Friday, August 3, 2012

August 2012: The Eighth Commandment

"Liar, liar, your pants are on fire, your nose is as long as a telephone wire."

This month we are looking at the Eighth Commandment - Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. I will b expanding this to the topic of lying in general.

Joe the Butcher had one chicken left that he wanted to sell. A man entered the store and said, "My wife sent me to buy a good size chicken for Sunday dinner. Joe said, "I have just what you need." He brought out the last chicken and said, "This one is three pounds." The man said, "It looks kinda small, do you have anything else?" Joe took the chicken into the backroom and returned with the same chicken. "This one is four pounds. But since I am closing for the day, I'll let you have it for the same price." The man replied, "Well, thank you. I'll buy both."

Why do people lie? Well, Joe lied because he wanted to sell his last chicken. People lie because they think that if they can fool another person into believing their lie, they can get what they want. People think they have to lie because deep down inside they know that they don't deserve the thing that they want. So they believe the only way to get it is to lie.

Why is that bad? Even if you can fool that person, there is someone you can never fool--God. God knows the truth. Each time you lie, you move a little farther away from God. When you lie, you kill a part of yourself. When you tell a lie, you close your mind to the truth. People who lie a lot sometimes cannot tell when they are lying. Their brain is so damaged by lying they cannot tell the difference between the truth and a lie.

Furthermore, when you lie you lose the ability to trust. A person who lies a lot starts to believe that other people lie a lot too. You lose the ability to trust others. And eventually, you may even lose the ability to trust God. Jesus tells us that the Father of Lies is the Devil. The person who tells lies is a tool of Satan, a slave of Satan.

Jesus calls us to live in truth. Truth is always better than lies. When a Christian finds themselves tempted to lie, they will tell the truth and accept the consequences. A Christian does not fear the consequences of telling the truth because he knows that God only works through the truth.

Do not be afraid to tell the truth.
You are a child of God.
This is how a child of God lives.

Trust God.
Trust that God will provide for you even though you tell the truth.

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