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Sunday, June 13, 2010

Hurtful and Harmful Words - part 2

Hurtful And Harmful Words

2. Lying Words
Clubhouse Magazine, published by Focus on the Family, conducted a contest in which kids were asked to give the best excuse they had ever given for not doing their homework. One boy wrote, “I went on a hot air balloon ride and we were going to crash because there was too much weight in the basket, so I threw my homework out and it saved our lives.” Where do kids get this kind of “creativity”? Likely from their parents.

“Mommy, what is a lie?” a little boy asked. His mother answered, “Son, a lie is an abomination unto the Lord - but a very present help in time of need!” By our attitudes and actions, we often teach our children just how true this is. Writing in Boardroom Report Peter LeVine revealed, “When the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey ran a help-wanted ad for electricians with expertise at using Sontag connectors, it got 170 responses even though there is no such thing as a Sontag connector. The Authority ran the ad to find out how many applicants falsify résumés.”
Of the seven things that are an abomination to the Lord, recorded in Proverbs 6:16-19, “a false witness who speaks lies” is one of the most damaging. We lie much more often than we realize. One survey showed 91 percent of Americans lie routinely. Perhaps we don’t even recognize some ways in which we lie.

But Scripture says we are lying when we:
2.1 Leave Out the Truth
This is the first lie in the Bible, told by the Father of Lies himself. In Genesis 3:1, Satan asked Eve, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” This seems like an innocent question, but behind it are several unspoken lies. First, Satan knew what God had really said. As the prince of the air with a host of demons at his command, it is likely that he knew of any conversation God had with Adam and Eve. Second, Satan was implying that God would be so strict that He would forbid them to eat from “every tree of the garden.” By withholding the truth that God had Adam’s and Eve’s best interests at heart, Satan lied.

When you imply something false by withholding the whole truth, you lie. Allowing someone else to take the blame when you are at fault is a lie. Failing to speak out with the truth when someone else is propagating error is a lie. Silence is not always golden; sometimes it’s a plain lie.

2.2 Add to the Truth
In response to Satan, Eve also lied. She said, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it lest you die’” (Genesis 3:2-3, NKJV). God had said nothing about touching the fruit (Genesis 2:17). By adding to what God had said, Eve told a lie. “Do not add to His words,” Proverbs 30:6 warns, “lest He reprove you, and you be found a liar.”

When we repeat what others say, we stand a good chance of telling a lie even if we don’t mean to. Somehow the truth loses its accuracy the more mouths and ears it has to pass through. Do you remember playing the “telephone game” when you were a child? You passed a message down the line by whispering it in the next person’s ear. Invariably, by the time it reached the end of the line, the message was so radically changed it was unrecognizable.

When you must repeat something verbally (such as a prayer request), check to make sure you have all the facts straight. Don’t intermingle your interpretation of the facts with the facts themselves and thus “enhance” the truth. Adding to the truth is just as much a lie as not telling the whole truth.

2.3 Contradict the Truth
The Garden of Eden story also includes blatant lies. Satan said, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4-5 NKJV). That is a direct contradiction of what God said (Genesis 2:16-17 NKJV). God is truth; therefore, whenever we contradict Him, we are lying.

A group of Protestant and Catholic academicians are touring the United States with a presentation called the “Jesus Seminar.” It is an obvious attempt to contradict God. These so-called theologians assert that, among other things, Mary was not a virgin when she bore Jesus, He did not descend from King David, He was not born in Bethlehem, there was no slaughter of the infants, and Christ’s birth did not take place at the time of the census described in Luke. When we deny the Word, we find ourselves caught in a liar’s web - and we even begin believing the lies we tell others.

God’s wisdom warns us about lies. Whatever their shape and form, big or little, untruths must be avoided. Proverbs 17:4 says, “An evildoer gives heed to false lips; a liar listens eagerly to a spiteful tongue.”

God’s guide for life’s choices also tells us of other kinds of words that should be avoided by all who want to please Him.

to be continued