Liar, Liar
Lying is not fair, to those being lied to. And it is a cowardly way out to those who would not like to take responsibility for their actions. Lying deprives people of making informed and intelligent decisions and therefore liars rob them of their freedom to make an informed decision.
Lying has its own difficulties, though. Those who lie have so many stories they must remember, and to whom they told those stories to, but ultimately, conflicts and inconsistencies would reveal their sometimes instantly made up and all so convenient lies. Which is one more reason why it is always better to tell the truth: You only have one story to remember. And the facts would only reinforce your story, so you have nothing to fear, unlike the liar who has to cover up his or her trail every time new facts are discovered. So in a conflict between a liar and an honest person, time can show who was telling the truth, so the truthful one can sit back patiently and confidently for the truth to be revealed in due time, while the liar fears the light and tries to spread more darkness and confusion so that the liar’s lies would not be brought out. A person known to be truthful can gain the trust of others, trust that can be given most especially during times when only a trustworthy person will do. But who likes to trust a liar. A friend of mine whom I told of a liar who tried to deceive me gave me an advice I held on to long before: never talk to a liar, since that person has the ability to lie and has no misgivings about lying, then you can never be confident about what that person is saying, and there is no point getting anything from them as anything they could say could be a lie. Liars eventually may find it difficult to find true friends.
One of the worst effects of lying is that it misleads the deceived to make an uninformed decision (You may refer to my other article, Informed Decisions: Why One Should Speak Out). This is obviously a deceitful way to get what one wants. Albeit, lying needs another person to be thoroughly damaging, that being the one being lied to. Sometimes, the nature of the deceit is so crafty you cannot but understand why the other person fell for the lie. However, there must be a point when one should also be wise with dealings with other people. Although the Bible instructs us to love everyone (Matthew 5:44, Romans 13:9) and love always trusts (1 Corinthians 13:7), Jesus also said in Matthew 10:16, “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” The Bible never instructed us to be mindless, nodding doormats, rather, to use Godly wisdom to protect ourselves and those under our care. A saying I read states, “If you can be deceived, you can be conquered.” We should not be like gullible sheep who has no ability to see beyond lies and thus fall prey to all the guiles of vicious and self-serving wolves.
Lying is sinful, unfair and cowardly. Given a situation with an option to lie, always choose the truth. But what if other people’s lives depend on it, such as the classical example of a person who would like to kill your friend and asks you where your friend is hiding. Would you say the truth and jeopardize your friend, or lie, and save your friend? What makes that scenario difficult is that it implies that there are only two possible options. In the real world, that rarely holds true. The Bible says you have to be wise, to be as shrewd as snakes, and yet, be sinless, innocent as doves. You just have to be wise without sinning. You may have to think outside the box. My simple answer is don’t answer the murderer’s question. Who said you had to answer it? Not the Bible. There were times Jesus did not answer questions asked to him, when his silence had a purpose. Or, you may want to say something else that isn’t untrue that doesn’t give out your friend (maybe even something totally unrelated), or you can bravely say you will not answer his question because you want to protect your friend. That would protect your friend without lying. But you may ask, wouldn’t that jeopardize yourself? He is a murderer, you know. But like I said, lying is the coward’s way out. Like the captured soldier who is tortured to reveal his troops’ secret, it is nobler to endure the torture himself than to sacrifice his comrades. If you truly cared about your friend, and you truly cared about God, you would consider your friend before you, and cared about what God thinks more than your own life.
Seems like a big deal, you might say, when the alternative to lie is so simple. But that’s my point, lying is not a small thing. The Bible has no less than this to say about lies: Jesus said in John 8:44 (to those who were out to kill him), “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar, and the father of lies.”
What I want to emphasize from that verse is that Jesus calls the devil the father of lies. Therefore any lie you may give has only one origin. Only one. Therefore, there is no room for lies in a Christian’s life. Absolutely none.
There is no such thing as a white lie. That term was only created as a deception of the devil, to sugarcoat one of his dominions, for the field of lies is his territory, for he is the father of it. Lies are lies, and no terminology, no matter how pretty, and no reasoning, no matter how seemingly justifiable, can mask this compromise with its father. There is never an excuse to lie (as I mentioned earlier).
To contrast, in John 14:6, “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”” Jesus calls himself the truth.
