This week Revd Noreen Russell writes on bearing false witness, the need to speak the truth and the dangers of hypocrisy.  All of which sounds very familiar and in the news, until you see that she is referring to events in the Bible thousands of years ago.

To which we might well say, 'now I can understand why various people have said, down the ages, that the Bible contains everything that you need to guide you through life.'  There are those who treat the Bible like a cookbook, where you decide what dish you wish served and find the recipe to achieve it.  There is a lot of danger in this, since it is very easy to gather your thoughts, views and beliefs, with their inevitable prejudices, then go in search of the Bible words that prove you are right.

In fact, with some opinions, you don't even need a Bible since other 'kind people' with the same opinions have already done it for you and will hand you Bible tracts like bullets to shoot down those who oppose your views.

When the Church of England was formed, those who wrote its 'constitution' were aware that this could happen.  They were wise enough to say that, although the Bible was an inspiration, the very many rules, regulations and ways of running the country that were laid down in the Old Testament (the Hebrew Bible) were not there to be obeyed, except for the Ten Commandments.  Instead they were to provide 'instruction', which can mean something totally different to obedience.

Not to bear false witness is right in there as one of those Ten Commandments and it is a statement that anyone who appears in court as a witness has to make, right to this day.  Nowadays people are not forced to say that with one hand on a Bible; instead they are permitted to 'affirm'.  However, if they are then found not to be telling the truth, the consequences in law for the can be quite severe.

It is entirely possible for someone, away from a courtroom, to cultivate a reputation for lying (for that is what false witness is).  They can even be liked for being that way, although anyone saying that might not wish to be lied to directly by the person that they find so amusing when they do it to others.

We come then to Revd Noreen's words on hypocrisy.  Again, we find that we can tolerate some of this, since we can appreciate our need to be told certain things by someone who might not themself be perfect; after all, who is?  It is when we find that the person telling us these home truths has been completely ignoring them, making us feel guilty, that we boil over.  That is what Jesus was talking about when he spoke of the Pharisees, forcing everyone into certain ways of behaving whilst ignoring the words of the prophets.  He did not like the fact that they would be proclaiming their string faith in public whilst ensuring that people gave so much of their money to the temple that they could not support their parents, for example.

It's a minefield of a subject and we will all find ourselves setting off some of those mines as we find our way through life.  Lying and hypocrisy must be some of these easiest and tempting of sins and we all surely fall into them from time to time.  As the New Testament part of the Bible tries to teach us, we should try not to bear false witness but if we do, we should repent, ask forgiveness and try again.  As for those who do not repent, well, there is plenty in the Bible about what they can expect too.......  Amen