Are ALL Men Liars? All the Time?
Posted 12/12/2008
It is true that everyone lies. It also not true that
everyone lies. But "everyone lies" in the first sentence does not
mean the same thing as "everyone lies" in the second sentence.
Psalm 116:
10 I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted:
11 I said in my haste, All men are liars.
12 What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?
13 I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD.
14 I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people.
Pr 14:5 A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter
lies.
Man's natural tendency is to deny, hide, misinterpret the truth. But it is
emphatically NOT true that every man lies about everything all the time. If
that were true, nothing could be accomplished in the world. Courts couldn't
function, and everyday discourse between people would cease. Business would
screech to a halt because no one could depend on contracts or assurances of
performance.
There are many good and honest men who do not trade in lies and deceit. They
would not lie in court, they do not lie to their wives and children, and they
do not lie to Consistories or Spiritual Councils, and they certainly would not
lie under oath.
This writer has had children in school who lied all the time. He has also
had children in school who did not lie even when it might have been an
advantage to lie.
To lie in court, Consistories, or Spiritual Council committees is not only a
sin, it is a crime against the institution that is represented. In Court it is
called perjury.
A person who would lie to a committee of the church, to a Spiritual Council,
or to a Consistory has committed a crime against the church. Such a person
suddenly doesn't become a liar in that situation; they are so hardened against
the truth that they are lying all the time, so one more lie or two doesn't make
any difference to them, no matter the seriousness of the proceedings. By their
lie they show contempt for the institution, whether church or state.
I suspect this is one of the reasons that the Constitution of the Reformed
Church in the United States lists "lying" as one of the offenses that
especially merits discipline.
It is equally true that only the morally challenged would denigrate such an
offense. Even Al Capone and Richard Nixon refused to allow their subordinates
to lie to them. No organization can survive if everyone lies to everyone all
the time. It may survive if all agree to lie as one; but eventually reality
will break in, as it did to the old Soviet Union.
Jas 3:14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not,
and lie not against the truth.
Eph 4:25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his
neighbor: for we are members one of another.
We are not to be partakers of other men's sins. This means
we are not to listen to liars, promote them, or defend them. It certainly means
that we must not be tale-bearers, carrying their water for them.
There are many good people who bear faithful witness and hate the lying
tongue. The Psalmist said in his haste, "All men are liars," but this
was because of the terrible trial that he was going through. When men doubt
God, they will think there is nothing and nobody true anywhere.
Such is not the truth. This poor preacher has found in the midst of terrible
trials that there have always been those who saw and understood the truth.
There are faithful witnesses who will tell the truth and not listen to lies and
deceit. They are not swayed by emotion or prior prejudice. When the eye is
single, the whole body is filled with light. Thank God for such people.