One of the many great things about being a Christian is that Christians have the truth, because Christians have Jesus. It is one of the reasons why we are called the salt and light of the earth (Matthew 5:13-16, which is a whole other discussion in itself). Therefore it is important that we remain to be salt and light, rather than their opposites. What I mean to say now is that the world benefits from our knowledge of the truth, just as the world benefits from knowledge of any truth (from experts); even if they themselves don’t know it (at least yet), they already reap from these benefits also. For example, few people know how to program (create software), yet people rely on those that do, so that they that don’t may enjoy using these programs. But what if, say, these experts, rather than teaching the people who depend on them the truth, teach them lies instead. They would actually be harming these people who depend on them, and even abuse their trust, rather than fulfill their responsibility. Or, what if these experts, who are supposed to know the truth, don’t faithfully check up on these truths and instead work in a framework of lies. Their products and outputs would not be correct as this was based on lies, and again those that depend on them are harmed more than helped.
What I want to point out is that as Christians, who are supposed to be bearers of the truth, we must be careful about what we believe in, for what we believe in becomes the basis of our decisions. I have always said that as a Christian I do not believe in what I believe in because I simply choose to believe in it, but rather because it is the truth. It is not a matter of choosing what to believe in, but rather about discovering the truth. For Christianity is not just about beliefs, it’s about the truth. And when the truth a Christian believes in suddenly gets mixed up with lies, this destroys not just the Christian, but those that need the truth from the Christian, as this will affect the output, the mindset, the speech, the actions and the effect of the Christian on others.
For example, if a Christian truly believes that all Christians are destined to become millionaires on earth before they die, literally, then the Christian will act accordingly on that belief, speak accordingly with that belief, and make decisions based on that belief. However, if the Christian dies without ever getting his millions, what testimony is that to unbelievers? Unbelievers may generalize that all Christians have that “guaranteed millionaire” belief, and since they had witnessed for themselves that it is not true, they would dismiss any other efforts by true Christians to reach them. And this scenario is not at all unusual. Some people have hated Christianity, not for valid reasons, but rather for reasons such as a supposed Christian forcing an untrue belief on them, which was not a Christian truth to begin with. Such a crafty deception of the devil, indeed. Which is why I say, among all people, we Christians must be most careful about what we believe in. Which is why I hate untruths. Which is why I hate it when people believe in untruths, especially if those that believe in them are Christians! Even worse is when they endorse it, or when they preach it!
People have spread untruths for many centuries now. Hoaxes abound, from urban legends, new age beliefs, incorrect explanations, and untrue generalizations. As a college instructor who teaches Computer Science, I have seen many untruths regarding technology, from how viruses are supposed to work, to the degree of harmfulness of the Y2K bug (which I have long said since 1999 will not cause any major damage other than incorrect dates). Up to today, hoaxes flood our email inboxes from people who seem to believe anything they read over the Net. Some of these will instruct us to forward a message or do some other task, and some poor, deserving child will get money from it. Some hoaxes will reveal an insider secret and will ask us to avoid something after this revelation. But those who are faithful at seeking the truth will be able to determine which are true and which aren’t (and almost all aren’t). But what damage does it do, to believe and obey these hoaxes, you may ask. Apart from wasting bandwidth, the time of the reader or listener (and confusing the reader or listener with untruths) and causing trouble to true entities which are improperly named in the hoaxes [e.g. Make a Wish Foundation, Proctor and Gamble] (which are common reasons of hackers), it makes the believer of such untruths no longer credible, as it shows that people who are so easily deceived by such a simple deception may not be a dependable source of the truth. Thus, Christians must protect their testimony and their witness by being careful of what they believe in, otherwise no one may believe in them anymore, defeating the power of their testimony by their own haphazard, indiscriminate beliefs, and worse, unbelievers may generalize that all Christians are suckers who will believe anything, and thus they may think our faith in Jesus is just as unfounded and untrue.
Even worse is that, rather than spreading the truth, both Christians and non-Christians are spreading lies, whether they know it or not, thus deceiving more people, and then asking others to spread these lies even more, thus more people deceived by lies! And they dismiss this proliferation and swimming in a pool of lies as if it was nothing, and they are apathetic and at times not just tolerant, but accepting of it. But I am guessing that the father of lies is thrilled at the thought of once again being able to use and deceive Christians, to spread his lies and even ruin good names in the process, including the testimony of the Christians. Which is why the devil loves to inject seemingly correct but actually unbiblical teachings in churches. To further distract and destroy Christians in their walk with the Lord, and to inhibit the testimony of Christians to effectively reach souls.
I try to counter the proliferation of such mindsets by revealing falsehoods, and showing proof of the untruth of these. I am a skeptic. I would like to show that I have a critical mind, and can determine and prove fallacies when I see them. I hope that this builds a confidence in me that I am not so easily deceived. But no matter how much my skepticism is, I could not truly disprove to myself that God is true, nor the reason of Christ’s death on the cross. And that is why I hope one reason why I have credibility to say to the whole world that God exists, and His word is true, that in all that I know, that in all my skepticism, even I cannot deny God nor His word. Because it is true.
