Posted on 02/19/2007 2:58:16 AM PST by goldstategop
Chuck Norris
The truth will find you ouch
I was not surprised to read this past week, WND's report about a rural pastor who discovered documents in the Smithsonian Institution's files that reveal a possible cover-up in identifying Ten Commandments displays in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Is anyone shocked anymore to discover when one conceals the truth? It has become a normal way of life. Lying isn't the problem – getting caught is.
But hasn't history (ours and others) taught us anything about the fact that lies will eventually be revealed and the truth will ultimately triumph?
Pick a decade! Watergate, the Iran-Contra affair and Oval Office escapades all serve as just a few national monuments to the fallout of lying.
The truth about lying
Lying has become so inbred in our country that one can enroll in a class on deception even in America's highest academic institutions. "Lying has been described as one of the most fundamental human activities," described one class syllabus.
In fact, if you Google ''top ten lies'' you can uncover just about every form of lie imaginable and how to deal with it.
Anyone can now purchase a host of ''how to'' books on lying, like one I saw titled, ''How to Lie with Statistics.'' (The only statistics about which one can't lie are those that tell how many do.) Lying is so pervasive in our country it has become clinical and compulsive, and in some cases, even covered by medical insurance. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry will even help you detect if your children fall into these categories.
There is also a science of lying, something used in helping people become lie detectors and discerning the truthfulness of anyone, even presidents.
People have become so concerned with others lying to them that I believe if I mentioned there was a Forbes article titled, ''Ten Ways To Tell If Someone Is Lying To You,'' some would make it their next reading!
From clergy to presidents, from circles of academia to relationships, Jim Carrey's character, Fletcher, in the movie ''Liar Liar spoke for all, when he told his young son, ''It's not wrong to lie. Everyone lies.'' The show made light of the truth that people no longer even worry about the risks of perjury in our courts of law.
Unfortunately, too many today are utterly convinced to follow the advice of Oscar Wilde, the clever and witty Irish playwright, who said, ''What we have to do, what at any rate it is our duty to do, is to revive the old art of lying.''
I believe nothing could be further from the truth. On the contrary, I think it's time to free truth from being held hostage in our land and our lives.
If we are ever to regain civility and morality in our lives, families, communities, and nation, we must return to former times and understand how they established such environments.
Reviving the old art of telling the truth
The answer for our Founding Fathers came easy, though not always so living it out: We must tell the truth because Almighty God requires us to do so and will ultimately bless us if we do. This belief was pervasive and binding for individuals as well as the nation, codified even in law.
That is why John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the United States (1825-1829), wrote to his son, ''The Law given from Sinai [the Ten Commandments] was a civil and municipal as well as a moral and religious code.'' No wonder the architect of the U.S. Supreme Court planned for the Ten Commandments to be displayed seven times on the building! And that includes the Ninth Commandment, ''Thou shall not lie,'' written out in Hebrew and being held by Moses for all to see (including the justices at their bench) in the South Wall Frieze.
Maintaining a code of conduct is the reason I, as well as many other men like Roy Moore, fight to confess - not cover up - the Ten Commandments, and encourage others to do the same. It simply makes moral sense, produces civility, and promotes the old art of telling the truth. Without it, why should we?
Nothing but the truth, so help you … you?
The judicial oath calls us to affirm our allegiance to truth by the question, ''Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?'' But what happens when we no longer have respect for God and truth?
Without God and truth, there are no longer any moral absolutes. And without moral absolutes, all morals become culturally or personally relative; that is every person or culture defines what is right and wrong for his or her self or culture.
As we have fallen from our foundations as ''one nation under God,'' we've landed in the swamps of our own moral subjectivity, to which we lay hold until a cause is expedient, then we quickly discard our morals and truths. Without God, we have no absolute moral basis and reason to tell the truth, and civility remains nothing more than a pipe dream.
As Charles Carroll of Carrollton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, penned to James McHenry on Nov. 4, 1800, "Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure ... are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments."
Sooner or later, concealing gives birth to revealing
For those who don't believe it, all that remains is to be bound to the repeated cycles of history and lying: conceal the truth and experience what's expedient; suffer the consequences of lying; and eventually watch as the truth triumphs.
Lies might momentarily spare us, individually and as a nation, from temporary trouble, but in the long run they will only serve to hurt us more. Sooner or later, concealing gives birth to revealing, and revealing gives birth to reviling.
No wonder the Bible says, ''But if you fail to keep your word, then you will have sinned against the Lord, and you may be sure that your sin will find you out.'' (Numbers 32:23)
Or as I like to say, the truth will find you ouch!
Honesty still the best policy
On a lighter end, we should follow that tongue-in-cheek advice of Mark Twain, ''Always tell the truth. That way, you don't have to remember what you said.''
On a more serious side, however, we, like our Founding Fathers, should commit ourselves to the wisdom of Jesus, ''You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free.'' He was right, 100 percent.
It is only with Him as our foundation that we can genuinely declare from our hearts similar sentiments to George Washington, ''I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.''
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Thou shalt not bear false witness.
But if you had read it, you would have discovered that it was about how a non expert can catch other people lying with statistics.
Numbers 32:23
Liberals need to hear this. God will not be mocked.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
If Chuck Norris says "Thou shalt not" then thou shouldn't for thy own sake. So shall it be.
Wow. Someone in Hollywood who can quote Oscar Wilde. Cool.
BTTT!
Great article, and so true. People feel no shame these days. My Grandmother said, "a liar is worse than a thief, because a liar can hang an innocent man". Don't get me started on perjury. It no longer gets punished in most courts.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Pity he never cries.
Just wanted to clarify one thing. There is a book entitled How to Lie with Statistics that was an "eye-opening" book, written to make people aware of the ways that the presentation of statistics can be used to deceive people.
I'm grateful to my father who handed me a copy to read when I was about 13. I never again took someone's presentation of statistics at face value.
dumb question - what does BTTT mean? I see it all the time and always wondered.
dumb question - what does BTTT mean? I see it all the time and always wondered.
Excellent article !!!!
I don't believe hate is something God spends time on, alas, the Old Testament tells about misfortune and terrible things happening to those that fall out of His favor.
Bump To The Top - BTTT
I'm oversimplifying here, but .. I think television shows have encouraged people to lie. At least, shows have encouraged people to tell "little white lies."
In a lot of sit-coms, lying to family members is viewed as "cute," and skillful liars are admired or given a pass.
We need to be able to trust that members of our family are being honest.
Two of my kids loved to watch reruns of "I Love Lucy." The amount of lying was overwhelming, so, feeling like a kill-joy censor, I pointed out to them that Lucy (and the other characters) relied too much on lying.
I'm not saying I haven't lied. I'm saying that we should aim to tell the truth. We should not assume that lying is "fine."
You are right, there was alot of lying on "I Love Lucy" and as I recall, on "Leave It To Beaver". However, the moral of each episode was that the lie was always found out and the liar never got away with it. Lesson learned.
As hoakie as some of the work he does as a celebrity, he does have a good heart, and can still put a knot on yer head if you get out of line, and make you happy he put a knot on yer head!
I believe he still has that spread up north of Houston...
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