Is Lying The New Normal?

Everyone seems to be lying.

Pastors are lying, dodging and covering up groping incidents.

Politicians are lying, denying 'sweetheart deals' and secret meetings with 'the enemy.'

Business leaders are lying, shaving the truth in negotiations that are shady, lacking full-disclosure.

So, it wasn't a surprise recently, when Rudy Giuliani, a prominent lawyer and former mayor of New York City, declared on Meet the Press recently, "truth isn't truth."  

"...During an interview...the show’s host, Chuck Todd, asked...how Mr. Giuliani had responded to requests by...Robert S. Mueller III, to interview Mr. Trump...Mr. Giuliani replied he would not be rushed into having Mr. Trump testify “so that he gets trapped into perjury.”  “And when you tell me...he should testify because he’s going to tell the truth...well, that’s so silly because it’s somebody’s version of the truth. Not the truth”...“Truth is truth,” Mr. Todd insisted. “No, it isn’t truth. Truth isn’t truth” [Giuliani responded]...“Truth isn’t truth?” Mr. Todd asked, appearing stunned...“This is going to become a bad meme....” (emphasis added)  https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/19/us/giuliani-meet-the-press-truth-is-not-truth.html

Meme as in "...an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture.."    

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meme  In other words:  an idea, behavior, style, usage that spreads as a new normal.  

And frankly, lying as a meme, has.  

For there has been a death of truth in our culture http://wwwpaulmundey.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-death-of-truth.html, as fewer and fewer persons believe there is any objective baseline for determining precisely what is accurate, real and factual.  https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/truth

And so we 'fudge the truth' -- because few people tell the truth -- because many have given up ever finding -- or -- discovering the truth.  

But in spite of this meme -- this new normal -- the Truth of God -- the Word of God -- still prods us, admonishes us -- to strive for the truth.  

 “Do not lie to each other…”  (Colossians 3: 9).  For “the Lord detests lying lips, but…delights in men who are truthful…” (Proverbs 12:22).

The Amplified Bible is even more graphic:  

“Lying lips are extremely disgusting and hateful to the Lord, but they who deal faithfully are His delight.” (Proverbs 12:22, The Amplified Bible). 

So, it sounds like the meme, the new normal of downplaying truth, is not a mild infraction, but a major infraction.  For as Jesus goes on to teach, only...

"...The truth will set you free.” (John 8:32) 

Thus, we need to face the common, but hurtful habit of lying -- learning to value truth, and tell truth, again.   For starters... 

Acknowledge That Deceit Has Many ‘Forms And Expressions’.   

Frankly, at this point, some are 'checking out' on this topic.  I mean, after all, I’m not the pastor, politician, businessperson, you refer to. 

I don’t blatantly lie. 

Well, that might be technically accurate -- but Biblically we’ve all participated in some form of deceit -- for Biblically -- deceit has a wide range of expression/s. 

To be specific, deceit, biblically, has six different forms.  

• Blatant Deception. Jacob pretending to be his brother Esau in Genesis 27 (Genesis 27:1-40), directly lying to his father Isaac is a classic example. 

• Manufacturing Misleading Information.   Look no further than the brothers of Joseph misleading Joseph’s daddy in Genesis 37 (Genesis 37:31-36) to believe Joseph had been killed by wild animals.  

• ‘Clamming Up’ When You Know The Truth.  Sarah, the wife of Abraham, ‘heads in that direction’ in Genesis 20 as she remains silent knowing full-well she’s Abraham’s wife while becoming King Abimelech’s wife, all to cooperate with Abraham’s trickery (Genesis 20:1-2).  

• Slander.  Remember the Gentiles’ attempt to ‘smear’ Paul in 2 Corinthians 10, accusing him of being a lightweight teacher (2 Corinthians 10:10)?  

• Flattery.  A sorrowful example is Saul ‘buttering up’ David in 1 Samuel 18 (1 Samuel 18:22) while simultaneously plotting against David!  

• Exaggeration.  Why it’s right there in Matthew 4, on the mount of temptation, as the father of lies, the devil, promises Jesus ‘the moon,’ overstating outcomes if Jesus would just follow him (Matthew 4:1-11).  

It’s interesting, that last expression, exaggeration is especially common, known as the sin of politicians, salespeople, and naysayers.   

There’s a classic story about naysayer who tried to convince a small town, the town-pond had been invaded by frogs; hundred of frogs!  In fact, in due course, the naysayer said, the frogs would take over, and devour the town!  

And so the mayor sent a team to the pond to investigate.  And sure enough, the croaking sound was deafening, sounding like hundreds of frogs!  But as the team investigated further, they discovered that instead of hundreds of frogs, there was just one frog!!  A very cocky frog, who loved to exaggerate, stretching out his sound, croaking very, very loud!  

A lot of us croak very, very loud!  Sure, it might not be through a blatant lie – but we all stretch and distort the truth in some fashion.  So rather than ‘taking a pass’ on the topic before us – enter into the topic, with openness and humility.

