After completing the lesson the student will be able to:
Know what the 8th Commandment is.
Know what the 8th Commandment means for our lives.
Be able to describe ways in which we positively keep this command.
Be able to describe ways this commandment is broken.
Know what the terms slander, defame, hypocrisy, charitable, and flattery mean.
Know the source of lying and deceit in the world today.
Be able to describe ways we can protect ourselves and others for gossip.
Use your catechism to write in the following information about the Eighth Commandment. Please copy it word for word below.
In this Commandment God protects our name and our neighbor’s name and reputation. This is important, for we are by our nature inclined to give a false witness. Again, notice both the positive and negative sides of how one applies this commandment - it speaks of what we are both to say, and what we are not to say. At the heart of the commandment is God’s will that we at all times are truthful. In absence of the protection of this commandment, confusion would reign because no one could depend upon or trust anything they would hear. An important part of loving God and loving our neighbors consists of always speaking the truth.
Using a dictionary, look up each of the following terms and write out a short definition. This will help in your understanding of the meaning of this commandment.
We can bear false witness in several ways. As you look at the following passages, describe what it means to bear false witness and when does this occur in the following passages.
This commandment also prohibits us to lie or withhold the truth. A lie is a conscious falsehood that is given in hopes of deceiving another. We must also not withhold from our neighbor the truth when he has a right to know it. Another item here is the sin of hypocrisy and flattery which is also a form of lying. With hypocrisy and flattery we say things we really do not mean in order to gain some advantage or benefit. In both of these cases, the truth is not being spoken, so it is wrong.
A good rule to follow is that you should never share something about another person that you would not also share to their face. Do not say behind one’s back that which you are not willing to share to his face. Likewise, even if we know of a sin or shortcoming, we are not to broadcast it to others, but go to him and tell it to him alone.
