Others may question it by asking "why"? We live in a schizophrenic society where in theory the secular citizen is a moral relativist (I decide what is right or wrong for me and you can decide what is right or wrong for you), but in practice and interaction with those we disagree with we are moral absolutists. We believe that our moral values are right and yours are wrong if they disagree with mine. This is why we have increasing polarization in our culture. There is no agreed moral source -- no grounding of our moral sense of right and wrong -- in the absence of God. There can be no "ought", no moral standard, no moral duty, no moral obligation without divine authority. A moral sense of right and wrong outside of ourselves and our feelings implies an absolute personal authority behind all things. (Timothy Keller, Making Sense of God, pp.178-190)

Imagine that you are on trial in a court in a totalitarian country like Russia, China, Cuba, Iran or many others like them. Can you trust the testimony of those who give evidence? Of course not. Truth does not count. The only truth that matters is what the political authorities determine is best for their society. Without the rule of law and moral standards to govern the rules of evidence there is no justice. Courts can rule whatever way their political inclinations determine. Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf used the technique of the Big Lie that was so colossal that no one could believe that truth could be so distorted that they would believe it.

Lies are intolerable in Western democratic Christian public and commercial life because of the political and economic damage they cause. They are outlawed, and labeled criminal. This is why perjury, fraud, tax evasion, public defamation, calumny, and slander are prosecuted.

"Imagine a society in which no one trusted another to keep a promise, in which every leader was expected to lie as a matter of course, in which every teacher was suspected as an academic cheat and every preacher a moral fraud, in which contracts were expected to be honored when they paid well and a friend's word was no better than a cigarette advertisement. No person in such a society could ever confide in a friend or seek help from a counselor. No partner could ever bank on the loyalty of another. No one could make decisions in assurance of having the facts in hand. No one could be certain of his neighbor's next move. Life would be brutalized. Without trust, we change from a community to a pack, from a society to a gang." (Lewis Smedes, Mere Morality, p.223) Yet that is what happens in societies when there is no belief in God.

Why do people lie? Why do they bear false witness against their neighbor? Because they want to deny their responsibility, and they want to shift the blame to others. They want to cover up their complicity. They don't want to admit their guilt. In fact, we can lie to ourselves, and come to believe our own lies. We want to protect ourselves from the truth about ourselves. We each have an image of ourselves and we work very hard to protect that image. Self-deception is at the heart of lying. We have to believe we are right even when the evidence is against us. This is the condition of the whole human race.

Pontius Pilate tried to avoid responsibility in the trial of Jesus. Remember that, in this greatest trial in history, and the travesty of justice it enshrined, truth was its first casualty. "The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward." (Matthew 26:59,60)

Truth was on trial. Jesus said to the Roman Governor, Pilate: "For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world, to witness to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." (John 18:37,38) Pilate asked, "What is truth?" Truth was standing in front of him and he could not recognize it in Jesus. He was so blinded by the lies he had fed himself over the years that he could knowingly accept false witness about Jesus. He took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. "I am innocent of this man's blood," he said. "It is your responsibility." (Matthew 27:24)

What is the source of lies? Jesus said it was the devil. "He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me! If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me?" (John 8:44-46) To deny that Jesus was sent from God is to bear false witness.

We also bear false witness against our neighbors when we criticize them unjustly. "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ..,. You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck in your brother's eye" (Matthew 7:3-5).

"Censoriousness is a compound sin consisting of several unpleasant ingredients. It does not mean to assess people critically, but to judge them harshly. The censorious critic is a fault-finder who is negative and destructive towards other people and enjoys actively seeking out their failings. He puts the worst possible construction on their motives, pours cold water on their schemes and is ungenerous towards their mistakes. Worse than that, to be censorious is to set oneself up as a censor, and so claim the competence and authority to sit in judgment upon one's fellow men." (John Stott, Christian Counter-Culture, p.176)

The tendency to stereotype individuals or to demonize those who differ from us as hate-mongers or bigots or other pejorative language is to bear false witness against them. "Speak the truth in love" (Ephesians 4:15).

If we want to walk in the way of truth and not follow the father of lies, if we want to stand for the truth against falsehood, then we must believe in the source of truth and follow him who is called Faithful and True. We must choose who to believe. How do you answer Pilate's question? "What is truth?" Would you recognize truth if he stood in front of you, for Jesus said, "Everyone on the side of truth listens to me..... If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 6:32).

The Rev. Ted Schroder is pastor of Amelia chapel on Amelia Island Plantation