How relevant is the topic of honesty? Well, it seems to have
become a key component in the presidential race.
How relevant is the topic of honesty? Well, it seems to have become a key component in the presidential race. Both men are trying their best to distance themselves from anything that even hints of dishonesty or a lack of integrity.
That’s certainly wise, given the prevalence of lying in our society. All sports fans have read or heard a quote from a player or coach vowing to stay where he is at, only to hear a few days later he had already decided to go somewhere else. If you follow pro football, almost any week you can see one of the heroes miss a catch but pretend he caught it in the hopes of fooling the officials. And sometimes they do. But it’s fascinating to hear the comments of the guys in the broadcast booth. They always praise the player for trying to get the call, but, in essence, what they are saying is, “great job of lying man, you almost pulled it off!”
How rare are kids like the seven-year-old boy from Florida named Tanner who was playing first base in one of the season’s most important games. A grounder came to him and he reached out to tag the runner going from first to second. The umpire called the runner out, but Tanner turned to the umpire and said, “Excuse me sir, but I missed him.”
The puzzled umpire said, “You didn’t tag him? Okay, he’s safe!” Can you imagine how this endeared little Tanner to his teammates and coach?
But a couple of weeks later, Tanner was playing shortstop when another grounder was hit to him and he stretched to tag out the runner between second and third. The umpire (the same one as before), yelled, “He’s safe!” Tanner hung his head and dejectedly threw the ball back to the pitcher.
“Is something wrong?” the umpire asked.
Tanner said, “Yeah, I tagged him this time.”
The umpire said, “Really? Okay then, he’s out!”
The opposing manager came screaming out of the dugout to protest, but the umpire told him, “Look, I know this little boy. Tanner tells the truth. If Tanner says he tagged out your player, then he tagged him out. Discussion over.”
Can you imagine how unique an adult Tanner would be in our Pinocchio culture? We live in a society that not only condones lying, but even encourages it if it produces the desired ends.
And we do it not just with the big things, but in all sorts of situations. We do it at work, we do it with our family, we do it with our friends and neighbors, and more than of a few of us even attempt to lie to ourselves.
It is certainly prevalent in husband/wife relationships. How many times have men and women made vows to love, honor and respect one another “till death do us part,” only to leave a few years later in search of someone else? That’s a big lie, but we have plenty of the little day-to-day variety of lies to share with one another. Let me leave you with a David Letterman style “Top Ten List” of some of our favorite lies to our mates:
10. “I don’t remember you saying that.”
9. “I didn’t say that.”
8. “I didn’t do that.”
7. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”
6. “It was on sale.”
5. “I won’t mention it again.”
4. “I’ll do it during the next commercial.”
3. “I have a headache.”
2. “I didn’t hear you.”
1. “I’m almost ready.”
Henry Harris is Senior Pastor of Rolling Hills Community Church, 330 Tres Pinos Road, Hollister. If you have questions or comments, please visit the church’s Web site at rollinghillsfamily.com, e-mail [email protected] or call 636-5353.
