The fifth-century BC philosopher, Heraclitus, said, “A man, when he gets drunk, is led stumbling along by an immature boy, not knowing where he is going.” Society today is drunk on lies, drinking from the barrels of politics, fake news, false accusations, advertising, revisionist history, and the freshest brews–artificial intelligence and virtual reality. Everywhere one turns a cup of lies is offered. Liars blinded by lies leading those drunk on lies fall in a ditch (Matthew 16:14). It is a ditch of deception, disillusionment, and despair. There have always been liars but it seems like they are more plentiful than ever before. Social Media, like Facebook and X, encourages people to lie about themselves and others. They lie about themselves because they do not want others to know what kind of person they really are. If another person is so nice, nothing bad could be said against them, people lie about them so that the other person is brought down to their level. It is difficult to punish a liar on social media, even if someone’s reputation is ruined. People believe that where there is smoke there is fire, and there is a lot of smoke on social media. Lies are all smoke. It has been my experience that when people choose to believe a lie, they do not want to hear the truth.

As we saw in the last post, lying has been in the world since the beginning of time. Moses recorded that in Genesis 3. Five hundred years later, Homer wrote about a liar in the oldest Western literature, The Odyssey. His character, Odysseus, the King, was a prolific liar who is credited with the idea of the Trojan Horse deception. The Bible, and all literature, religious or secular, talk about liars. Where humanity is, liars are.

Some people see lying as an art form. The famous artist, Pablo Picasso said, “Art is a lie. The artist must know the manner whereby to convince others of the truthfulness of his lies.” He said art is a lie and then proceeded to explain how lying must be an art. Some of those who see lying as an art have written books (who hasn’t?). The one that comes to mind is The Art of Lying: A Moral Guide on How to Properly Lie, Cheat, Deceive, and Manipulate, by Sally Fairfax. She gives these reasons for lying: getting what you want in life; getting ahead of the game; destroying competition. These are all worthy goals of a narcissist, which people selling something (like their book) think everybody is. Meeting those goals should not make you feel guilty. However, if you do, the book can help you overcome those guilty feelings. “Why worry about it, when you can lie and cheat your way through all of it and have a great chance of freedom, gratification, and a chance for moral or immoral success.” This must be required reading for politicians.

Is lying an art? Or a brain thing? Or is it a sign of cognitive skills? In a July 11, 2018 post on the website of Scientific American, it says scientists have recorded that:

• Lying is among the most sophisticated and demanding accomplishments of the human brain. Children have to learn how to lie, People with certain frontal lobe injuries may not be able to do it.
• Electrical stimulation of the prefrontal cortex appears to improve our ability to deceive. This region of the brain may, among other things, be responsible for the decisions to lie or tell the truth.

The article stated that children have to learn how to lie. Later in the article, it said, “…lying in young children is a sign they have mastered a cognitive skill.” Surely, there is a better way for children to master cognitive skills. I was thinking that games would be a better way to teach cognitive skills. Then it came to me that lying is really a game. Lying immediately starts a competition between the liar and the one(s) lied to. Will the liar be found out or will he prevail? The liar must be skillful in telling more lies to support the truthfulness of the first one. On and on it goes until the liar is elected is found out or until the lie does not matter anymore.

This idea that children have to learn to lie has merit. The first teachers are usually the parents, the ones who also teach them not to lie. Children are honest until they learn they should not be. When a child thinks Aunt Mary’s dress is ugly and says so, the parents immediately tell them, “Don’t say that, you will hurt her feelings. Tell her how pretty it is.” The child has just learned that lying is what the parents want. However, when the child lies about breaking the lamp, the child is punished. No wonder the children grow up confused.

All that being said, the liar is really the one being deceived. A lie is a method of allowing a person to establish a perceived control over a situation by manipulating it. It changes reality in the mind of the liar. Psychologically, it can be a coping mechanism helping to avoid negative feelings or feared consequences such as rejection, judgment, or punishment. When you tell a lie, you have lied to two people—the other person and yourself. And you have ruined your own character, proving you cannot be trusted.

To lie or not to lie? Not to lie is the right answer. Lying is not a mental thing it is a moral thing. People lie because they choose to lie regardless of the destructive consequences.

“Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.”
—Sir Walter Scott

“…better to be poor than a liar” Proverbs 19:22.

Lying is a sin. It destroys character and keeps you out of heaven.

But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral,
sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns
with fire and brimstone, which is the second death (Revelation 21:8).