You Can’t Handle The Truth???
This is the first of our Christianity 101 series.
He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. Psalm 101:7 (King James Version)
I will not allow deceivers to serve in my house, and liars will not stay in my presence. Psalm 101:7 (New Living Translation)
… and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone… Revelation 21:8 (King James Version)
Recently I was asked the question, what would make me tell a lie? I was a bit taken aback, I mean, being a Christian, is there any reasonable answer for that question other than: nothing? More than once I have been considered prudish because I view lying as detrimental to a Christian’s walk with God. I am not saying I am perfect nor am I saying I have never lied, but I do work very hard at telling the truth! Lying is still considered wrong, isn’t it?
The other day somebody told me that they fear God when it came to adultery and fornication but He understands lying! Kid you not!!! Why does lying come so easy to Christians? Let me ask you. Is it wrong to be at work and a caller to be told I am in a meeting just because I don’t want to talk? Is it wrong for a bill collector to be told I am not home because I don’t want to deal with them? Is it wrong for me to tell someone I haven’t seen in years that they look 10 years younger than they are; when in reality they look like the last rose of summer just to make them feel good? Does it not matter what the scripture/s (there are many) says about lying? Is it one of those things we see in the bible and ignore because certainly God could not have meant for us to tell the truth when lying comes so easy?
Here’s the thing, most of the time for me, when I have a personal relationship or daily contact with a person who lies, I get to the place where one of two things happen, #1. I can tell when they are lying and it makes me mad that they do it so often, FOR NO REASON or #2. I don’t know when to believe them because they do lie so often, therefore I have no trust in anything they say and that becomes a hard relationship to maintain. Once any relationship becomes contaminated with lies, for me, it is not really a relationship. And if they are a liar, I have found, no one is exempt from their dishonesty.
Apparently for many, heaven is not predicated on truth and honesty. A dear sweet woman I have known my entire life, that recently passed, would declare: if you’ll lie, you’ll steal and if you’ll steal, you’ll lie! Why are so many Christians liars and thieves!
One more thing, is deceit the same as a lie? I grew up witnessing, and in essence being taught, the art of deceiving. It was literally part of the course on “How To Be a Christian and Lie Without Actually Lying”. Is letting a person walk away believing something different than what is actually the truth deceit or a lie or both?
Can you tell I am troubled today? The magnitude of lying that goes on around me on a daily basis is monumental! What can I say? Isn’t telling the truth Christianity 101???
Holla back and tell me your TRUE feelings on this subject! Please don’t lie to me…
Ouch!!!!! I’ll admit, I have definitely lied before and there’s always a price to be paid, whether you pay up front or in the end. Lying is as much sin as adultery, fornication, stealing or killing. At work, I’m in a position that could almost require the need to lie or twist the truth for the sake of our employees that don’t want to talk to some of their callers on the phone. So in those instances I do the best I can to be honest with the customer and not get our employee in trouble, or myself for not outright lying for them. It’s a really tight situation that I have to deal with every day and I honestly struggle with it.
I believe being deceitful is the cousin to lying. I just don’t know if the penalty is the same. It is a tangled web – as the saying goes. Somebody else please help me out.
lol, I hear you and I understand.
TRUTH-Do any of us even know the truth? Other than the word of God and even that gets distorted as it is spoken out of the mouths of the wicked. We spend our whole lives living in a world that is the “Truth as we know it..” Sometimes truth is how we perceive it with the amount of knowledge we are given. Is this always a lie? Not necessarily. Sometimes is because we lack the ability to see a situation in it’s entire capacity. Sometimes we blind ourselves to the truth. We do this in our homes, in our relationships, on the job and sadly in our walks with God. Sometimes we tell ourselves “what we don’t know won’t hurt us” and play dumb. What we need to realize is that it is as much wrong to deny ourselves of the truth as it is to deny others the truth. Even where the word of God may be presented incorrectly, we are given the Holy Spirit to guide us in wisdom. When someone is lying to you and something just isn’t sitting right with you, that my friend is the Holy Spirit. We are surrounded by lies and deceit. It’s a big bad world out there. We have got to guard ourselves up with the whole armour of Christ and speak and live truth every day. By living in the truth, we will begin to see situations and people for who and what they are. God will expand our vision and we will begin to see things through His eyes. The devil is a liar and all lies come from him…there are no “little white lies.” A lie is a lie and truth will expose a liar. That’s my 2 cents worth.
