Dear Friends,
This week I was forced to contemplate the question of false witness and just
hearings and actions.
You should all be aware of the Ninth Commandment and its maxim: Thou shalt not
bear false witness!
This matter has been examined in the paper Law and the Ninth Commandment (No.
262) available at www.ccg.org/english/s/p262.html
This paper needs to be examined.
There are a series of aspects of law that relate to this complex issue. It deals
with the question of testimony and hearings and just judgment.
Many of us break the commandment inadvertently without realising that we do
so. Most of us do not realise the implications and error of hearsay. Without
realising that we are to give direct testimony only, sometimes we repeat things
said to us as though we had first hand knowledge of their veracity when we simply
are repeating something we have been told.
Often this issue is complex. Such issues derive from the question of reports.
It is a fact that reports are given to people on issues and the report itself
is a fact. However, the content of the report may be mistaken or false and has
to be tested of itself. For example, this week I listened to an officer give
testimony to what was believed to be a fact. The lawyer asking the officer the
question also believed the question to be a fact as she put it. Both had in
fact been given a false premise from the same source and one asked the other
in court under oath the question based on the fabrication and it became admitted
to the proceedings as evidence.
These problems show why evidence cannot be based on hearsay. I have seen a series
of affidavits produced recently that are based on false testimony from one person
to others that has been accepted without verification. The stories have achieved
the status of perjury by false declarations all from a misplaced confidence
in reports from a source.
We should all be careful of how we accept and repeat stories as they can seriously
damage people unjustly. We can also seriously damage our own family interests
due to trying to influence people without consideration of truth and justice
and future actions.
Often we prefer to trust those related to us or close to us in some way or another.
This comes from our knowledge of people. Everything we do has an intrinsic value
judgment based on our own feelings, friendships or prejudices.
The failure to test what we are told or to suspend judgment can have serious
consequences for us, and those around us. Often it can lead to a miscarriage
of justice. When those in the court process engage in it, there is injustice
and perverted judgment.
We were often subject to this form of prejudice in the past and even today we
all carry such views around with us in spite of our protestations to the contrary.
It is only when we know that we are subject to such flaws are we able to regulate
our conduct and stop ourselves being dragged along by error and false witness.
It is written: a false witness shall not go unpunished.
Also it is written: You shall not raise a false report. You shall not join hands
with the wicked to act as a malicious witness. You shall not follow a multitude
to do evil.
When you bear witness in a lawsuit, you shall not side with the majority so
as to pervert justice, nor shall you be partial to the poor in a law suit (Ex.
23:1-3).
Many of our views come from the confidence in those close to us. This biased
view of "we are all right they are not all right" is the basis of
much cultural division and persecution. The views that what you are doing now
is correct and what others do differently is incorrect is normal prejudice in
the individual or clan. Few test such views for their veracity.
Some people have personality disorders, which are viewed as borderline, and
identify with those people who agree with what they say. They are all "good."
They also view those who disagree as "bad." Nothing these other "bad"
people do is ever correct. Borderlines often change their identification groups,
and people who were once regarded as "good" are now all "bad."
This type of view can never be equated with just testimony and judgment, as
it rarely seeks to identify truth and error for its own sake. It wreaks havoc
in administrations.
If you have been given a report, then write your declarations along the lines
of: I was told by such and such on x date that "xyz" had occurred.
He said... I said... etc.
Write what you have direct knowledge and reports of, and no more.
Anything more than this flirts with false testimony and should be avoided.
Just judgment depends on a number of premises. The presumption of innocence
is critical. A speedy hearing is important to justice. Habeas Corpus or the
"delivering up of the body" prevents unjust incarceration.
Protection for all parties is also incumbent under the law to justice and protection.
We should neither swear by heaven or by anything at all. We have the capacity
to make an affirmation and in doing such nothing wrong can be attributed to
us.
However, when we give evidence it must be flawless and nothing false must issue
from our mouths. Our yes is to be yes and our no is to be no. Anything more
than this is in error.
People should be able to take us, and our word, as being beyond question. Anything
other than that is a breach of God's Law. Friends, be loyal to the faith and
to the truth. Be perfect in your approach and your word.
Those who deal with us will be able to come to trust in us.
May this New Moon provide a change for all in the development of the faith.
May God's peace be upon us all.
Wade Cox
Coordinator General
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