When Lying is the Norm

One of the last things the Apostle Paul wrote to his “son” in the faith, Timothy, had to do with how “dangerous” or ungodly things would become in “the last days.”

Perhaps the most daunting, and relevant for today, is his statement concerning the amount of deceit or outright lying that would occur, and become the accepted norm.

Paul wrote, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Tim. 3:12-13).

Not only will the godly have to endure or go through the abuse of the ungodly, the ungodly will make it a practice of trying to outdo one another in terms of deception.

Telling the truth will come at a premium, while lying, in the form of truth claims, will reach such a crescendo that only the most skillful at lying will be able to convince other liars that they are telling the truth, while also successfully deceiving them into believing a lie.

Today, as we look all around, telling the truth is frowned upon or at least it is discouraged as the way to get through life.

Oh, it is not that we do not expect others to be truthful, such as when witnesses take the oath to “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help whomever, God,” during a court proceeding.

But, the reality is, if a witness, a teacher, government worker, or family member, feels it is to his or her advantage to lie about something, that person will.

Such acceptance of lying as the norm, though, is extremely “dangerous,” as it sets a precedent where no one can be trusted about anything.

Divisiveness sets in whereby everyone is suspected of deception, even though it is expected, if not accepted, and in order to prevent the family, business, or government agency from totally imploding, someone with an iron fist steps in to quell the chaos, and that only because that deceiver happens to wield more force that all the other deceivers.

We are so blinded these days that we cannot see that that is exactly what we are inviting with all the deception taking place all around us.

Liars and cheats and molesters of all kinds are literally getting away with murder, time and again, mainly because those in charge have deceived themselves into thinking that if they will just play nice with the antinomians and scofflaws, all will be well.

Well, it is not going well, nor is anything about to change, so long as lying, cheating, and stealing are the accepted norms.

But, such is the course humanity is to take, as it drifts further and further away from the light God has provided as the remedy for our natural bent to deceive not only ourselves, but those who are our neighbors, friends, and family members.

And that being the case, none of us have any room to whine when this or that politician, doctor, or lawyer is doing something that we might assume is morally or ethically wrong.

After all, we voted for or hired him or her to mislead us.

We simply need to lie to ourselves more convincingly to believe that the liars, cheats, and thieves we have elected or hired are less unethical or immoral than we are.

Then, everything will seem as normal as the time before lying became accepted as the norm; when telling and living the truth was a virtue, and not something to be frowned upon because it prevented the liar and the cheat from getting his or her way, and that to the detriment of everyone.