by Cinda Smaagaard

Created on: January 07, 2009   Last Updated: January 08, 2009

Integrity, honesty and honor should be practiced and not just preached. Immorality, deceit and dishonorable conduct always have a way of being exposed in the end because along with how a person tries to act and talk, it is actually who they are as a person. Recently I caught someone in a position of authority in a lie. I find it best to actually confront the lie the minute it is heard. Not as a judgmental jurist, but actually asking the person if infact that is what they meant or intended to say, for example, "Are you sure you want to say that?" Rather than make any kind of value judgment, since we do not always know the truth or extenuating circumstances behind a "white lie," it is helpful for the liar to reflect upon their own words and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to their heart and mind with a conviction. Granted, a lot of people out there have developed a hardened heart, but I still believe that most folks want to be decent and honorable, they just do not want to pay the price even to the point of self-criticism to monitor their own ill behavior. Their lies may have been a way for them to cope and obtain financial gain for too long.

All of us, particularly those within the Church, need to give more than just lip-service to truth and practice it even when it takes courage to go forward into situations that seem diametrically opposed to truth. It is even significant for believers to address those who do lie so that some sense of order can be maintained. In light of current events where it appears so many today speak lies which eventually become habit in order to appease oneself, one's peers or one's bank account, it would be a good idea to revisit what the virtues of honesty and integrity are and why they are important. We also need to examine those who practice deceit and how with their constant practice of it, becomes the very nature of their being. It is important for the Church to address duplicity just as the New Testament teachers and preachers did.

Compulsive liars are those who habitually lie. They might be self-serving or are forced to answer to others. I have known of people who habitually steal, like kleptomaniacs, because they have a disorder of their thought processes. The issue of lying or stealing for financial gain is no longer their incentive since the money eventually runs out and they have to keep on lying and stealing to simply make ends meet. The lies and deceit become so second nature to who they are as people that eventually it becomes

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