The Eighth Commandment: You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way.

When was the last time you defended your neighbor’s actions in the kindest possible way? It’s not a very common thing we see done today. But was it ever a very common thing to do? In the charged atmosphere we live in today, a time and an age in which things are “hardening and narrowing and coming to a point…getting sharper and harder” (That Hideous Strength, chapter 13, C.S. Lewis), to speak well of others, especially those we vehemently disagree with on theological or philosophical or political grounds, it makes one wonder if it is even at all possible to do so. It makes one wonder if it would even be prudent to do so. After all, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven…a time to keep silence, and a time to speak” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 7). But there is God’s Law staring us in the face: “You shall not bear false witness.” As always, the Law gives no wiggle room. The Law, that hammer of God (Jeremiah 23:29), crushes as it is intended to do. Or, as Saint Paul once so shockingly put it, the letter of the Law kills (2 Corinthians 3:6).

We cannot explain away the 8^th Commandment no matter how tempting it might be. Those who are opposed to the truth, those who do not think Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6), those who do not take into consideration or blithely ignore that love rejoices with the truth (1 Corinthians 13:6), cannot be expected to follow this divine command. But we who are of the truth, we who teach and will be judged with “greater strictness” (James 3:1), take the yoke upon us to honor all the commandments including the one here in focus, the 8^th Commandment.

What others cannot and will not do (and can we expect them to?), the Church and her people must absolutely do to the best of their ability. Again Saint Paul (Romans 12:18): “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” So how, dear Christians, might we defend our neighbor’s actions in the kindest possible way that we may so live peaceably? As we obediently follow the Lord’s commandments as seen and given us in the Ten Commandments, think about the following paragraphs.

As we are all aware, on September 10^th this country, and millions throughout the world, saw the assassination of Charlie Kirk. The fallout of his murder has motivated some to come back to Church. God be praised for this! The fallout of his murder has also hardened the consciences of others, convinced that what he said was hateful and that he deserved what happened. What I have noticed, and perhaps you have too, is that those who hated this man – a champion for freedom, encourager of young men, encourager of discussion and debate on any topic, and defender of Christian values and principles – have not watched very much of what he said in his various dialogues and debates with people. Often all that has been seen by those who despised Charlie Kirk is a snippet, a viral quote, something taken out of context in a longer answer to a question. And for others, they don’t even want to listen to the man himself but are simply taking it as gospel from someone else that he was a mean, bigoted man.

To honor and follow the 8^th Commandment, perhaps we can think about some questions: What motivates someone to paint someone else (like a Charlie Kirk) as hateful, as deplorable?  Why would they not want to interact with the one they deem as a bigoted teacher so as to disprove them? Whom have they been listening to and what books have they been reading? Why does this person you know or work with or are related to feel so strongly against a Charlie Kirk? Against the moral precepts of the Church? What has been their experience of the Church? Of the Bible? Have we read dissenting opinions with which we vehemently disagree and learned from them? Am I just as much in an echo chamber as those with whom I disagree? Is there anything redeemable, anything that can be spoken well of, in viewpoints or opinions that conflict with “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude v. 3)?

In asking ourselves such questions I don’t presume the Church, “the pillar and buttress of truth” (1 Timothy 3:15), will give an inch to erroneous teaching, to faulty, misguided, or just lazy opinions from those with whom we disagree. But by asking such questions we continue the hard work of honoring the 8^th Commandment explaining “everything in the kindest way.” Like the people of Nineveh, there are many “who do not know their right hand from their left” (Jonah 4:11). Yet in the midst of all the moral, philosophical, ideological, and theological confusion there remains our Lord Jesus “the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain” (“Old Rugged Cross”). We do what we can until the Lord’s glorious return. We do what we can having “mercy on those who doubt,” hoping to “save others by snatching them out of the fire” (Jude vv. 23-24). We do what we can remembering that “so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all” (Romans 12:18). And we do what we can so that all thoughts may one day be “captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Honoring the 8^th Commandment can help us in that task, as well as crucify any animosity we might also be harboring or hiding.

A concerned member of the ELCA contacted me, asking me to do a review of a new curriculum from Augsburg Fortress’s Sparkhouse. That curriculum is entitled T.B.D.: Think. Believe. Do.  Sparkhouse touts it as their newest youth curriculum.  A blogpost describes T.B.D.

as a new small group series that gives students the tools to articulate, investigate, and test out their beliefs on a broad range of topics that connect to their daily lives. However, the goal isn’t to come away from each series with a settled idea about the topic. Although they might feel more settled than they did before. Instead. T.B.D. focuses on how students think, not just what they think.

https://blog.wearesparkhouse.org/youth-faith-process

Currently, T.B.D. offers six topical courses on Prayer, Sin, Mission, Salvation, and Bible, broken up into four sessions each.  Each session begins with a “Provocative Statement” before moving through three major sections: Think, Believe and Do.  After answering a series of thought provoking questions in their journals, students watch a video and reflect on two Bible Passages.  Following this, they come up with an honest statement of what they believe as individuals and as a group.  Finally, the group brainstorms a low risk way to test out that belief in the following week. 

