When Did Truth Become Relative/Live It!

It's telling that out of the seven things that the Bible says God hates, two involve lying.


"There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers." (Proverbs 6:16-19)



The Old Testament book of Proverbs is a treatise to young men filled with practical advice for successful living. The bottom-line of the book is that if you want a full and prosperous life, you'll observe certain precepts of personal discipline and relational etiquette.



Lying falls into the category of "really bad moves" not only for the damage it creates in others' lives, but for the fallout you reap in your own life when you spread falsehoods. Here are some examples:

• whatever you gain from lying will be lost quickly


• lying eventually leads to personal destruction


• lying will bring personal shame and disgrace


• a false witness will cause permanent losses


• a leader who lies will be embarrassed and worse


• a liar will lose his freedom


• a false witness won't get away with his lies and will be punished


• the fortune made by a lying tongue will become a trap that leads to personal destruction


• a liar hates those he hurts

You've seen it. People may get away with it for a time and even seem successful in the midst of it. But, the lies do come home to roost, and then there's hell to pay. Literally. (Can you say Enron?)

You must make a personal decision to resist the temptation of lying in order to protect yourself, damage another person, or to gain. The way you do this is to make the determination NOT to resort to lying before the tempting situation ever presents itself.



Then you practice honesty in the small stuff, like returning money when you receive more change than you're due and admitting a mistake rather than making up something to cover your tracks. Then you apply honesty to the larger stuff, like not exaggerating your resume and not cheating on your income tax. Eventually, you build a habit of truthfulness to the point that even when you're blindsided by a tough situation, your first response is honesty.



It's a good place to be. Tough at times, but the rewards of a life honestly lived are sweet.



'Talk at you next week.

When Did Truth Become Relative?/ Go Deep

Why is lying such an atrocity? Oops--did I use the "L" word? Pardon my political incorrectness. But that's part of what is so disturbing about this truthless trend in our culture today. Not only do people routinely speak falsehoods to gain their way, no one seems willing to hold them accountable and call a lie a lie.

All the reporter who was interviewing Garamendi would have had to do to expose the untruth in the Lt. Governor's statement would have been to cite McHale's figures of available National Guard and then ask, "How is it that you have not called for any of those available troops if the fire fighting effort is in such dire need of that manpower?"

I believe it is often a lack of preparation on the part of reporters that allows these lies to go unchecked. At times it's a lack of resolve to ask the hard questions. But more disturbing, it seems that at other times the reporter's ideology is in line with the speaker's position and, therefore, why question the untruth when it serves a mutual ideology?

But I digress.

At the core of all lying is a selfishness that by definition puts self above the welfare of others. Think about it. People lie to protect themselves when they've done something that has wronged others. People lie to benefit themselves over the interests of others. And when people say they are lying to protect someone, don't believe it. More than likely they are protecting themselves from handling an unpleasant responsibility.

Now, consider that lying is becoming an accepted element of the relational landscape. It seems that if it serves your interests, it's okay to use untruth as a tool. It's also often an effective tool, which makes it all the more attractive to apply. Then consider how lying seems to be reaching into the highest levels of government, business, education and a myriad of other social institutions.

Where does it leave us as a society? In deep trouble.

So how do we turn it around? I believe it starts with me and it starts with you.

When Did Truth Become Relative?/Think About It!

truth \ˈtrüth\ noun 2a (1): the state of being the case : fact (2): the body of real things, events, and facts : actuality

The Merriam-Webster dictionary seems to have good handle on what "truth" is. Truth is fact. Truth is what is actual. Yet, today, we continually see people play fast and loose with the truth. We hear people speak words as if they represented facts when in actuality they have no relationship with what is real.

One of the most visible examples of this untruth telling happened this past week when California Lt. Governor John Garamendi said outright that the United States war effort in Iraq was keeping National Guard assets overseas and unavailable to help state and local authorities fight fast-moving wildfires in Southern California. In effect, and in the context of his comments, Garamendi wanted to blame President George W. Bush for the widespread devastation. (Apparently, the dry conditions and 70 m.p.h. winds had less to do with the uncontrollable fire than President Bush's policy decisions.)

And yet, about that same time, Assistant Defense Secretary Paul McHale answered a reporter's question by saying "unequivocally" that the war in Iraq has had no negative effect on the federal government's ability to assist civilian authorities in fighting the quickly spreading fires. In fact, according to McHale, there were about 17,000 National Guard available at that time to assist with the fire-fighting effort; but they were not needed and apparently neither state nor local authorities had asked for their involvement.

"There is no manpower shortage," McHale said flatly. (See FoxNews.com story by Associated Press Writer Pauline Jelinek, October 23, 2007.)

I'm not intending to be political. It's just that Garamendi's misstatement of the facts is a great example of an unfortunate trend we're seeing in today's culture. Many are stating opinion or perceptions or even well-strategized propaganda as if they were presenting the truth. We especially see it in politics today--both on the left and the right. It's a travesty, and it's making its way into everyday life.

At one time in this country, truth was a higher principle that trumped any human agenda. But it seems that--today--truth very often takes a back seat to whatever goal an individual or organization sets as the priority. Afterall, the end does justify the means, doesn't it?

My question to you is a personal one? Will you be one of those who considers truth sacred? Will you be one who will speak the truth even when it hurts? Will you be a man of integrity? Think about it!