Truth, The Whole Truth, Nothing But The Whole Truth
Truth, The Whole Truth, Nothing But The Whole Truth – I’m sure this phrase sounds familiar and this is the complete statement here:
“I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God”
You might have heard this statement when watching a film with a court setting when someone was being “sworn in”. It could have been a jury member, a witness or the defendant themselves.
It is known as “Taking the Oath”.
Telling Nothing But The Whole Truth
I have been in court a few times throughout my life, but thankfully never once as the accused!
When I was a Quantity Surveyor in my early years starting out, I used to get the jobs that no-one else wanted, which is the norm for new starts.
Some of the duties included going to court as a professional witness in claims cases or giving evidence in building financial disputes.
One Step At A Time
The case that come to mind was when an older woman tripped on an uneven concrete flagged public footpath. She tripped and fell and was injured and wanted to take the local Council to court to get compensation.
I remember going out to the scene of the fall and having to draw a map of the general area in the town. Then a drawing of the road it happened on and then photographs of the actual paving that was uneven. To be successful, the “step” in the paving had to be in excess of 50mm, which of course it was.
Court day arrived, all relevant people were sworn in, evidence was presented, statements given and at the end of the case, a judgement was given in her favour. Everyone had told nothing but the whole truth in the matter.
Why Does The Truth Matter?
If, in this minor case, the judge had ruled against the lady that had the fall, then she would not have been best pleased and perhaps a question mark would be put over the judge’s decision.
It got me thinking about the truth and why it does really matter.
Try to imagine a court case where the person in the dock was a well known person with a lot of bad history with the police.This man had carried out a murder for which he was standing trial, but of course he was denying it.
The thing was though, the murder had happened in a very public place and there were numerous witnesses to the murder and all were there at court to give evidence that they had seen this man carry out the murder. Might be what you would call an open and shut case.
After all the evidence heard and shown, the jury are 100% in their verdict of the man being guilty. That would be a truthful verdict indeed.
However, what if the judge stated that he wasn’t sure if this man was guilty or not and that he should be let off completely to walk free? There would be absolute chaos not only in the courtroom, but in the judicial system, the media, etc.
What would you honestly think if a judge were to do something like that? Would you describe him as a good judge or a bad one? Would you be able to trust a judge that would make that sort of bad judgement?
God The Righteous Judge Tells The Truth
If a judge did that, he would be removed from office right away and would be termed as unjust and indeed, unrighteous. Being termed righteous, just means you do what is right and unrighteous, well, you do not do what is right.
The Bible tells us that God is a righteous judge and that he is going to judge every single person that has lived on the earth, which includes you and me.
Please do not be under the delusion that God will just forget about the wrong things you have done, which the Bible calls sin. Remember the judge we thought about that let off the guilty man? You would agree that is not right and therefore not righteous?
God is righteous and therefore must punish your sin. He must punish your sin, because He is righteous. I hope you can see that truth?
Jesus Said, “I AM The Truth”
Jesus said in John chapter 14 verse 6:
“I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except by (through) Me”
This is the great news of the Gospel message! When the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross at Calvary, he was bearing God’s punishment for the sin of the whole world.
God punished His Son for your sins and all you have to do is believe it and you will be forgiven. Once forgiven, you will never be punished for your sins.
In fact, the Bible says that once you trust Christ as your Saviour, you become righteous in Him.
Isn’t that really Good News!
Nothing But The Whole Truth