- A. L. E. -
(Originally written: 2006, August 21, 10:16 pm)
Lying has its own difficulties, though. Those who lie have so many stories they must remember, and to whom they told those stories to, but ultimately, conflicts and inconsistencies would reveal their sometimes instantly made up and all so convenient lies. Which is one more reason why it is always better to tell the truth: You only have one story to remember. And the facts would only reinforce your story, so you have nothing to fear, unlike the liar who has to cover up his or her trail every time new facts are discovered. So in a conflict between a liar and an honest person, time can show who was telling the truth, so the truthful one can sit back patiently and confidently for the truth to be revealed in due time, while the liar fears the light and tries to spread more darkness and confusion so that the liar’s lies would not be brought out. A person known to be truthful can gain the trust of others, trust that can be given most especially during times when only a trustworthy person will do. But who likes to trust a liar. A friend of mine whom I told of a liar who tried to deceive me gave me an advice I held on to long before: never talk to a liar, since that person has the ability to lie and has no misgivings about lying, then you can never be confident about what that person is saying, and there is no point getting anything from them as anything they could say could be a lie. Liars eventually may find it difficult to find true friends.
One of the worst effects of lying is that it misleads the deceived to make an uninformed decision (You may refer to my other article, Informed Decisions: Why One Should Speak Out). This is obviously a deceitful way to get what one wants. Albeit, lying needs another person to be thoroughly damaging, that being the one being lied to. Sometimes, the nature of the deceit is so crafty you cannot but understand why the other person fell for the lie. However, there must be a point when one should also be wise with dealings with other people. Although the Bible instructs us to love everyone (Matthew 5:44, Romans 13:9) and love always trusts (1 Corinthians 13:7), Jesus also said in Matthew 10:16, “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” The Bible never instructed us to be mindless, nodding doormats, rather, to use Godly wisdom to protect ourselves and those under our care. A saying I read states, “If you can be deceived, you can be conquered.” We should not be like gullible sheep who has no ability to see beyond lies and thus fall prey to all the guiles of vicious and self-serving wolves.
Lying is sinful, unfair and cowardly. Given a situation with an option to lie, always choose the truth. But what if other people’s lives depend on it, such as the classical example of a person who would like to kill your friend and asks you where your friend is hiding. Would you say the truth and jeopardize your friend, or lie, and save your friend? What makes that scenario difficult is that it implies that there are only two possible options. In the real world, that rarely holds true. The Bible says you have to be wise, to be as shrewd as snakes, and yet, be sinless, innocent as doves. You just have to be wise without sinning. You may have to think outside the box. My simple answer is don’t answer the murderer’s question. Who said you had to answer it? Not the Bible. There were times Jesus did not answer questions asked to him, when his silence had a purpose. Or, you may want to say something else that isn’t untrue that doesn’t give out your friend (maybe even something totally unrelated), or you can bravely say you will not answer his question because you want to protect your friend. That would protect your friend without lying. But you may ask, wouldn’t that jeopardize yourself? He is a murderer, you know. But like I said, lying is the coward’s way out. Like the captured soldier who is tortured to reveal his troops’ secret, it is nobler to endure the torture himself than to sacrifice his comrades. If you truly cared about your friend, and you truly cared about God, you would consider your friend before you, and cared about what God thinks more than your own life.
Seems like a big deal, you might say, when the alternative to lie is so simple. But that’s my point, lying is not a small thing. The Bible has no less than this to say about lies: Jesus said in John 8:44 (to those who were out to kill him), “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar, and the father of lies.”
What I want to emphasize from that verse is that Jesus calls the devil the father of lies. Therefore any lie you may give has only one origin. Only one. Therefore, there is no room for lies in a Christian’s life. Absolutely none.
There is no such thing as a white lie. That term was only created as a deception of the devil, to sugarcoat one of his dominions, for the field of lies is his territory, for he is the father of it. Lies are lies, and no terminology, no matter how pretty, and no reasoning, no matter how seemingly justifiable, can mask this compromise with its father. There is never an excuse to lie (as I mentioned earlier).
To contrast, in John 14:6, “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”” Jesus calls himself the truth.
One of the many great things about being a Christian is that Christians have the truth, because Christians have Jesus. It is one of the reasons why we are called the salt and light of the earth (Matthew 5:13-16, which is a whole other discussion in itself). Therefore it is important that we remain to be salt and light, rather than their opposites. What I mean to say now is that the world benefits from our knowledge of the truth, just as the world benefits from knowledge of any truth (from experts); even if they themselves don’t know it (at least yet), they already reap from these benefits also. For example, few people know how to program (create software), yet people rely on those that do, so that they that don’t may enjoy using these programs. But what if, say, these experts, rather than teaching the people who depend on them the truth, teach them lies instead. They would actually be harming these people who depend on them, and even abuse their trust, rather than fulfill their responsibility. Or, what if these experts, who are supposed to know the truth, don’t faithfully check up on these truths and instead work in a framework of lies. Their products and outputs would not be correct as this was based on lies, and again those that depend on them are harmed more than helped.
