The Bible does not go out of its way to rank sin, as each sin is equal in weight according to the overall text, but if the 10 Commandments are in any way a list of the top 10 so to speak, then it is interesting to note that lying or bearing false witness is just a couple of rungs down the ladder from murder. they're in the same community, so to speak.
Most of us have little problem with the murder part. That hasn't popped up in our lives often or in other words we haven't committed it often.
But most of us have more than a little problem with the truth part. The opportunity to speak the truth or not comes up every day, maybe every hour.
Maybe we haven't lied on a resume (do they still check those things?), or told a fishing story (the one that got away can come in many sizes, can't it?), or told a story about a neighbor or even a friend (it's called tweeting today but it was called passing rumors in other ages). Or maybe we have.
What I have noticed, particularly recently since it is a political campaign season, is that telling the truth is truly in the eye of the candidate. What would be truly great for the country is to simply tell us not what we want to hear but tell us how your candidacy would be different than the other candidate and tell us what it will mean to us. Don't worry about the consequences of the truth. Simply tell the truth.
But it is not just politics. No, way. Truth or lies comes in various sizes, shapes and realties.
Here's a recent roll call just in sports:
New Orleans Saints head football coach Sean Payton was suspended for a year by the NFL Commissioner Roger Goddell because his defensive coordinator and coaches ran a "bounty" program. Essentially they, reportedly, paid cash rewards for hits on other teams' players that injured them. The Saints were questioned about that two years ago and reportedly lied about it then, then repeated the lies earlier this year when questioned again. Most people believe that if Payton had been truthful and stopped the program two years ago, his penalty would have been far less severe.
Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino was fired this week after a motorcycle wreck that injured him disclosed he had a rider on the bike. Petrino lied about that initially, then it was discovered he had had an affair with the rider, a 25-year-old, and had hired her to be part of the football program essentially because of the affair. His lies to his bosses were enough to have him be fired for "just" cause, costing him his job and millions in pay. Had he told the truth, most feel he would have kept his job, but perhaps not his family. Now...he has lost his job, his pay and probably his family.
The Bible has much to say about lying. I like a couple particularly.
Proverbs has this to say about those who lie:
16 There are six things the LORD hates,
seven that are detestable to him:
17 haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19 a false witness who pours out lies
and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.
In the things that God hates or those things that are detestable to him, lying is there twice. A lying tongue, a false witness. And if those lies stir up conflict, then it is there three times, murder once. Again....
We tend to think (and to say) that little white lies don't hurt, but they do. They crush, and those that do them are crushed, sooner or later.
If this notion of Free Sean Payton continues, I suggest that no lessons are learned here, and the arrogance and haughtiness that helped fuel this "bounty" program will only continue. Payton, and others who think that turning to lies to help defend their positions or their jobs or their way of life or whatever, will never learn otherwise.
I've heard and read that the Commissioner needed to send a clear message to everyone connected to the game of football that the "bounty" type of thing can't continue. He needed to let even kids playing the game know that wouldn't be tolerated.
Poppycock.
The greater lesson we can hope that our children take from this is not to stop attempting to hurt people when you "hit" them on a football field. That has been the defense's goal all the way back to when I played football. You want to do that. You want to impose your will on them, as they say, and if they are carted off, you want to be remorseful, but you want to feel you've done just a tiny bit of your job. It is not your intent to injury but it is darn sure your intent to hurt. That will not change. You do not intentionally want to injure anyone in the game of football, but as a defender, you want to hit them just as hard as you possibly can and if they can't play the next play, so be it.
No, that's not the lesson that can be and should be learned here.
The lesson that can be learned is and should be that lying about a mistake or an action or a statement is far worse than telling the truth could ever be. Just tell the truth and take it, not as a man, but take it as a person who believes and understands what they did was wrong and wants to (as they now say) own it.
Is safety Malcolm Jenkins going to hit a receiver coming across the field any differently than before? I suggest not. Those hits still will be shown on ESPN. But perhaps, just perhaps, if he does something wrong off the field, perhaps he will be more inclined to be truthful if he talks about it. So far, the only lesson we've learned is that you have to be remorseful if you're caught.
Payton has yet to come clean about what occurred. He has yet to hold a press conference and tell us times and dates and what he did to try to stop this, if anything. He has yet to discuss his side, if there is a side, of this. He has yet to really say anything to the public, and yet Saints fans continue to be supportive. One can only guess, based upon Goddell's statement's, that he was less than truthful about anything to the commissioner. So far, he has been anything but truthful with the "fans."
Therefore, that's the lesson that he's giving. Not something about tackle football.
That lesson about telling the truth even it hurts, maybe especially if it hurts, could change us all. Maybe this is the moment when truth-telling becomes a wave of the future. Maybe the entire city of New Orleans would be changed, since we hang on every word Payton and Drew Brees says. Maybe the police department would start telling the truth, and corruption would fade. Maybe the city council would start telling the truth, and potholes would disappear. Maybe the school system, the parish officials, maybe even the clergy would start majoring in the truth.
UGGGGGHHHH. The possibilities boggle the mind.
We have a (black and) golden moment here, folks. We can't let it pass us by. We can even make tee-shirts.
It's not Free Sean Payton (which by the way are anything but free). It's Free The Truth, Sean Payton.
3 comments:
I have heard it said that, "Only the truth blesses." And yet it hurts, I have also heard. But even that old anti-religionist HL Mencken said, "The truth is better than a lie." Thank you, Billy.
I've found a small lie told on behalf of a friend is much better than telling a truth that in itself would destroy that friend's hopes - not because of the importance of the action in question but rather due to the shades of gray inherent in any question. A man gets stopped at a roadblock, is found to have left his license in his other pants and is taken to jail. An hour later, his wife brings the license, he pays his fine and goes home. Two weeks later, a potential employer who wants to hire your friend and knows both of us, calls me and says, "I heard so and so was in jail last week." The complete truth , obviously, is yes. But knowing the whole thing was a meaningless mistake and this potential employer sees only black and white and the simple truth will kill my friend's chances, what's my answer? The complete truth that you know will hurt your friend, who needs the job? Or perhaps, knowing the full story, a comment like "That doesn't sound like him to me at all." thus keeping your friend from being tripped up by someone else's prejudices? A literal interpretation of the Ten Commandments or a little detour from them on behalf of another human being. I selected the second response while given a set of similar options several years ago. Morally and ethically, where do I stand?
Just noticed the comment. Sorry. First, one can only take the Ten Commandments literally. There is no grey area there. But. I believe in the case you've shown here, both Paul and Jesus clearly show that love triumphs over law. I believer your response is the one to take here, though choosing to lie on a daily basis would not be wise. That's my belief.
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