Trust me Seth, that was way more than two cents! Amen and amen!
People lie,even those that usually tell the truth and claim to be christians. I pride myself on being truthful…most of the time. I am extremely critical of liars, thourghly disgusted when I’m lied to, and I tend to not think about the times when I have failed. God is forgiving and has mercy on me and for that I am thankful. No one is perfect and a lie is no different than any other sin. When we point fingers and criticize from our high horses we must remember that all have sinned and come short… I’m working on me, myself, and I. Doing whats right is not always easy but we cant give up. Keep me in your prayers.
You are absolutely right. We all have to work on ourselves daily. I too have sinned and come short of the glory of God however, I recognize lying as wrong and make no excuse for myself when I do it! My whole point is that I am surrounded by those who believe lying is ok and still call themselves Christians. It is exhausting to deal with a liar!
WHEW!!!!!!! Hot and much needed topic. I admit that while I wouldn’t necesssarily call myself a liar, I have been decitful when it comes to leaving out parts of information or just letting one think one thing when there was less or more to it. I’m so glad I serve both a merciful and forgiving God who loves me enough to show me myself to do better NOW. I love all of the comments left so far and know God is still working on Karol Ann but I guess I’m striving harder in 2009 to take on Christ in His fulness and be the KINGDOM BUILDER He requires and that means living HOLY EACH AND EVERY DAY. I still fall short…but I’m striving. So many people these days call themselves Christians but are so in name only and haven’t had the true Apostolic Exxperience that allows them to have power to overcome anything, much less lying! Anything goes with them and they fill that just saying something like “Lord, forgive me” even though it’s a trillion times a day or so, is all that is needed it’s not. With the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit comes power to overcome ALL sins!! I’ve gone on too much…I need you to (as Buzzy likes to say…)Pray my strength in the Lord!!!!
Ok, I’m gonna have to get together a love offering to send to all of y’all!
So who on here doesn’t lie? Hands raised.
Hi Mary. Is your hand raised? Just curious.
BOTH…And you?
First giving honor to God who is the head of my life!! I thank God for his loving kindness, tender mercies, and his grace that are new EVERY morning. I have done things……whew!. But, like everyone else has said, we all have sinned and fallen short in one area or another. One is no worse than the other. Sin is sin. Period. But sometimes I think when we overcome in an area we can become judgmental towards someone who’s struggling in another area. No, we shouldn’t lie.
There are other things that we shouldn’t do like over eat. The church is sooooo bad about our eating habits. This is a whole other area we could spend some time on. Why do church folk talk about drinking, smoking, fornication, adultery, killing, stealing but we can go and eat ourselves to death. Literally! The bible CLEARLY talks about being a glutton. Most scriptures that talk about being a glutton deals with being lazy. The bible puts the two together. Has anyone seen Marvin Sapp, Fred Hammond, John P, the person sitting next to you on your pew. Shoot!
Enough. I’m done. Everybody stop lying :0)
I don’t lie. I have probably been more guilty of deceit on occasion-leaving out key components of a story-than ever lying. Both are wrong. It’s a daily walk and we have to look to God daily for the brand new mercies He gives.This topic is genuinely tough for those who work with the public..I know. It’s just so easy to tell an untruth in certain situations. Think about pastors, priests,ministers and the like….yourself!! especially when you don’t want to be disturbed/bothered!! I really hate being lied to!! I don’t feel that I’m that unapproachable that someone would have to lie to me. I guess we just have to “pray each others strength.”
Let me clarify if anyone got the idea I was on a high horse or judgmental, because I’m not, I have defintitely done my share of lying and especially deceiving in my days and probably will again but pray God I can be delivered from it altogether! That was not my point of this post. My point was whether I lie, you lie, Loddie, Doddie or anybody, lying is wrong. But I am around folks who do it as a sport and will openly admit they lie and they are alright with it! That is what I was saying. Bing lied to is so hurtful and makes you mad and strips trust. So no, I am not better than any other liar if I lie, I just will admit if I do it, I am wrong!!!
