Article April 15, 1967 Issue

Signs of the Times

William E. Phifer

A sermon by The Rev. Dr. William E. Phifer, Jr. First Presbyterian Church Honolulu, Hawaii

If you could have opportunity of examining the reasons why men bear a false witness against a neighbor, you would probably find that it stems from some emotional basis. No man, by reasoning with himself could find any adequate reason why he should refrain from telling the truth....

The next time you hear some...scandal concerning a friend of yours, and you are tempted to repeat it to someone else, without any effort at finding out the truth of the matter, why not stop and say to yourself, "What is this going to do me if I repeat it?" Forget for the moment the harm you may be doing your neighbor (who may be just as innocent as you are) but remember only that in the bearing of this false witness you are contributing to the breakdown of your own character, and that you are a weaker person because you have indulged in the emotional orgy of telling something on somebody else. If only we realized more fully what this sort of thing does to the person who engages in it, we might be the more ready to put a guard on our tongues...

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