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Why \'Honesty\' Really IS the Best Policy

by Brandon Jubar

Do you ever fin'); document.write('d yourself telling a fib? Just a little \'white lie\'? It really is rather easy to do. The problem is, those tiny untru'); document.write('ths can snowball out of control sometimes. Maybe that\'s a very practical reason to consider a policy of nothing but hon'); document.write('esty.

Let\'s set aside the fact that lying is wrong for a moment. We won\'t go so far as to suggest that lying'); document.write(' isn\'t wrong, because it is, but I\'d like to focus on a different aspect of lying right now. I\'d like to look at what r'); document.write('eally happens when we tell a "harmless" lie.

Our Perception Is Limited

No matter the occurrence, it\'s ha'); document.write('rd to remember exactly what happened. That\'s because we only perceive a small part of things. No matter how hard we tr'); document.write('y, we only have one set of senses, which allows us to experience the world from where we are at any given moment.

Find five different people who witnessed an event, and you will get five very different descriptions of what happened. '); document.write(' Does that mean some of them are wrong? No. It simply means that they experienced it from a different angle, viewpoint'); document.write(', or even frame of mind.

Our Lies Get Confusing

Thanks to our limited perception, the truth is sometimes'); document.write(' a bit unclear. When we throw a few lies into the mix, things become even messier. Now we have to not only remember an'); document.write('d interpret what we really saw, but also remember the lies we\'ve told.

Of course, if it appears that we\'re about '); document.write('to get caught in a lie, we are forced to lie a bit more to cover our tracks. When we lie a bit more, however, it just c'); document.write('ompounds the problem. One little lie can lead to another, and eventually our house of cards will fall down. When that '); document.write('happens, we can lose face, lose friends, and potentially hurt people we care about.

The Truth Is Easy

Mo'); document.write('st people learn from experience better than from a lecture or from reading it in a book. This is because we rely on our'); document.write(' senses for so much. We can remember all sorts of details that were perceived by our senses. Is it any wonder that the'); document.write(' truth is easier to remember?

When we tell someone a lie, we are also telling it to ourselves. We haven\'t experi'); document.write('enced it, so we are relying on a very small part of our memory to keep the details straight. Frankly, it rarely works. '); document.write(' If it didn\'t really happen, it\'s hard for us to keep it straight. So even if we ignore the fact that lying is wrong, i'); document.write('t just makes practical sense to pay attention when God tells us not to lie.


Copyright 2004-2009 b'); document.write('y Brandon'); document.write(' Jubar
All rights reserved.


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