Now to you Karen, I know! I vividly (well, letting me stop lying, my vision isn’t that good anymore) remember asking a question about that in bible class many years ago. I kind of got shot down. My question went something like this: will we as saints be considered sinning and go to hell for using illegal drugs? And what if we die from the conditions that arise from the use of drugs? vs. We will be considered sinning and going to hell for the use of (our drug of choice) food inappropriately and what if we die from conditions that arise from the abuse of food?
Lawd have mercy! Let’s talk about the trust factor. The trust that is lost when you find out you have been lied to. Lied to by someone who considers you their friend. I know biblically you are to forgive but…….. This has recently happened to me. Then the bama will call like ain’t nothing going on. Well, we don’t talk on a regular basis but still. What the world!!!
“I don’t lie. I have probably been more guilty of deceit on occasion-leaving out key components of a story-than ever lying.”
Kathy I thnk you told me you are a P.K. My daddy said the bible teachs that deceit is a lie. I’m not sure how you think they are different……
I don’t think they are different.
Okayyyyyyyy..
I had a dear old friend make me a promise today and I know she wasn’t going to fullfill it. Am I mad at her? No. I already knew she wouldn’t…
That’s too bad! Funny thing, I gave my word to someone today and I kept it and intend to keep it! When you break a promise to someone, again, that is lying! And trust me, I’ve broken many, but that is another area I am working on! The only way I believe breaking a promise is ok is if you discuss it with the person you made it to.
I’m sorry your friend didn’t fulfill the promise…
It’s ok. I have to keep a forgiving heart. I have too many flaws to be holding grudges. At least you kept your promise. I admire you for that. Some people can really make excuses when it comes to breaking promises as if that excuses them from their oath.
Can you imagine if God did us that way….
“OH GEE MOSES I’M SORRY. I PROMISED I’D WATER THE PLAINS OF MOAB. SORRY BUT I CAN’T HOLD UP THESE WATERS ANY LONGER.”
I am having sum day. I feel like going and getting me a fifth of Wild Irish Rose a pack of Virginia Slims and just back sliding til in the morning…… MIght as well let the mail man in too….
Wow! As a fellow believer, I believe it’s my (our) responsibility to pray for one another when we see our brothers and sisters in that mode. So…Father, I ask you to bless my sister, Mary, right now with strength to make it through the rest of this day with your glorious peace that passes all understanding. Your word declares that No weapon formed against us shall prosper, and that we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. Mary, stand in your victory, knowing that greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world! Remember, one can chase a thousand, but two can put 10,000 to flight. When you multiple that by everybody else that is here to support you, you can rest assured that no devil in hell can defeat you. You’ve got the victory.
Glory! That was a powerful prayer Monique. Amen and Amen
Well Praise Him! And receive it for yourself, if you need it too!
IT’S A MIRACLE. I’M HEALED!!!
Seriously thank you. I was just venting. When I vent I vent. Are you married? If so ever feel like pushing your husband off a cliff?
Well it started this morning. I get up cook him breakfast and he starts in on me because one of his egg yolks had broken and ran into his muffin. Then he wanted to know what I spent $25.00 dollars on at Penny’s on Wed Feb 18th. As if I remember….
Then he called and wanted me to do this and do that. I finally had enough and told him that I was busy trying to get the smoke detectors and air filter schanged. He hung up on me….
So needless to say I’m ready to choke him…..MEN! Sometimes they are only good for one thing…….their credit card
Mary,
I know what you mean. The fact that you get up and cook breakfast during the week is amazing to me. It’s a weekend only thing for us and that’s his specialty. But he truly rides me when I don’t take my cell phone with me to work, like I did yesterday. And you are blessed if your husband is good for his credit card. I don’t have that testimony.
LOL.. I guess every one of them is missing more than just a rib. We marry them, cook, clean and they think we’re their personal maids. Well I know one thing he WON”T be enjoying anytime soon…
I have some new 4 inch red stilleto’s from Fredericks and some really interesting “accessories.” I think I’ll slip into something very comfortable and walk past him, into one of the other bedrooms with a good book. He can eat left overs and spend the night considering his ugly ways.
