One of the things that makes the film 'The Invention of Lying' work is that many of us can identify with the number of little 'non' lies that we tell everyday - so much so that we can't imagine a life in which we only told the truth.
Yesterday, as we continued our series on the Sermon on the Mount we came to the section in Matthew 5:33-37 in which Jesus instructs his disciples that they should be the sort of people who are totally honest and trustworthy. The sort of person who doesn't need to say 'I absolutely promise to ...' or 'cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye' (or whatever the words are for that particular playground rhyme). Not even the sort of person who needs to sign a contract. Instead a disciple should be the sort of person who if they say 'yes' means 'yes'. Not 'maybe', not 'if I feel like it on the day'. The sort of person who if they say they will do something - you know they will do it. If they've said they'll be somewhere, they'll be there. The sort of person who does not lie.
Imagine the world of advertising where only the truth could be told!
In the service yesterday we got into groups and considered a list of eight lies - and then ranked them from the most serious to the least serious. You can find this list on our notice sheet for yesterday. One answer to this question is that they are all as serious as each other because a lie is a lie is a lie, and the disciple of Jesus should not have a part in telling lies. But it's interesting to see the mental gymnastics we go through to justify some lies but not others.
It is important not to lie because lies break down trust and relationships are built on trust. We saw in last week's passage just how important healthy relationships are.
Also a number of verses in the Bible tell us that truth comes from God whereas lies are from the devil. For example, John 14:6, John 8:44, and Hebrews 6:18.
But having said all that I still wonder if there are any (extreme) circumstances in which the right thing to do is to lie. And if so what criteria do we use to distinguish between a lie that is right and one which is not.
Answers on a post card please...
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