Commandment #9

Commandment #9 - Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

We need to encourage people to tell the truth. Children need to learn at an early age that lying/dishonesty is wrong.  A lie is a lie if intended to hurt or deceive. A white lie (e.g., saying someone’s clothes are nice when you don’t think so) may not be a commandment violation as these are usually told solely to a person and spoken as your opinion only. However every sham, bogus, phony, forged, or pretend actions violate this commandment. And, when you say you are innocent and you’re not, you’re bearing false witness against your accuser. This commandment does not mean to exclude you from being a witness – just false witness, a liar.  

In the 1992 Star Trek the Next Generation episode First Duty, Wesley Crusher’s academy team conducted an illegal maneuver and a cadet died. Each member of the team had to testify at the investigative hearing. After Wesley testified, Captain Picard says to him – you told the truth up to a point, but a lie of omission is still a lie. The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth. It is the guiding principle upon which Starfleet is based. After his discussion with Picard, Wes’ team leader told him that there was no evidence and therefore no case, that he and the others had no problem with keeping the secret, and Wes should lose his career to protect the team as they shouldn’t have to pay for his guilty conscience. In the end, Wes did tell the truth. There have been a lot of science fiction things to come true; I hope this will become our standard of living.

The government attempts to support this commandment with perjury and other laws that we very often don’t enforce and lawyers sometimes persuade an individual to lie via an act of omission in order to win a case. We’ve all heard the saying ‘the truth will set you free’. Unfortunately only decent people want to be set free; evil doers, which include those encouraging deceit, do not as it would make them good.