What I want to point out is that as Christians, who are supposed to be bearers of the truth, we must be careful about what we believe in, for what we believe in becomes the basis of our decisions. I have always said that as a Christian I do not believe in what I believe in because I simply choose to believe in it, but rather because it is the truth. It is not a matter of choosing what to believe in, but rather about discovering the truth. For Christianity is not just about beliefs, it’s about the truth. And when the truth a Christian believes in suddenly gets mixed up with lies, this destroys not just the Christian, but those that need the truth from the Christian, as this will affect the output, the mindset, the speech, the actions and the effect of the Christian on others.
For example, if a Christian truly believes that all Christians are destined to become millionaires on earth before they die, literally, then the Christian will act accordingly on that belief, speak accordingly with that belief, and make decisions based on that belief. However, if the Christian dies without ever getting his millions, what testimony is that to unbelievers? Unbelievers may generalize that all Christians have that “guaranteed millionaire” belief, and since they had witnessed for themselves that it is not true, they would dismiss any other efforts by true Christians to reach them. And this scenario is not at all unusual. Some people have hated Christianity, not for valid reasons, but rather for reasons such as a supposed Christian forcing an untrue belief on them, which was not a Christian truth to begin with. Such a crafty deception of the devil, indeed. Which is why I say, among all people, we Christians must be most careful about what we believe in. Which is why I hate untruths. Which is why I hate it when people believe in untruths, especially if those that believe in them are Christians! Even worse is when they endorse it, or when they preach it!
People have spread untruths for many centuries now. Hoaxes abound, from urban legends, new age beliefs, incorrect explanations, and untrue generalizations. As a college instructor who teaches Computer Science, I have seen many untruths regarding technology, from how viruses are supposed to work, to the degree of harmfulness of the Y2K bug (which I have long said since 1999 will not cause any major damage other than incorrect dates). Up to today, hoaxes flood our email inboxes from people who seem to believe anything they read over the Net. Some of these will instruct us to forward a message or do some other task, and some poor, deserving child will get money from it. Some hoaxes will reveal an insider secret and will ask us to avoid something after this revelation. But those who are faithful at seeking the truth will be able to determine which are true and which aren’t (and almost all aren’t). But what damage does it do, to believe and obey these hoaxes, you may ask. Apart from wasting bandwidth, the time of the reader or listener (and confusing the reader or listener with untruths) and causing trouble to true entities which are improperly named in the hoaxes [e.g. Make a Wish Foundation, Proctor and Gamble] (which are common reasons of hackers), it makes the believer of such untruths no longer credible, as it shows that people who are so easily deceived by such a simple deception may not be a dependable source of the truth. Thus, Christians must protect their testimony and their witness by being careful of what they believe in, otherwise no one may believe in them anymore, defeating the power of their testimony by their own haphazard, indiscriminate beliefs, and worse, unbelievers may generalize that all Christians are suckers who will believe anything, and thus they may think our faith in Jesus is just as unfounded and untrue.
Even worse is that, rather than spreading the truth, both Christians and non-Christians are spreading lies, whether they know it or not, thus deceiving more people, and then asking others to spread these lies even more, thus more people deceived by lies! And they dismiss this proliferation and swimming in a pool of lies as if it was nothing, and they are apathetic and at times not just tolerant, but accepting of it. But I am guessing that the father of lies is thrilled at the thought of once again being able to use and deceive Christians, to spread his lies and even ruin good names in the process, including the testimony of the Christians. Which is why the devil loves to inject seemingly correct but actually unbiblical teachings in churches. To further distract and destroy Christians in their walk with the Lord, and to inhibit the testimony of Christians to effectively reach souls.
I try to counter the proliferation of such mindsets by revealing falsehoods, and showing proof of the untruth of these. I am a skeptic. I would like to show that I have a critical mind, and can determine and prove fallacies when I see them. I hope that this builds a confidence in me that I am not so easily deceived. But no matter how much my skepticism is, I could not truly disprove to myself that God is true, nor the reason of Christ’s death on the cross. And that is why I hope one reason why I have credibility to say to the whole world that God exists, and His word is true, that in all that I know, that in all my skepticism, even I cannot deny God nor His word. Because it is true.
- A. L. E. -
(Originally written: 2006, August 21, 10:16 pm)