The Video

In the videos that accompany each session, a young person wrestles with questions about the topic of the session.  This is very interesting.  Like many people today, both young and old, the character in each video turns to the internet, searching for an answer.  As you would expect, answers come from all quarters.  The internet search yields many quotes from the Bible.  Quotes are also given by Luther, Augustine, Calvin, Bonhoeffer, St. Benedict, and other Christian teachers.  Others come from more dubious places, like Bart Ehrman and Richard Dawkins.  This is what you would expect from an internet search.   The character in the video is left with more questions than answers as a result.  Pastors and catechists are very familiar with the kind of idiosyncratic views that people develop from their use of the internet. 

Values Clarification

The question is where to turn.  The answer is more than a little surprising.  After pondering challenging statements, watching the video, and looking up two Bible verses, the students are immediately asked to formulate their own responses to the questions.  The result is something very similar to the kind of “values clarification” that was practiced decades ago.  It’s almost as if the students are told, “You’re on your own.  The Bible is unclear and unreliable.  The Christian tradition is too varied and contradictory.  Who’s to say what is true.  You need to chart your own path.”

As a person who grew up in the 1970s, I am quite familiar with this way of teaching.  I learned to ask open ended questions and to accept the challenge to decide for myself.  Fortunately for me, I had pastors and college professors who pointed me to the answers.  (I attended a Lutheran college.) Otherwise, I would have been lost.  During my senior year of college, the process of asking open questions and deciding for myself overwhelmed me.  I realized that I was drowning in a sea of meaninglessness and purposelessness.  In the midst of this, I became acutely aware of my sinfulness.  It was then that I turned to the things I had learned from my pastors and professors.  In particular, I remembered what I had learned about the Cross and the Resurrection.  If I had been left entirely to my own resources, I don’t know where I would be.

A Third Resource?

In T.B.D., youth are presented with two resources with which to interpret the Bible: 1) the confusing diversity of answers given by the internet and 2) their own wisdom and the wisdom of their peers.   It’s too bad that a third resource is not introduced into the discussion, namely, the wisdom of the Creedal and Lutheran tradition of interpreting the Bible. If the person teaching this curriculum is a pastor or a well catechized lay person, T.B.D. might not be harmful.  The same would be true if it was used with well catechized youth.  As one reads the lesson book and watches the video, it is easy to identify answers to the questions that are raised. 

For instance, in the unit on Prayer, the video character, a young woman, wrestles with the meaning and purpose of prayer.  What does the Bible teach?  How is one to pray?  Does prayer change things?  Why pray if God already knows everything?  As I watched, I thought to myself, “It’s too bad the Lutheran tradition doesn’t have a simple but profound explanation of the meaning of prayer; or even better an explanation of the Lord’s Prayer.”  At one point, the character finds a link to an article on St. Benedict.  She decides to download his daily prayer schedule to her calendar, only to be shocked by the notion that it calls for prayer seven times a day.  Again, I found myself thinking, “Too bad Luther didn’t simplify the seven hours of prayer on behalf of the laity, reducing them to two or three times a day.”   At another point, the character does a search for the Ten Commandments, hoping that there is something there about prayer.  She concludes that the Ten Commandments are no help, since prayer is not mentioned.  As one knows, however, Luther’s interpretation of the Second Commandment has a lot to say about prayer. 

Unanswered Questions

After reflecting on this curriculum, I am left with a final question.  Is the failure to use the catholic and Lutheran tradition a bug or a feature of T.B.D.?  In other words, do the developers of T.B.D. assume that teachers and facilitators will make use of the Great Tradition and the Lutheran Confessions?  Have they simply forgotten to explicitly remind facilitators of these resources?  Or is the intent to encourage students to utilize the widest possible resources, from St. Benedict to Richard Dawkins, to formulate their own system of beliefs?  If so, the result will not be formation in the Christian faith, but instead in an eclectic post-Christian form of spirituality. 

Ironically, I can remember a time when Augsburg Fortress was criticized for being too Lutheran, too Confessional, too heavy in doctrine.  Other publishers, like Group Publishing and Youth Specialties, were preferred because they were more user friendly, more engaging, and more broadly Evangelical.  To see a curriculum that makes such sparse use of the Catechism and the Lutheran Confessions is surprising, and not an improvement.