And I confess to being angry….MAD!
Gurl, if you are still buying from Frederick’s …I ain’t mad atcha. Just don’t make him wait too long. You know what stilleto’s and the right accessories do for men.
A lie is a statement/act of untruth…a misinterpretation
One can be deceived by lies and/or facts.
sorry, a misrepresentation
LOL Monique. A couple of days in the cooler does for a man what yeast does for home made bread…
I like Fredericks and a couple of other place we have around here. I have to be careful when I shop because they sell other “items” and I don’t want people in the church getting the wrong idea. I have silk night gowns with feathers around the collars and some with fake jewels, some Arabian costums with the silk scarves ect. Plus a cute nursess outfit and some other things I won’t go into, but he has no reason to cheat or lie.
He may be the man, but I’m the woman…
Garage dooor going up GTG!>>>>>>>LOL
He came in. Spoke to me. I acted like I didn’t hear him. I saw him look me over. Asked if I was ok. I lied and said I’m fine. Asked what was for dinner. I told him I didn’t feel well. Another lie. I’m thinking about this post and asking myself why I’m lying and I can’t even make me stop. Flesh is driving and I’m a hostage.
So he fixes something to eat, as I glide past him, out the room, up the stair sinto one of the spare bedrooms. I lock the door, and watch T.V.
Nine pm he knocks and asks if we can talk. I tell him I don’t feel good. Another lie because I’m perfectly fine. Just still mad. He apologizes and I tell him we can talk about it tomorrow. Since I was mad all day he can be mad all night.
Ten pm I get a call from the pastor because he was wondering if I was sick because Mr. Jay had called him asking for prayer for me. Now I can’t lie so I tell the pastor that I’m just fine, which when I think about it is another lie.
So here I am, almost midnight and I can’t sleep. Msybe I didn’t lie after all. Maybe I was just deceitful. Anyway I know I’m not fixing breakfast tomorrow and I’m staying in this room until he’s gone.
He knows he disrespected me by now. This is our first fight in 2 years….
One thing for sure this post made me realize that I have to stop lying so much…Ok well I need to stop lyiing totally.
I probably won’t get on here tomorrow because I’m so ashamed of myself.
Mary, the truth will make you free. Now that you realize some truths about the situation you can deal with it head on. But you need to deal with what’s going on with your husband. If he went to the trouble of calling your pastor you know he was concerned. You guys need to talk it all out. It might be a little uncomfortable to tell him how he made you feel and not be angry while you’re telling him, but you must keep a level head and show some remorse for knowing you didn’t tell him the truth last night. If you loved him enough to marry him, then love him enough to tell him the truth and work through this. Marriage is a learning process. Nobody goes in knowing completely how to be married and how to deal with the roller coaster of emotions you’ll face. It’s not easy all the time, but in order for it to work, you’ve both got to work at it.
Guys like my husband need a “check up” every once and a while. I’ve never stood for being treated badly and he knows it. He left a nice long note apologizing this morning so I’ll probably take him lunch to the office.
My purpose has been accomplished. I want him afraid to go there with me. If he’s got a problem with me there’s a respectful way to deal with it. I do the same for him. As for me lying well that’s another story entirely. I’m going to start keeping count. ( That’s probably a lie also)
If anybody is still reading this, I was sitting here in my office. My co-worker, the admin asst. who answers the phone, was in here. The phone rang. Because she wasn’t at her desk, I answered it. It was for her. She so easily said to me, tell him I am in a meeting. I said, I am not telling him that! She called me a B___ and gets up and takes the call in my office. Then finishes it and proceeds to fuss me out about it! I said, I’m sorry I won’t lie for you. She said what if… and started to give me a scenario where my boss would ask me to do something similar and I cut her off and said, I am not lying for any of you! If you guys don’t want to be bothered with someone calling, you get on the phone and tell them! (I know that defeats the whole purpose right? But still!) I told her, I am not self righteous but I am not going to hell behind you guys!
I think since I wrote this post the devil has tried me coming and going about this very thing! PLEASE… pray my strength in the Lord!!!
