Thou Shalt Not Lie?

Deuteronomy 16-19

The more I read the scriptures, the more I am amazed at how the modern church has modified the word to suit their own tastes and desires. The ten commandments contain the command that "thou shalt not bear false witness," but we have modified that to refer to lying in general. But, as our reading today reveals, there is a special importance to the command not to bear false witness. It only takes two witnesses to condemn a man to death by stoning, therefore if one bears false witness, there could be a miscarriage of justice that results in a man's death. I'm not saying that lying is okay, for clearly the scriptures (e.g., Psalms, Proverbs, James, etc.) speak about the problems of a deceptive tongue, but the law spoke of something different.