We were in Colorado Springs, Colo. Stopping at a red light, we stared at the sticker on the car bumper in front of us. It asked this simple question: “What would happen if everyone told the truth?” I looked to my right and said to my dear wife, “The political establishment in the United States of America would dissolve instantly.” We laughed uneasily.

The ninth commandment is clear. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Ex. 20:16). Matthew Henry describes this as prohibiting “speaking falsely in any matter, lying, equivocating, and [in] any way devising and designing to deceive our neighbor.” Equivocating means using ambiguous language to conceal the truth.

Do an internet search for the words “political spin.” The eHow web site defines what we now call spin doctors. “Spin doctors are people that put a particular ‘spin’ on what has been said—often, with little concern for its truth. The real concern is whether or not people believe the spin. Sometimes the spin on a message is more important than the message itself.” There is clear intention to deceive.

“Spin is cynically perceived as a form of propaganda: biased, manipulative and deceptive,” eHow goes on to say. “Sociologists see the rise of spin as a real problem for democracy because it masks transparency and provides the public with distorted information.” Many political figures, no matter the stripe, purposely distort information in order to deceive. And who are they deceiving? Who is their neighbor? We are! When politicians engage in political spin, they are bearing false witness and violating the ninth commandment. And when we casually accept this political spin and propagate it as though it were the unadulterated truth, we too violate the ninth commandment.

Matthew Henry says the ninth commandment also forbids “speaking unjustly against our neighbor, to the prejudice of his reputation.” In other words, God condemns ad hominem arguments; that is, arguments against the person. You attack the messenger with false or irrelevant personal information to undermine the message. You denigrate the person to cast doubt on his or her motives in order to invalidate the argument. Doing so may at times be an effective public-speaking ploy, but it violates the ninth commandment.

In this case, the neighbor is the political opponent. But political opponents are not the only ones involved in the sin. There are those who applaud the personal attack and support the ad hominem argument. There are also those who hold the opposing position and are painted with the same broad brush. We are all the worse for the use of such arguments. We are all embroiled in the sin.

Not every politician engages in political spin. But equivocations and spin are so prevalent that truth is at a premium. The evil one, the “father of lies” (John 8:44) sits with a sly grin on his face and an evil glint in his eye; he gladly listens for every equivocation and every effort at spin. What is the outcome? Such equivocations and spin place us in opposition to the “God of truth” (Ps. 31:5).

Personal repentance is in order. National repentance is in order. We must seek the “Spirit of truth” (John 15:26) to guide us into “all the truth” (John 16:13) and thus learn to “speak truth each one with his neighbor” (Eph. 4:25).