First and foremost, I firmly don’t believe in greater sins. Better yet, I don’t believe that God will view a liar differently then an adulteress! It somewhat troubling to me when people flat out sin, “out in the open”, then stand up in all righteousness and say that they think one sin will be viewed better or worst in the eyes of God… I try not to lie, as a matter of fact, some view me as blunt, bold, and outspoken; because I will speak my mind and tell the truth. I have however, tried to keep from hurting people feeling or talking to those that I have no good news for and the likes, which in turn makes me a liar. I recently asked a good friend and co-worker to tell a contractor that I was in a conference; because I didn’t have any good news for him and didn’t want to take his call. My boss put the poor guy on the back burner; whereas, I didn’t want to tell him there were no changes, she still refused to pay the invoice. Well, the good friend/co-worker went BALLISTIC. She was outraged that I asked her to lie…”I’m not going to Hell for you and no one else”. I had to walk out of her office, for fear of her head starting to spin around! I later went back and apologized, at her request for “tying to send her to HELL”. Lesson learned, don’t asks people to compromise their morals and principles, especially when it comes to sinning…
Wow, it funny how two people can see the same story so differently, unbelievable!
@CarolRWM – It is fascinating and, as you say, unbelievable that two people see the same story different and, I will add, leave out crucial facts when repeating it! So let me get this straight, did you call her a B_____ when she refused to tell the lie for you? And from your above comment it appears you are implying, you walked into your friend/coworkers office just to apologize, right??? or was it more like you walked in and told her you wanted to give her the opportunity to apologize to you before you went home for the night?? and she did. And then as you begin to walk out of the office, after she willingly apologized to you, she stopped you and asked you if you were going to apologize to her for calling her a B___? Sound right, true and correct???
Small, mere incidents don’t matter in this case. The fact is I will not asks my friend/co-worker that sits up high, to lie for me.
This question is for any and everyone out there. Perhaps a true bible scholar or just someone entrenched in the word of God. Where in the word does it say, God views all sins the same? I don’t know. I am just asking. But do we know for sure that he views no sin greater than another? The judicial system views some crimes greater than others thus the sentence is greater. I know when was growing up, my parents viewed some things we did worse than others and those things warranted a greater punishment than other things. I know as a mother I viewed some of my children’s behavior worse than others and disciplined/punished them accordingly. I’d say confidently, if I make a mistake at work that cost the company $10.00, a little slap on the wrist will do. If I make a mistake that cost the company thousands of dollars, I’m sure, that mistake will be viewed as a greater wrong/mistake. Is God that different?
I need to know the exact scripture and the context surrounding the scripture that says, God views no sin greater than any other. He destroyed a city in one instant! Yet there is the story where they brought the woman overtaken in adultery to Jesus and he doodled in the dirt and seemingly ignored her accusers and finally told the woman to go and sin no more. It appears there are times and situations where God did view some sins/sinners different/greater than others.
Help me here. Talk back to me on this one. I could be totally wrong.
@CarolRWM – Oh, when I spelled it out and called it exactly as it was, it is a small and mere incident! Before you were in disbelief about the variations in the stories! lol.
If you want to consider a person that chooses not to purposely and knowingly lie (a spiritual sin and moral wrong) (and especially for someone else) sitting up high, that says a lot about you. It is amazing how doing the right thing gets you considered sitting on high. I guess I would be more hip and acceptable if I lie. That’s ok, call me what you will. They called Jesus worse. I probably shouldn’t have even responded to that accusation.
TRUTH – Christians are the best liars. Yes, I said it! We are taught well by our some church leaders, some christian family members, and some christian friends. We say we believe that He died on the cross for our sins so that we could have an abundant life, yet we live like poor, needy folk; we say that we believe and follow the commandments, yet the first, and most important is LOVE, by which everything else is based on, and if we can’t do that, then it’s hard to follow the rest of them; we believe that there is no condemnation, yet we look down at folk like we are better! We are ALL sinners! We ALL fall short! None of us is worthy, yet He loved us enough to WILLINGLY die for our sins! WOW! All He asks is that we love one another in return, follow His example, and tell others about how AWESOME He is! If you follow the TRUTH, you can’t do anything but tell the truth.