For life advances as we... 

Face The Truth, Rather Than Distort The Truth

I find most of us spend most of our lives, running away from the truth.  

Is it any wonder, then, that most lie in some way?   We don’t tell the truth -- because we won’t face the truth -- beginning with the truth about ourselves!  

Along with Freud, French existentialists were some the of the earliest to name this human tendency.   

"...They understood that people often do selfish things without being aware of what they are doing. But they attributed this lack of awareness to “self-deception” (in French, mauvaise foi—bad faith), a tendency to avoid recognizing the reasons for one’s actions. Self-deception is nothing more than lying to oneself about the reasons for one’s actions. For the existentialists, then, self-deception is a form of cowardice—an inability to face up to the meaning of one’s decisions—and they argued that people have a moral obligation to overcome self-deception..."https://www.hoganassessments.com/self-deception-and-leadership

Actually, scripture 'bested' both Freud and the French, lifting up, long before their revelations, the tendency of the human heart to deceive.  Prophet Jeremiah, summarizes well, the conclusion of God's Word:

"...The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?..." (Jeremiah 17:9)

A glaring expression of heart-full deceit is the epidemic of self-deception, especially among leaders.  Whether it was President Richard Nixon's denial, he was ever a crook -- or Pastor Bill Hybel's denial he ever groped women -- or Businessman Ken Lay's denial he ever committed fraud -- self-deception has been rampant among the brightest and the best.  

The most dramatic example of self-deception, however, is of Leader-Peter, as in the Biblical-Peter, the so-called Rock, who asserted he would never deny His Lord, Jesus.   

"...Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night...Peter answered him, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!”… (Matthew 26:31-35)

But then, a few verses later...

"...Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came up to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you mean.” And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” And again he denied it with an oath: “I do not know the man.” After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.” Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed...And [Peter] went out and wept bitterly. (Matthew 26:69-75)

We too need to weep, as well, for we also have the same capacity as Peter to self-deceive.  

Thus, we need to periodically do our devotions in front of the mirror and literally face the truth, that even we are capable of lying to ourselves.  

Such brutal, painful self-awareness, will do much to help thwart our fallen, sinful tendency toward self-deception. 

Live A Straight-Forward Life, Letting Your ‘Yes Be Yes,’ And Your ‘No Be No.’   

Jesus says just that in The Sermon On The Mount.   “And do not swear…Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No.’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”  (Mathew 5:36-37).   It’s interesting, this text, along with Jesus’ earlier verses in The Sermon On the Mount about murder (Matthew 5:21-26) and adultery (Matthew 5:27-30), are summary statements, in straight-forward language, of key dictates from the ten commandments.   

In the case of the admonition to let your ‘yes be yes,’ and your ‘no be no’ it’s a summary statement of Exodus 20:16 – ‘do not give false testimony against your neighbor.”  (Exodus 20:16); translated:  do not lie! 

And in sum, how do you not lie? By letting your ‘yes be yes,’ and your ‘no be no,’ speaking in a straightforward fashion!   For as Solomon reminds us in Proverbs 12 

“…Reckless words [undisciplined words; words not straight and narrow] pierce like a sword…”  (Proverbs 12:18).  

And so, learn to speak ‘straight and narrow,’ disciplining your tongue to speak in a straightforward fashion, with both candor, and love!

One of the great Abraham Lincoln stories is how Lincoln came to grow his famous beard.  Seems an eleven-year-old girl by the name of Grace Bedell prompted Lincoln in that direction, through straightforward language, in a straight-forward letter, sent in the fall of 1860.  

“Dear Sir.” Grace wrote. “My father has just come home from the fair and brought [me] your picture...I have… [four] brother's… [and they’re going to] vote for you…[But you’d get more votes] if you let your whiskers grow…[Frankly you’d] look a great deal better, for your face is so thin! [You see] all the ladies like whiskers and [they’d badger] their husband's to vote for you, and then [you’d] be President…I must not write anymore; answer this letter right off! Goodbye! Grace Bedell.”

And with that, something big results, Lincoln’s presidency results!  But as a result of something simple, straight-forward and candid!

Something big often results -- when we’re simple, straight-forward and candid!   It’s the direct talk, the disciplined tongue, that yields the greatest outcomes in life!    

And so let your ‘yes be yes’ and your ‘no be no,’ because anything else slides toward twisted language and deceit.

Avoid twisted language and deceit!  I mean scripture is clear:  

“…Do not lie…”  (Colossians 3: 9).  For “the Lord…delights in men who are truthful…” (Proverbs 12:22). 

Just as God delights in the truth, so may we.

And so let’s tell the truth, and puncture the meme of deceit.  Establishing not the normal of the lie -- but the normal of the Truth... 

...That indeed -- is the only normal -- that can truly set us free!  (John 8:32)