The Preciousness of Truth—The High Cost of Dishonesty
Perhaps like
the beloved grandfather I never got the chance to be, I am writing
especially to younger folks,. I'm the oldest of 4 sons, the oldest
of the cousins on one side, and third oldest on the other side of my
extended family. My youngest brother was born when I was fifteen,
and I was his frequent baby-sitter. I often gravitated toward the
elderly because so many that I grew up with were older—grand
parents, a couple great grands, aunts and uncles and great grands
there as well, and my parents' friends. I also have always had a
love for kids. After our father died, I discovered I had a concern
for others, like my brothers, going through loss or alienation from
their dads. I've lost track of how many in their teens and twenties,
mostly boys perhaps because I had only brothers, I befriended. I
have been a friend, mentor, tutor, and teacher to young men and a few
young ladies growing into adulthood, some have even lived with me. I
found them in coffee shops, restaurants, homes of friends my own age,
and schools and churches. Teaching was always an option, and it
eventually became my work for a time, primarily from my love for
young people. As a Christian man, a pastor, and some time counselor,
I have always tried to be a good adult friend who gave wise direction
and insight (as contrasted to peer friends who often seem to
encourage rebellion and disobedience).
Two qualities
have been defining pillars in my journey through life: truth and
love. My first sermon as a teenager addressed love as the Bible,
inspired by God, teaches. One of my first public addresses outside
the church was a baccalaureate message at the local high school in
the town where I was a new pastor. On that occasion I spoke about
truth; in particular I expressed my growing concern about how our
culture was abandoning truth. In that, I identified two urgent
matters. One was, and still is, the idea that absolute truth does
not exist, accompanied by the assumption that there is no right or
wrong. From this assumption, perhaps itself rarely considered, comes
the second urgent matter (or at least it should be urgent). This
second matter is dishonesty, you know, lying, deceit, false promises,
and so on. While both are important, this second one is my focus
here.
I'm guessing
most of you might agree that lying, at least in our personal lives,
is a problem. I cannot trust a person who lies to me. I mean, isn't
that rather obvious? For me, the depth and value of any relationship
is measured by my ability to trust that person and by my commitment
to be found trustworthy by them. I want to say that, without honesty
and trust, any relationship is nothing, but perhaps it would be
better to say, without honesty and trust, I don't know, can't know,
what I have! I may be drawn to a person, even sexually attracted,
but without trust, how can there be love?
Now, if for
some reason, this isn't obvious to you, I'd ask you to stop and
evaluate. I have observed so many people react with anger to
betrayal, even the suspicion of betrayal, which is a violation of
trust and an indication of deceit and dishonesty. What good is a
promise that may easily be broken? In our dealings with people, we
must, of necessity, begin by trusting; if we begin with doubt and an
unwillingness to give the benefit of the doubt, we will never trust.
This is where the saying, “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me
twice, shame on me!” gains validity; we may trust once and be
betrayed, but we should avoid being betrayed repeatedly.
That word,
“fool,” has a certain doubled sense; to be fooled is to have
another lie to you, and to be lied to is to be made the fool, treated
with disrespect, and regarded as inferior. This is where the broader
problem of lying, dishonesty, promises made without intent to keep
them, and being manipulated and taken as a fool without true respect
should trouble us, regardless of age, generation, education,
ethnicity, or party.
The President
routinely calls mainstream and cable news providers “fake news.”
I think they, and far too many politicians, have become dispensers of
propaganda. They mostly use their roles as “reporters” of news
(and politicians as solvers of nonexistent problems) to deceive,
manipulate, hide and misdirect truth while promoting false
narratives, or “fake news”. Sadly their words are worse than
“fake news,” which tends to sound innocuous, kind of like
fiction. However, in this dangerous real world, fictional narratives
are not only hurtful, to those intended to be destroyed by
them; lies, deception, and propaganda represent real harm to certain
groups of people and ultimately the entire citizenry, except perhaps
the scoundrels seeking to profit from them. We must be aware that
liars don't care whom they hurt as long as it is not themselves!
I'm not going
to tell you who those scoundrels are. I don't want to turn this into
a polarizing debate. I do want to tell you whom they are trying to
mislead and manipulate. It is you! Their
target is anyone who will listen uncritically, who will give them an
assumed credibility because of who they are, the labels or
credentials they have, or what they do—teacher, journalist,
professor, candidate, talking head, author, so-called expert,
scientist, celebrity, preacher or religious leader, broadcaster,
You-tuber, blogger, or pod-caster, athlete, or even an elected
representative!
For
years now, we have been inundated with garbage via mail, fax, email,
and now social media. It really upsets me to receive, personally or
generally, copies of such material passed on as gospel, at times
simply because it is there! I check things frequently, and then I
tell people that the post, article, email, or whatever is
not true!
I try to kindly suggest they need to check and verify before they
give lies and deception the benefit of their endorsement. I'm a
Christian, and many of my friends and acquaintances are also
Christians. Truth is important to us (presumably), and we need not
to be careless with passing on untruth. Yet, ironically, even some
family, friends, and fellow believers get upset with me for exposing
garbage for what it is!
Obviously, I believe truth matters. I don't know how we function in
anything without true, valid, and accurate information. Science
isn't truth, per se, but honest and validated scientific data is
critically important. However, the word “science” doesn't prove
what a person says is truth. People without credentials or training
abuse the word science all the time, and true scientists are not
automatically correct or truthful. They sometimes, perhaps even
often, get it wrong, which is why the “repeatability of the
experiment” is a basic of true scientific validation. Sometimes
even scientists lie to gain fame or position or money, the same
reason many of those I listed above lie.
I could add, at this point, some of the documentation that reveals
the problem I'm discussing here, and I may do that, in due course.
For now, I just want to challenge you:
Please,
learn to be a critical thinker and learn to listen
with
a measure of skepticism.
Our
country and culture, our very freedom are at stake!
The following are a few questions I would challenge you to ask or
seek answers to:
- Does a message you read or hear sound too good to be true? Find out!
- How are we going to pay for what is proposed? Familiarize yourself with the US Debt Clock and our Gross National Product. Learn for yourself the price of false promises.
- Why do you believe anyone in particular? Should you? What is their true goal or desire? Are you inclined to accept that anything in print is true? Anything posted on Facebook or Twitter? Anything sent by a friend?
- Do you believe people are basically good? What do you know of this person's background? Give your trust cautiously.
- Are you aware of the possibility of “unintended consequences”?
As a Christian myself, my value system is not merely to achieve what I want but to do what God's offers as both his hope for us and what his wisdom suggests will give us a good and godly life. I just posted my thoughts on that here/
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