In our era of cellphones and social media, everyone has become a witness to everything. News travels fast, and sometimes in our mania to know everything that is happening right now, truth becomes a casualty. Reputations can be ruined for no good reason, and it’s hard to restore them once the dust settles.

Of course, some people have taken advantage of our craving to satisfy our curiosity to foist off all kinds of falsehoods upon us. Jussie Smollett claimed to be attacked on the streets of Chicago – but it’s very likely that he actually hired a couple of guys to do the deed. And politicians of both parties regularly insist on their innocence in various ways, only to resign once the truth eventually comes out.

How do we separate truth from falsehood? How can we seek true justice in our society? In today’s passage, Moses gives us some principles to guide us. First, he urges us not to believe any story if there’s only one witness to it. After all, even if people are acting with genuine goodwill, it’s easy for anyone to be mistaken, even about something to which he or she was an eyewitness. Two or three witnesses are much more likely to give a full account of what really happened.

And then, Moses urges us to investigate every accusation thoroughly before rushing to judgment. And this doesn’t just apply to our courtrooms – whenever we hear the latest gossip, or read the latest news item on our Facebook feed or in the press, we need to exercise sober judgment before passing it along. How do we know this is true? Is it responsible to repeat an unsubstantiated allegation which could damage someone’s reputation?

And then Moses recommends a remedy for false witnesses – let them experience the consequences they hoped to bring down on those whom they have slandered. Would our reporters be more careful with their stories if they knew they would be publicly humiliated and lose their jobs if those stories proved to be false? Would Congressmen be more careful about the accusations they level at their colleagues if they knew they themselves would be thrown out of office if their statements turned out to be lies?

So, if we want to put a stop to all these lies swirling all around us, we can begin by telling the truth ourselves, and by only repeating things we know to be true. But we can also try to hold people accountable when it turns out that they are bearing false witness – challenging our friends, changing the channel, canceling subscriptions, and not voting for dishonest politicians. There’s really no other way to purge the evil of lies from among us.

Deuteronomy 19:15–20 (ESV)

“A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established. If a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing, then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days. The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. And the rest shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you.”