Exodus 20:16 "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour."
I welcome Michelle Bachman to the presidential race, but I am confused about something. As she lets everyone know, she is an evangelical Christian, and that is the source of my confusion.
Although we all fall short, I would expect most Christians to at least attempt to follow the 10 Commandments. That brings me to the 9th Commandment, which is printed above.
A very strict interpretation is that this means that you should not offer false testimony in court, but most modern interpretations expand this to simply mean “do not lie”.
Now a lie and a gaffe are two different things. A gaffe is a mistake, like mixing up the birthplace of John Wayne with John Wayne Gacy ( the serial killer) (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2011/06/michele-bachmann-confuses-john-wayne-gacy-with-the-duke.html ). Certainly this gaffe could have been prevented with, say, 30 seconds of research, but it is an unintentional mistake.
Lying is intentional, like saying that you never benefitted from government subsidies when your own financial disclosure forms show otherwise (http://www.politicususa.com/en/bachmann-dairy-farm). Unfortunately this is only one of many documented lies from the Congresswoman from Minnesota.
You may be saying to yourself that all politicians lie. Perhaps so, perhaps not, but that is not the point. Someone who campaigns on the strength of their faith should be held to a higher standard – that of the faith they profess.
Family values candidates should not cheat on their spouses, anti-government spending candidates should not be taking government money, and people who run as Christian candidates should at least make every attempt to tell the truth.
It’s really not a lot to ask, now is it?
