in a church, it needs to be removed quickly.  The perpetrator of such behavior should then be confronted, and in many cases may need some sort of counseling as there is an underlying issue which facilitates the behavior too.  On that, let me give some final thoughts.

Bearing false witness is the deliberate defamation, slander, and gossip of one person against another, and as such it is a sin against one's neighbor and violates the command to love our neighbor as ourselves.  Therefore, while lying is bad, and can even be a component part of false witness, lying is not totally synonymous with bearing false witness, as that entails a greater sin against humanity.  May we watch what we say about others, and to use a well-worn cliche which video creator Dhar Mann uses all the time, we need to be careful not to judge a book by its cover.  If we don't know anything about a person's life, we should keep our mouths shut until we can understand their situation better.  Thank you for allowing me to share today.