A Lying Tongue

Why are lies told? Why do we lie?

Maybe a lie is told to avoid punishment, or to face accountability, to be used as a defense mechanism. A child may have done something wrong in the home, to a sibling, something bad in school, and is fearful of his or her parent or parents’ retribution. “I didn’t do it, Barney did”. I didn’t eat that piece of cake”, and countless other fibs told by a little one or teenager in the home. How about the many lies a teacher in the classroom hears on a daily basis? “I did NOT copy off of Betty’s homework”. “I don’t know what happened to Barney’s binder!”. An adult can also try to avoid retribution from the boss because of making a grave error on the job, and instead of owning up to it, will lie to avoid such. A lie could be told to avoid embarrassment. Maybe that person who lied on the job to avoid retribution from the boss could be avoiding the humiliation of the error from fellow associates as well. Everybody wants to look good. Nobody wants to look bad, especially in front of competitive co-workers. One or more of those competitive co-workers could be very cutthroat, looking for any angle to ensure that person fails. One or more of those cutthroats, those competitive co-workers, will do anything to make an associate look bad as it is, to other associates and the boss. This person who messed up just wants to avoid the humiliation. News for you, the boss most likely knows what happened and who did it anyway. Might as well fess up and rip off the band aid. You’ll like yourself for it.

Lies are told to prevent offending others. Lies are told to prevent harming, or hurting someone’s feelings, whether the lies are told directly to that person, or indirectly to another about said person, as in trying to protect a family member or friend from an offense. “There’s no way he would say that about you, he really likes you!”. “My brother would do no such thing”. An acquaintance that you really don’t care for, maybe a co-worker, has invited you to a gathering at his home with other people you don’t really know (or care for). You don’t want to go, so, you think of an excuse to turn down the invite. “Babe, what should I tell them to get out of this?” (I’ve done this!) How about, politely turning down the invite, you just don’t feel up to it. You’ll respect yourself for this later. Others will respect your honesty also. If you can’t be truthful about not wanting to go, then GO! Who knows, maybe a blessing will come out of it for you at the gathering or later down the road!

People lie to others to try to intimidate them through gossip, swaying them to believing that what they are saying is in fact to progress an agenda of theirs, turning one person against another. Stirring dissension. They will lie to bring somebody down and see them fail because they are intimidated by that person who is popular, good at sports, knowledgeable in their trade. Lying to elevate themselves because they feel threatened, and, or inferior. Seeing to it that their targeted person fails, like maybe the spiteful co-worker mentioned earlier who would gossip to everyone else about the error made by the person at work but throw on a few untruths just to make sound even better (or worse) yet. Maybe this one that is telling lies is afraid that he or she too may fail, another defense mechanism. Lies are told on social media platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn. A lie (stretching of the truth) could added to a page or story to make this person feel better about himself. Maybe to boost a misconception that said person is doing a lot better in his or her life than what is actually the case. I.E, a laborer for a construction company who happens to be near a piece of heavy equipment assisting the operator in some capacity. “Well, technically, I’m around equipment assisting, so I could be labeled an operator since my duties as a laborer help make a task happen”. Social media platforms are used to bully people. Spreading lies about someone, stirring dissension. Many times driving someone to suicide due to deep depression and despair caused by those lies.

There are people that lie just to lie. I really wonder if they know they’re lying. Some years ago, I had a co-worker that was, or is still, a chronic liar. His reputation as a liar was widespread. I could never believe what came out of his mouth. Him and I could be standing outside on a day that was piping hot with the sun glaring. He could tell me that “It’s piping hot out here and the sun is glaring”. I still would have a hard time believing him. Exaggeration of course.

So, why do we lie. It’s a sin, we all sin. Satan invented sin, he is the father of all lies and lied to Eve, telling her that she would surely not die if she ate of the tree God warned her and Adam to steer clear of. Well, they didn’t die right away, but their eternal life in the Garden of Eden came to a halt. They both were banished from the Garden of Eden to work the land for their food and to eventually die, returning to dust. Not only did Satan perform the first lie, but by ensuring that Adam and Eve would die because of his deception, he also became the first murderer in God’s kingdom.

The sin of lying was the first recorded sin in the newly founded church after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension into Heaven. Ananias and Sapphire lied to the apostles about how much money they actually acquired for the sale of their land that they brought to the apostles. They held some of the money back, which was their right to do so, but because they claimed the amount of money that they presented to the apostles was the price they received….. Well, it didn’t work out well for them. You can read about this first sin in the church, Acts 5:1-11.

Pick Up Your Jawbone. Slay Your Philistines!

There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him;

haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil,

a false witness who pours out lies,

and a man who stirs up dissension among his brothers.

Proverbs 6:16-19 NIV