On Telling the Truth

Truth
“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’  
But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne;  
or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.  
And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black.  Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” 
                           Matthew 5:33-37
Simply put Jesus is saying here. You have no need to take an oath. You must always speak the truth.
It’s interesting to note that early Christians practised this.
Piliny the Younger Roman governor of Bithynia in Asia minor writing to Emperor Trajan wrote,
"They were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to do any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble to partake of food--but food of an ordinary and innocent kind..." 
Although Piliny uses the term solemn oath Piliny is speaking in Roman terms, it simply means they promise never to do wicked deeds, commit fraud, theft, adultery or falsify their word.
This is what it should be like for Christians today.
When we stand before magistrates we should not sware an oath but our words should be one hundred percent truthful.
Believe it or not it works.
A young man I know took his fathers car out to of all things a youth meeting at the church. After it ended he and another friend decided to race each other down a main street.
It was raining and at the last minute he decided that he wanted to turn into a hamburger place.
The car slipped and ended up wrapping itself around a light pole.
No one was hurt but the car was a right off.
When the police came he told the truth. The officer was amazed.
He was charged with careless driving and had to face his father about the car.
His father much to his relief didn’t lecture him but made him pay for the car.
Incredibly there was a car for sale for five hundred dollars just a few houses down from where he lived. He bought it and it required no work to become road worthy. The person was simply selling it because of it’s age.
On top of all of this he received a letter from the crown prosecutor, stating that due to lack of evidence the police were dropping the charge.
Some say the young man should have had to face the judge. But I know this boy he’d learned his lesson and has never done anything like that in the fifteen years since it happened.
You see he was my son. Only sixteen at the time.
We had always taught him to tell the truth even if it was to his detriment. And I believe God honoured him that day.
The five hundred dollars he paid for the car was all his savings at the time and he did learn his lesson.
Him losing his driving licence, paying a fine or having to pay higher insurance rates would not have achieved any better of a result.
Additionally the police officer said to me that he was amazed at the boy’s honesty. That he could have simply said he lost control in the rain and it would have been believable and most likely no charges would have been laid.
Still he chose to tell the truth and as a result was a witness to the officer.
Do you tell even when it’s to your detriment?
Think about it.