Stealing the truth ………..
December 1st, 2007 by Father Paul
‘I would rather have a thief than a liar, because at least you know where you stand with a thief’. My brother and I grew up with this phrase ringing in our ears – it was one that our mother used. As small children, it was difficult to grasp the truth of it, particularly when the occupation of thieving, which was so prevalant at the time, seemed to have been ‘elevated’ in mother’s mind above that of someone who just ‘stretched the truth’, which some children were wont to do! In later years I realised that what mother was trying to instill in us was, that neither was acceptable – although the liar was the more unpredictable and dangerous of the two and, according to mother, required a good memory!
Strangely, the ability to lie, or should I say ‘be economical with the truth, seems to have become fashionable amongst some politicians. 
It is an interesting point that they cannot accuse each other of lying or name one another as liars, in the House of Commons, because it is considered to be ‘un-parliamentary language’. British politician Winston Churchill actually found a route around the rule by referring to an ‘outright lie’ as ‘terminological inexactitude’! For the current British prime-minister, commonly referred to as ‘a child of the Manse’, (implying ‘Christian’ and honest), any suggestion that he has lied or has ‘mis-led’ the Commons, over the latest ‘Labour Party funding crisis’, could prove to be very damaging.
Lying itself, in a strange way, is ‘stealing the truth’; also, it robs us of our dignity and self-respect and robs others of their trust in us. People who lose these things, particularly those in public office, whose reputation often is the one thing which ensures their personal success, have a long way to fall and. those who are ‘truthful’, perhaps motivated by envy, will engineer their destruction.
In the Gospels, those who spoke or ‘revealed’ the truth of their lives to Jesus received healing -Zachaeus the tax collector; the Roman Centurion pleading for the life of his servant … ‘Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof’ ….. . Mary of Magdala and the thief on the cross.
Sadly, lies and deceit paralyze and destroy us as people. I have lost count of those who have spoken to me formally, in Confession, or casually about the lies they have told or the deception in which they have been involved. These are not creative, nor beautiful acts, they are the things that steal and destroy something of ourselves and something of others. Lies rip the smiles from our faces and mar the beauty which is within us.
The Church has just entered the season of Advent. A time to prepare for the birth of Jesus – and to face our relatives across the dinner table! For many it is a time to forget the wrongs of the past, the lies and deceit, the mis-understandings, the animosity, and to try and manage some kind of reconciliation. Let us hope and pray that the great and the good, the rich and the poor may all know true reconciliation, as they begin to move towards the solemnity of Christmas, when we shall all ‘touch the truth’, brought to us by a God who did not grasp at greatness or popularity, at power or status.
This entry was posted on Saturday, December 1st, 2007 at 3:12 am and is filed under Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
December 1st, 2007 at 11:35 pm
Dear Fr. Paul,
Reading this blog has made me reflect on periods in my life where lies have often been preferred over the truth. I think one of the things that I absolutely agree with from your blog is that for each lie that is told, a part of us is lost; part of our humanity is torn away from the fabric of our being, parts that can never be reattached.
I don’t think there is anyone who can say they have never told a lie – in most cases the act of lying is committed in order to ‘protect’ those that we love from the harsh realities that can often consume our lives, often referred to as ‘the darkest demons of our inner self’. Sometimes lies are told in order to hide away facets of our personalities that we do not like. Perhaps, in some way, we all want to be liked and loved but what is the price of deception? Can it not be argued that lies are often most destructive to those who deal them? I have seen friends compound one lie with another, just to protect themselves and their so called ‘integrity’, never wanting to appear weak or vulnerable to those around them. I think each time someone lies, it is with the express intent on protecting themselves from the truth – ignoring that which can consume our hearts is often preferable to some, than confronting our ‘inner demons.
After reading your blog, the one overriding thought I was left with was this: the capacity to lie must be met with an equal capacity to forgive and support. Too many families have been torn apart by the inability to reconcile differences and to forgive past mistakes. How we deal with our mistakes in life is often the mark of our character. We all have the capacity to wander off the ‘path’, but equally we have the capacity to find our way again, through God’s guidance and those around us who are willing to hold on to something that is good, pure and ultimately worth fighting to save. People are sometimes far to quick to judge and slow to forgive – maybe those of us who have been lied to and deceived by those close to us should take a hard look at how we ourselves have handled the backlash and find ways that we can do more to help those closest to us.
December 4th, 2007 at 6:58 pm
Dear Dylan,
Thank you for your reply to the Blog – you are the first person to do so since the site was launched!
There is no doubt that lying and deceitfulness finds its’ way into every facet of our existence from personal to political life and beyond, in your experience and mine and everyone elses too.
I am not sure that I agree entirely with you upon the effect that lies have upon our lives(‘part of our humanity is torn away from the fabric of our being, parts that can never be reattached.’). I agree that the people who lie to us can rob us of our self-respect and dignity. However, I do not think of the action as taking something away permanently, which can never be restored or redeemed. The extent to which we are damaged,in such situations, ultimately depends upon how ‘outraged’ or ‘abused’ we feel, and largely upon our capacity to forgive and, I suppose, too, how willing we are to let go of our pride – and what we feel is due to us.
Again, I think you raise an important point – that lies can impact seriously upon the person who is telling them. Generally, this is true, however, pathological liars have no problem in telling lies and no feelings of remorse at all, for the damage they cause, nor do they feel any guilt.
My problem with it all, is that people today seem to have less regard for the truth which, in itself, has incredibly serious implications for justice and harmony within society.