do not slander

St Nicodemus No Jokes or Laugh
Command 8 Do Not Bear False Witness

St Nicodemus: Can Christians Laugh and Joke?

02/03/2023 Bruce Strom 2

St Nicodemus teaches us that the speech of Christians who laugh at ribald jokes “is corrupted, since they fill their speech with obscene, indecent, shameless, and meretricious words.” Likewise, regarding Christians who laugh at ribald jokes, “their thought is corrupted.” “Just as their words are crude and lewd, so also the thoughts and ideas in their souls are crude and lewd.” “Speech is a mirror, image, and imprint of the thoughts and inner disposition of the heart.” “He who utters obscene words churns up filth, mud and manure, which is spread first to himself, and then to those who hear it.” […]

St Nicodemus, Do not Slander
Command 8 Do Not Bear False Witness

St Nicodemus the Hagiorite, Do Not Bear False Witness, Do Not Slander

02/01/2023 Bruce Strom 1

What are we taught by our teachers? Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me. Except that this is not true, St Nicodemus teaches us that King David, in his Psalms, feared slander more than sticks and stones, and for good reason, for words harm our reputation, which sticks and stones can never touch. Wounds heal, but suspicions linger. […]

Command 8 Do Not Bear False Witness

Do Not Slander: Church Fathers and Preachers, and Catholic Catechism, CCC 2464

05/27/2022 Bruce Strom 1

The Church Fathers focus on our love for our neighbor when contemplating this commandment.  St Gregory Palamas in our English translation renders the commandment as, “You shall not accuse anyone falsely.”  We are warned that if we accuse anyone falsely, we may “become like the devil, who falsely accused God to Eve and was cursed by God.  Rather, we should conceal our neighbor’s offense, unless by so doing others may be injured; and in this way we will imitate not Ham, but Shem and Japeth, and so like them receive the blessing.”
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Command 8 Do Not Bear False Witness

St John Climacus in Ladder of Divine Ascent on Slander, Talkativeness, and Lying, Steps 10, 11 and 12

05/13/2022 Bruce Strom 1

Many people think that one of the Ten Commandments prohibits us from lying, but that is a shallow understanding of the commandment.  Actually, the Ten Commandments urges us not to bear false witness against our neighbor.  Not only are we forbidden to slander our neighbor, but we are also urged to guard his reputation.  We slander our neighbor even when we tell the truth in a hurtful manner. […]

Command 8 Do Not Bear False Witness

The Decalogue in the Torah, Blog 6, Do Not Bear False Witness Against Your Neighbor

10/06/2021 Jonah Fischer 2

A common misconception is that this Commandment only forbids us to lie. However, this Mitzvah goes deeper. Not only should we not destroy the reputation of our neighbor, we should also guard the reputation of our neighbor like we should build a parapet on our roof. Not only does this Mitzvah forbid us to lie, it also forbids us from telling the truth in a mean and heartless and cruel manner. […]

Morality

St. Mark the Ascetic, Writings on the Spiritual Law

10/23/2018 Bruce Strom 2

You cannot cherry-pick which commandments you should follow and which ones you should ignore. Little sins vs whoppers, scrupulously avoiding small penny sins to save up for the whoppers you need to be forgiven for when you hide thousands of dollars of defects when selling your house or when you need to ruin someone financially to steal their business. St Mark the Ascetic teaches us, “Those who do not consider themselves under obligation to perform all of Christ’s commandments study the law of God in a literal manner, ‘understanding neither what they say nor what they affirm.’ (1 Tim 1:7) Therefore the think they can fulfill the law by their own works.”(34)
“Do not seek the perfection of the law in human virtues. . . Perfection is hidden in the Cross of Christ.(31) The law of freedom by true knowledge, and is understood through the practice of the commandments, and is fulfilled through the mercy of Christ.”(32)
“Fulfilling a commandment is one thing, and virtue is another, although each promotes the other.(193) Fulfilling a commandment means doing what we are enjoined to do; but virtue to do it in a manner that conforms to the truth.”(194) […]