When Martha Stewart was arrested the other week for lying, the prosecutor explained in a press conference that the case against Martha was not about her celebrityhood but her lies: "She didn't follow what parents have been telling their children for eons which is, 'When in a tight spot, lying is not the way out.' "
Is it just me, or does lying seem to be more and more in vogue lately? Deception has become entertaining, if not admirable. Even parents are laughing in front of their young children when they encounter lies and will defend a liar if it happens to be someone they like (Sammy Sosa being just one recent example).
I was watching a cable news channels at Easter in Ohio when a cutesy segment appeared about a new humor website winning international popularity for its list of quotes from Iraq's Information Officer ("Baghdad Bob"). For those who don't remember, Baghdad Bob told one televised whopper after another during the war and even President Bush was tuned in each day for the next good chuckle over the loveable liar's 100% false comments.
"The guy is a cult figure," boasted the site's creator in the cable news interview. "He told nothing but big fat lies and you've got to appreciate that." What's to appreciate? How has this all become so palatable that even the President is taking part openly?
In a 60 Minutes segment weeks back about Merrill Lynch's practice of purposefully lying to clients about stock values, State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said what shocked him the most was the utter brazenness of these Wall Street-types who thrived in a culture of, "If we can do it and nobody's raising a fuss or protest, let's just keep doing it."
"They didn't think they would get caught," testified Spitzer. "This was so pervasive on the street, I believe, that nobody believed that anybody was going to put a stop to it. And when we finally called them up and said, 'Look you guys, you can't be doing this,' the first response was, 'But everybody's doing it,' to which our response was, 'Who cares? The fact that somebody else is doing it is irrelevant. It's wrong, it's got to stop.' "
One of the more famous things Jesus Christ ever said was, "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:32) The bottomline is while it might seem that we keep more possibilities open (or gain an advantage) by telling a lie, it's a burden that gets bigger with each new lie we have to carry around and keep straight in our head.
Energy is literally sucked out with the lie. Not only do we damage our own equipment-- literally-- by consistently violating our own integrity, but we put an uncomfortable space between ourselves and anyone we lie to. I know for me, when I tell a lie there's often a palpable fear that I will be caught in it and it will be very embarrassing. Conversely, when I catch someone in a lie, a certain closeness with that person is lost. Suddenly there is disappointment. I think, "Wow, I can't believe I was lied to."
If you look up the word "truth" in Strong's Bible Concordance, it is used in the King James Version 278 times. When it comes to lies, the Bible tells us Satan is the father of them. John 8:44 says, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
One of the things that tells me we might be headed for the "last days" is that the level of lying keeps going up and it involves every segment of society, from the President (Clinton) and Enron execs to Roman Catholic priests and people suing fast-food chains for their flab.
It's not just blatant lies either, like, "I didn't have sex with that woman." It's in the subtlety of who we pretend to be, never showing our true colors--or even understanding the concept of being true to ourselves-- because we've spent so many years working on the facade as if it's the important thing our lives are to be about.
When the question is asked of anyone, "Do you prefer so-and-so put up a good front or be straight with you?" the answer is invariably, "I want to be told the truth." Jesus Christ tells us that as long as we think we're telling the truth when we're not, we cannot hear or see the truth for what it is and our life is clouded from the truth of God.
Look at this passage from Matthew 13: [13] Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. [14] And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: [15] For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
No human lie, no matter how subtle, goes unnoticed by God, according to the Bible. It says He knows our every thought. According to Matthew 10:30, "the very hairs of your head are all numbered." If telling the truth is the only way to truly love someone, it wouldn't make sense for the Bible to only be partially true. That would mean God is not interested in the deep emotional sharing that equates to love.
As a famous quote from C.S. Lewis says, "Jesus Christ was a liar. Either that or a complete raving lunatic. Oh yeah, there's one other option (and only one): He was, and is God, just as he claimed. If the claim was false, then either Jesus knew that, or he didn't. If it was false and he knew it, then by his intentional deception he has scammed the world with the greatest hoax ever conceived. Liars don't tend to make particularly good moral teachers. If, on the other hand, he honestly was convinced in his own mind that he was God (and wasn't) then it's pretty clear that he was a lunatic. The only remaining possibility, as implausible as it sounds, is that the claim was true: Jesus really is God. He really does love you. And he really can forgive your sins."