DLIFE 87, 88-89, 90 - Two Opposites: Lying and Speaking Truth

DLIFE 87

To "bear false witness," in the natural sense,
means not only to play the false witness,
but also to lie, and to defame.
In the spiritual sense, to "bear false witness"
means to declare some false thing to be true
or some evil thing good,
and to persuade others that it is so;
and the converse.
And in the highest sense,
to "bear false witness" means
to blaspheme the Lord and the Word.

DLIFE 88-89

As lying and the truth are two opposite things,
it follows that in proportion as anyone
shuns lying as sin,
in the same proportion he loves the truth.

In proportion as anyone loves the truth,
in the same proportion he desires to know it,
and in the same proportion
is affected at heart when he finds it.
No one else comes into wisdom.
And in proportion as anyone loves to do the truth,
in the same proportion he is sensible of
the pleasantness of the light in which the truth is.

DLIFE 90

It is apparent from this
that the Word’s truth cannot take root in people
who do not care about the truth,
or in people who love truth outwardly but not inwardly,
or in people caught up in lusts for evil.
But it does take root in people whose lusts for evil
have been dispersed by the Lord.
In their case the seed, or rather truth,
takes root in their spiritual mind . . ..