"THOU SHALL NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS AGAINST THY NEIGHBOUR " - (EXODUS 20:16)
The Catechism of the Catholic Church has to say this that, "The eighth commandment forbids misrepresenting the truth in our relations with others. This moral prescription flows from the vocation of the holy people to bear witness to their God who is the truth and wills the truth. Offenses against the truth express by word or deed a refusal to commit oneself to moral uprightness; they are fundamental infidelities to God and, in this sense, they undermine the foundations of the covenant."
Our Catechism turns to St. Augustine when it teaches, “A lie consists in speaking a falsehood with the intention of deceiving.” (CCC, 2482) The text adds,
Lying is the most direct offense against the truth. To lie is to speak or act against the truth in order to lead someone into error. By injuring a man’s relation to truth and to his neighbor, a lie offends against the fundamental relation of a man and of his word to the Lord. (CCC, 2483)
St. Thomas Aquinas distinguishes among three types of lies. The first is the officious lie, told for convenience, in which no one is harmed. Here we might think of the excuses we invent for turning down an invitation we do not wish to accept, or (in past times, when a simpler world relied on more primitive telecommunications) a parent’s instructing a child to tell a telephone solicitor, “I’m sorry, my parents aren’t home.” The second sort of lie is the jocose, told for amusement, or in which one exaggerates: “The fish was this big.”
The third sort of lie, the meretricious, is a true lie. Such a lie generally provides the teller no benefit, but does harm to the person to or about whom it is told. The serpent’s lie to Eve is a perfect illustration of this sort of lie. No one will be surprised to learn we judge the gravity of a lie by the quality of the truth it distorts, the intentions of the individual who tells the lie, and the ills suffered by those against whom the lie is told.
(CCC, 2464)
The Book of Proverbs warns, “A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who utters lies will perish.” (Prov. 19:9) To lie in public is no small matter; to lie under oath, in a courtroom, is perjury, a particularly serious offense against the eighth commandment. One who commits perjury is probably not considering what a misuse of God’s gift the act represents, but we must not forget we were given the ability to speak to maintain order and harmony. To do otherwise “…contribute[s] to the condemnation of the innocent, exoneration of the guilty, or the increased punishment of the accused….” (CCC, 2476)
We need not enter a courtroom, nor even speak aloud, to see the damaging effects of lying. Any act that destroys another’s reputation violates the eighth commandment. Such actions include
• rash judgment, which assumes – without proof – someone has done wrong
• detraction, which is telling the faults of another to those who have no reason to know the information
• calumny, which is lying about another, and causing others to form false negative opinions of the individual.
The Catechism identifies other, subtler forms of lying, which include flattery, adulation and complaisance. All three are acts by which we strive to make ourselves agreeable to another person by distorting the truth about that individual. If we seek nothing more than a favor another person can grant, none of these acts is particularly harmful. However, each of these actions has the potential to become gravely sinful if it approves another person’s immoral behavior, or if our effort to gain another’s favor incites us to take part in someone else’s immoral activity.
THE REMEDY FOR LYING
Regard for truth means we must take practical steps to repair any damage we may have done by lying. If the lie was public, the reparation ought to be public. And if the individual suffered harm as a result of a lie, she or he should be compensated for it in some way. An apology is a good place to begin the process of amendment, and is the very smallest step we can take to restore the Justice and Charity that ought to characterize our relations with one another.
Our Catechism observes the connection between truth and beauty
…truth carries with it the joy and splendor of spiritual beauty. Truth is beautiful in itself. Truth in words, the rational expression of knowledge of created and uncreated reality, is necessary to man, who is endowed with intellect. But truth can also find other complementary forms of human expression, above all when it is a matter of evoking what is beyond words: the depths of the human heart, the exaltations of the soul, the mystery of God. (CCC, 2500)
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Spiritual Revival Ministry
SpiritualThese are some of the basic Catholic teachings that are being taught at Mt.Zion, SRM Bangalore,India 🇮🇳. Youths are being trained here to be an ambassadors of Christ. Most of the Students are from the North East of India. So far the Ministry has...
