I have a friend who shared with me
years back something I’ve never forgotten.
He spoke of lying as being “the second natural sin”. When I queried him about what he meant by
that, he said, “The first natural sin is any weakness or temptation an
individual gives in to, the second natural sin is to lie about the first.” There’s a great deal of truth in that
observation. But the fact is any
deliberate distortion or misrepresentation of what is true is a lie. Motives for lying may vary, but the ugly
consequences of those lies are what make it such a heinous sin.
Truth really does matter – a
lot. The more we see it disrespected and
disregarded the worse off we will all find ourselves. This particularly holds
true in the public forums of media and politics.
For instance, lies repeated often enough
can supplant the truth so completely that truth is no longer seen as true. A heartbreaking example of this is what
happened in Ferguson, Missouri. The
Department of Justice report on the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson makes
it quite clear that Officer Darren Clark’s actions were justified. It is a lie that Brown had his hands up when
he was shot. While certain eyewitnesses
at the time asserted he had raised his hands in surrender, that claim has since
been disproven beyond a shadow of a doubt.
However, by the time the truth came out, the alternate version, based on
a lie, had been repeated so often it was seen as true. As a result, “hands up, don’t shoot” has now
become a chant at protests, printed on the fronts of t-shirts, and symbolically
represented by some of our elected officials.
It’s based on a lie – a lie that has become the truth in the minds of
many.
In conjunction with this, another
complication that comes from playing loose and fast with the truth is that
people become very cynical. The American
people have been lied to so often by government officials that when they’re
told the truth, they don’t believe it.
That is very much a part of the fabric of what is going on in
Ferguson. Many still don’t believe the
DOJ findings. As I mentioned in a
previous article, there was recently another incident of a police officer
shooting a black suspect in Muskogee, Oklahoma.
The immediate cries of outrage were only quieted by the fact the officer
had a body camera which had recorded the whole incident. Fortunately, it did not come down to a matter
of the officer’s word or bystander’s eyewitness testimony to verify what
actually happened during the shooting, but videotape instead. No one had to take anyone’s word for what occurred. There was no conflicting testimony. The existence of the tape quickly ended what
would probably have been another racially charged situation. It’s a shame that people’s word is no longer
good enough in such circumstances. But
such testimony has become tainted by too many people who have lied too often.
One of the big problems with lying
is all the unforeseen damages a lie can do – even when that lie may have been
told with the best of intentions. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the
story of David’s visit to Nob shared in 1 Samuel 21, but it is instructional. David, fleeing from Saul, comes to Nob with
no food or weapon. He lies to the
priest, Ahimelech, who is said to be “trembling” at David’s visit, saying he
comes on the king’s business.
Apparently, Ahimelech buys David’s explanation for his lack of
provisions, and provides David with holy bread and Goliath’s sword. I’m sure David, in desperate straits at the
time, wished no harm on Ahimelech or the little village. Yet, his lie, which brings Ahimelech’s
cooperation, will result in that whole village being slaughtered on the order
of an insanely jealous king Saul (1 Samuel 22:6-19). We are not told, but I have often wondered,
how David felt when he learned that his deception had resulted in the slaughter
of hundreds of innocent people. A lie
told, even with the best of intentions and no harm meant, can have catastrophic
ramifications.
I
don’t know what was in President Obama’s heart when he repeatedly stated “If
you like your health care, you can keep it.” We now know he knew that was a bald-faced
lie. Perhaps it was justified in his
mind by the millions of people without insurance who would be covered if
Obamacare went into effect. Maybe the
rationale was that some would be hurt, but many would be helped.
In
fact, there have been very real repercussions for folks who very much liked
their insurance and then had it cancelled out from underneath them. Horror story after horror story has been told
of lost coverages and catastrophic increases in costs suffered by those who
believed the lie. I have a good friend I
visited with the other day who is a victim.
He now has insurance through Obamacare, but it seems to him he has no
coverage. His out of pocket expenses
have caused him to max out his credit cards.
Again and again, he is finding his insurance doesn’t cover the
treatments needed for his illness. He
liked his previous coverage, but he couldn’t keep it. Now, he is in desperate straits. Perhaps if Obama had told the truth about
loss of coverage the law would not have passed.
We’ll never know. What we do know
is there are real victims, not just beneficiaries, of the lies told in order to
see it passed.
It
really bothers me that, as a people here in America, we seem to have become
resigned to the fact that most folks, in particular our government leaders, are
going to lie to us. Examples are
embarrassingly, painfully easy to cite.
They range from Bill Clinton’s “I did not have sex with that young
woman,” to Republicans in the recent election running on the promise to
overturn Obamacare and stand against immigration amnesty, only to conveniently
forget those promises as soon as they got to Washington. Playing loose and fast with the truth seems
to occur so blatantly and so often that lies are now too often met with a shrug
of the shoulders and roll of the eyes.
“Oh well, what did you expect?”
Unless
we expect and demand the truth, unless we hold those in public office genuinely
accountable for their prevarications, all we can ever expect is more of the
same. As long as we re-elect lying
liars, and support a corrupt media, things are not going to change.
I, for one, am
through holding my nose and voting not so much for someone as against his/her
opponent’s election. I’m sick of being
lied to. From now on, if I can’t vote
for someone of genuine, demonstrated integrity, I’m not going to vote. Supporting one candidate simply because he or
she is a little less evil or vile than the other is over for me. A nation built on a tissue of lies has a
lousy foundation. If enough of us say “enough is enough”
something will have to change – and change it must if this country is to
survive.
