Bearing False Witness

“There is no salvation in believing an evil report against our neighbour.”

~ Joseph Smith, Jr.

Unfortunately, there always seems to be someone saying something bad about someone.

In the scriptures, we are instructed not to gossip, nor to bear any type of false witness about anyone, yet how often do we find ourselves listening to gossip?  Why should we even contribute to such evil as to listen to it?  There is no honour in believing gossip.  There is no goodness to be found in repeating gossip.  Gossip only causes contention.

How sad it would be to be a child of the Devil, which is the father of contention!  Why would anyone want to stir up the hearts of men against one another?

Instead, let us promote peace!

Do not gossip, nor bear false witness in any way!
Do not listen to, nor contribute to gossip.
Do not break your covenants by believing an evil report about your brother.

Do not look for evil in anyone.

Be sure to completely forgive all who have ever borne false witness against you.

"Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God!"

How wonderful, to be called the child of God!

Racism And Hatred

It is always so sad to me, when I hear of people putting others down because of their genetic background.  It is an unfortunate part of world society, but it does not have to be so. We can choose to interact with each other kindly, without prejudice.

"When you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European, or anything else, you are being violent.  Do you see why it is violent?  Because you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind.  When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence.  So a man who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, to any religion, to any political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind." 

~ Jiddu Krisnamurti

Not many people know that I myself am not originally from the main culture of Canada.  I find it best to not to focus on things that separate people.  Although, I must admit, it does bother me when I hear people denigrating any culture.  Having travelled to many countries around the world, I find there is good in every culture, and that good far outweighs the bad.

There are so many good things in every culture, which are really all a part of the one macro-culture of the entire planet, and those good things are amazing to explore!