Changing Attitudes Toward Lying

In Proverbs 6:16-19 we read, “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 brothers.” I find it striking that two of these detestable things are about lying; “a false witness who pours out lies” is a subset of the more general “a lying tongue.”

With this in mind, I thought it would be instructive to dig a little into research about lying, specifically what Americans think about various kinds of lies now compared with the past. I came across an interesting article that compares attitudes toward lying in 2006 and 2018. For example, in 2006, 93% of Americans said that it was never OK to cheat on your taxes; 12 years later, that number had dropped to 84%. That’s a significant drop, but here’s a much more stunning example: in 2006, 88% of Americans said it was never OK to lie on a resume, compared with 63% in 2018. In another stunning work-related comparison, 66% of respondents in 2006 said that it was never OK to call in sick when you’re not, compared with just 40% in 2018. A side note: As a man, I’m sorry to say that in all six of the scenarios that respondents were asked about in both 2006 and 2018, women tended to value honesty more than men! Here’s the link if you’re interested in reading more: https://www.deseret.com/2018/3/28/20642361/americans-are-increasingly-comfortable-with-many-white-lies-new-poll-reveals.

I’m also sorry to say that these survey results were not surprising to me; Americans are becoming more prone to accept lying; I believe that one of the reasons for this is that too many of us want to be seen as “tolerant.” And of course, if you are more tolerant of other people lying, then you are also more likely to tolerate it in yourself. However, the Lord does not “tolerate” lying; in fact, Proverbs 6 tells us that He hates it!

While this is not a “political” blog, I feel compelled to write something about lies in politics and the media; unfortunately, the party in power and the vast majority of the media seem to feed off each other. As an example: when referring to the January 6 attack on the Capitol Building, the Democrats and the media like to refer to it as an “insurrection,” when “riot” is a much more descriptive, and honest, term. Speaking of: the left prefers to refer to the riots that raged throughout so many American cities last summer as “protests” and “demonstrations,” in spite of the widespread destruction and at least 25 people who were killed during them; for the sake of comparison, five people died on or around January 6, and four of those were rioters; the other person who died was Officer Brian Sicknick. The left relished repeating the lie that he was hit in the head with a fire extinguisher and died as a result. However, he was not hit with a fire extinguisher, and he died of natural causes.

One other example I’d like to mention is the chaos at the U.S.-Mexico border. There have been so many lies and attempts to cover up what has been happening that I don’t want to even attempt to enumerate them here. Instead, I would like to focus on this question: why did the Biden-Harris administration in effect open the border, and why do they allow it to continue? They say that it’s because of “compassion” and “American values,” as if we have neither the right nor the responsibility to protect our own borders. However, the border chaos has allowed untold numbers of undocumented, unprocessed immigrants to enter the U.S., and the Biden Administration is attempting to remove the requirement of citizenship to vote. Who do you think these immigrants are going to vote for? If you combine removing the citizenship requirement to vote with the beginnings of an attempt to add four justices to the the Supreme Court and the attempt to add D.C. as a state, I think the answer becomes clear: the left is attempting to put in place measures that will keep them in power for a very long time. This is hardly an original thought of mine, but I think what the left is attempting to do is becoming increasingly clear.

The question has been asked: Is Jesus a Republican or a Democrat? The answer, of course, is neither. I realize that those on the right are certainly not free of lying and scheming, either, and I would be more than willing to call out the Republicans if they were the ones engaging in this naked power grab. However, this attempt by the left to maintain political power for generations to come in this country is unconscionable on many levels; for example, there’s no systematic COVID testing at the border, to put it mildly, so we’re welcoming some COVID-positive people into our country.

The Lord hates lying on an individual level, but He also hates it on an institutional level, which certainly includes our federal government. We need to repent of lying in our own lives, but we also need to hold our elected officials accountable for their lies.