HONESTY
Mrs. Nanton and her daughter are preparing their fruit and vegetable booth for selling at the local farmers' market. As they ready their baskets of apples, Mrs. Nanton tells her daughter, "Put the smaller and bruised apples on the bottom and place the best ones on top!"
Pete is planning to sell his car. In the back seat area, the carpet is worn through and the floor is quite rusted on one side. "I know what to do," he thinks, "I'll buy floor mats for the back; then nobody will notice."
Mr. Benser writes a check to his credit card company for last month's bill, even though he knows the check will bounce due to insufficient funds. "By the time it goes through all the bank processes and comes back to me for payment, three weeks will have gone by," he reasons. "By then I will be out of this area."
As Martha was walking home from school, she noticed a purse lying against the curb. She looked in it and saw five twenty-dollar bills. She looked around, and no one was in sight. She took two of the bills and placed the purse back.
In the car on the way home, Henry proudly informed the others, "I got a good deal on the wrench I bought! It was $3.50; I gave the clerk a $5.00 bill and she gave me $2.50 in change!"
Henry's father paused and then asked, "Henry, do you want to sell your honesty for one dollar?"
"No," Henry answered.
"I didn't think so," his father replied, as he turned the car around. "We'll go back to return it now."
"Watch this, guys!" Bob exclaimed. He was showing a group of friends how he could fool the corner store's pop machine. He had pockets full of electrical metal scraps exactly the size and thickness of a quarter. "If I put a quarter in first and then two of these," he explained, "I can get a seventy-five-cent pop for twenty-five cents. Watch this!" After demonstrating, he said, "We'll have cheap pop this summer, guys!"
What was the motive that caused each of the people in the above examples to be dishonest?
What did the people in each of the above examples forget?
Lynn borrowed her neighbors' air mattress for a camping trip. Somehow she scraped it against something sharp and poked a small hole in it. The mattress would now hold air for an hour or two, but that was all. Lynn returned the rolled-up air mattress to her neighbors and thanked them for loaning it to her, but never told them about the hole.
Marv threw a softball too far, and it crashed through a classroom window at school. He quickly ran out of the area. When the principal asked the person responsible to come and speak with him, Marv did not; he was too afraid.
Dan and Chris work at a large production plant. Each employee must "punch in and out" by placing his time card in a programmed clock that prints the time on it. When Dan wants to leave a little early for something special at home, Chris punches his card for him, and Dan does the same for Chris.
Elizabeth is allowed a fifteen-minute coffee break in the morning and afternoon at the office where she is employed. However, when all the secretaries are together for a break and are having interesting conversations, then twenty, twenty-five, or thirty minutes can easily pass. Elizabeth likes talking with others and usually tries to extend her coffee-break times.
Daryl forgot to study the twenty new terms assigned for his Geography course. Marty was sitting next to him, and Daryl knew that Marty always had high marks. He copies Marty's answers for the matching section of his test. "At least I'll have those right!" he thinks.
Corrie put off working on her Science project for several weeks and then rushed to complete it in a few days. She copied several pages out of an old book of her father's, only occasionally changing a more difficult word. "The teacher is not familiar with this book, I'm sure," she reasoned. "He'll never know the difference."
Steven spent a great deal of time with his home computer. His friend, Stan, showed him a new program he had just purchased. Steven was impressed and wanted that program in the worst way, but it was very expensive. "Can I borrow it for an evening?" Steven asked. "I'll return it the following morning." But inwardly, Steven was thinking, "Then I'll copy it so I can have the program, too."
God is a God of truth; He cannot lie. Satan, however, is the father of lies. These two are opposites. "Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD; but they that deal truly are His delight" (Proverbs 12:22).
A person can be tempted to lie for several reasons, such as to avoid undesired consequences, to achieve honor, to make gains, or to harm enemies. Lying is very self-centered; it deceives others for self-convenience.
What motive underlies each of the following examples of lying?
"I couldn't help it, Dad! Someone backed into it when it was parked in the mall parking lot," Ted explained to his father as he viewed his car's scratched and dented fender.
"Why, if he knew that I scraped a parked car," Ted reasoned, "He would never let me drive his car again!"
"I plan to tour Europe for four weeks with a girlfriend from school," Sue responded after several of her co-workers asked her what she was planning to do after graduating from high school.
"They sure were impressed," Sue thought, "even if there was no truth in it."
"Well, it may not look like it, but that material will hold up well - it will last you for years," responded Mr. Tenner, a car salesman, to a customer's question regarding a car's poor quality upholstery.
"How can I sell the car if I tell the truth?" he reasons.
A person can lie by telling only part of the truth to deceive others. The following are illustrations of this.
"May I go to Alice's place, Mom?" Willy asked.
"Is your homework finished?"
"Yes, I finished my Math at school and my Biology at home."
"Then yes, that will be all right," her mother responded, "but be home by 9:30."
"I'm glad she never asked about English," Willy thought, as she left the house, "Because the writing assignment that I need to do yet will take at least an hour!"
Ron asked his parents for permission to attend a school activity on Friday evening. After meeting his friends there, however, he left with them to go elsewhere.
When his parents asked how the activity evening was and who was there, Ron answered them in such a way that they believed he was there for the entire time.
We can deceive others by being silent when we should speak. The following illustrations are examples of breaking God's ninth commandment by not speaking.
"Has anyone not finished the problem I assigned for homework?" Bert's math teacher asked.
Bert looked around and observed that everyone had finished except him. "I don't want to be the only one not finished," he thought, "and Mr. Dennon will not check. I won't say anything." Bert remained silent.
During the weekend, three large windows were broken at Mark's high school. "I need your help to solve this crime," Mr. Orville, the principal, told the students. "This is not a matter of 'tattling,' for I would never ask you to do that. But when serious vandalism has taken place, when a crime has been committed, then all who know anything about it are required to witness. If any of you know or have heard who is responsible, please speak with me later or place a note in my office mailbox."
Mark knew who the guilty persons were, but he did not tell the principal. "If those three find out that I told on them, I'll really be in trouble," he reasoned.
WHY DO PEOPLE LIE?
- To avoid punishment. – To lie in an attempt to stay out of trouble.
- To impress others.–To tell tall tales to make yourself look good.
- To boost self-esteem - To stretch the truth in order to get attention or praise from others.
- To get something that you want.
- To protect others.
- Because you hear other people lie.–Example: Many children hear their parents and other important adults lying. Children learn from their parents and other adults in their lives, and thus will be more inclined to lie if they hear their parents and other adults telling lies.
- Where does lying come from?
- How can liars become honest?
- Do you think people ever lie directly to God? How? When?
- What does Revelation 21:8 teach regarding liars?
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