Let me say this, a person giving their opinion
is not bearing false witness.
Giving your opinion is not bearing false witness.
Bearing false witness is falsifying evidence.
Bearing false witness, saying I was there
and this is what happened, and you're making it up
or you're exaggerating it or twisting it
or not telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth,
that's being a false witness is when you claim
that something took place that didn't take place,
you're bringing false evidence, false accusations,
that's being a false witness.
Giving your opinion is not bearing false witness, okay.
So let's say for example, let's say for example,
I say, you know what, I watched the OJ trial
and I didn't by the way.
All the, every senior citizen at the time
watched every second of it, is the way I remember it.
But you know, I just remember anytime you go
to an old person's house, the OJ trial was playing
at their house back then, they just, they loved it.
But you know, I didn't watch it,
but let's make believe for a second.
Okay, I watched the OJ trial and I say OJ's guilt.
I saw the evidence and I believe OJ's guilty.
And then OJ turned out to be innocent.
Did I bear false witness
by giving my opinion about the evidence?
No, I mean, if the evidence is there,
oh, this pastor made this quote
and everybody heard him say it.
There's a recording of him saying it.
Everybody heard it.
We all heard the same thing.
And I say, well, I don't think that pastor saved
based on that quote.
Am I bearing false witness against him?
No, I'm giving my opinion.
I'm giving my judgment based on the evidence.
Bearing false witness would be if I
claimed he said something that he didn't actually say.
If I said, here's the quote from Pastor So-and-so,
and I doctored the quote and made it worse,
then that could be bearing false witness.
But just examining the facts and having an opinion
or saying, I think this person's guilty,
I believe that this person did this based on the evidence,
that's not bearing false witness.
Now, if I'm repeating unfounded accusations
and repeating things that aren't based on evidence,
then I could be guilty of bearing false witness.