It Was Not Me
There is a lot of information about deception. Deception to me is lying. Studies show us that everybody lies. About 2/3 of the population has lied in the last few days. How many of you have lied in the last few days? How many have not? If your lying about lying, there is really a big problem.
Lying to people has almost become the normal thing to do, especially among teenagers. How many of you think lying to your parents is no big deal? How many think there is a difference between a white lie and a big lie? I know you do, give me some examples? Lying has become so common we have given different levels of lies. Here are just a few kinds of lies.
A lie by mistake - The person believes they are being truthful, but what they are saying is not true.
Omission - leaving out relevant information. Easier and least risky. It does not involve inventing any stories. It is passive deception and less guilt is involved.
Restructuring or Distorting the context-Saying something in sarcasm, changing the characters, or the altering the scene.
Denial-refusing to acknowledge a truth. The extent of denial can be quite large, they may be lying only to you just this one time or they may be lying to themselves.
Minimization-reducing the effects of a mistake, a fault, or a judgment call.
Exaggeration-representing as greater, better, more experienced, more successful.
Fabrication-deliberately inventing a false story.
Lying is nothing new. In fact we can go back in history and find evidence that people were trying to either set an example or teach others about lying.
There was one man, Diogenes of Sinope, and he was a controversial figure. His father minted coins for a living, and when Diogenes took to "defacement of the currency," he was banished from Sinope.[1] After being exiled, he moved to Athens to debunk cultural conventions. Diogenes modelled himself on the example of Hercules. He believed that virtue was better revealed in action than in theory. He used his simple lifestyle and behavior to criticise the social values and institutions of what he saw as a corrupt society. He went on a journey looking for something, does anyone know what he was looking for? Here is a hint, he was known as carrying a lamp? What was he looking for? Some say he was looking for an honest man. Many books have stated he died before ever finding one.
Confucius (551-479 BC) He was a Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period of Chinese history. The philosophy of Confucius emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice, and sincerity. Confusious was said to teach people about believing, being honest, and having a belief that people should be honest. There were hundred of schools names after him that taught morality, honesty, and justice. His sayings are still around today. Why was it necessary to teach honesty? People lie.
Now that we have new types of communication (email, facebook, facetime, cell phones, twitter, and many other things), do you think that lies or deception are bettter or worse? I do not know if lieing is any different now than it was before all of the new communication. I do know that people lie all the time. I was studying a man by the name of Jeff Hancock. He said there are really three types of lies in todays culture. They are called, Butlers, Sock Puppet, and Chinese Water Army. What are these?
Let us start with the Butlers. Butlers to me are similar to white lies. It is like texting-I am on my way.You and I both know we probably did not move when we said that. Here is another- I gotta go. You do not have to go you just do not want to talk to that person anymore. I will call you back. I always mean to call back but I never do. You would call these white lies. They really do not mean anything. Some of you do them unintentionally and some of you tell those types of lies not to hurt anyones feelings. We justify lieing so we want hurt peoples feelings. The butler represents a buffer between us and someone else. In the butler case it is to protect people. We are going to see what the Bible has to say about that in a moment. To me I correlate white lies and butlers together.
Now there is the sock puppet. What is the sock puppet? It is easier for me to give you an example. R J Ellory was the bestselling British author at one time. He was caught praising his own books on Amazon using a number of pseudonyms while slamming the books of his competitors. Ellory used at least two pseudonyms, including "Nicodemus Jones" and "Jelly Bean," to heap praise on his works, including the book -A Quiet Belief in Angels,- an award-winning 2008 book which the author himself called through an alias, a modern masterpiece,chilling. Whatever else it might do, it will touch your soul he said, again through an alias, this according to industry newsletter Shelf Awareness. He made up his own reviews.
This leads to the next type of lie, it is called, the Chinese Water Army. The army is nothing more than a group of people hired by companies or sometimes the government to blow up reviews and ideas to sell us on something. In America it is called, astro-turfing. This are people paid to put hotels and companies and other things all across internet sites and so forth. It does not matter that they are lying. They are doing it to promote the greater of mankind. Some of the things we buy were bought because of astro-turfing. There are even better things we could buy if would not listen to the Chinesee water armies. Christian teens say they often lie for the better of people. We lie for the greater good.
There was a study done asking people to record their daily conversations for seven days. What was found was Email is the most honest of all the media. Do you know what the most dishonest media is?, The cell phone. Talking or texting on the phone leads to lie after lie. The study also asked people to place resumes, some on paper and some on the social network linkin. The study found there was more honesty on the social site than what was written down on paper.
Now here is a big one you adults and teenagers need to listen to. Facebook. Facebook is dangerous. A study was done concerning the facebook postings. Four friends of several people were contacted about the things people say and post. The study found out that for the most part, people are honest about what they post on facebook. This scares me to death. Some of you post horrible things and language on your facebook. The study also asked people to form opionins about the postings that people put on their facebook. Ironically what they thought about that person was almost exactly the same as the friends of the people posting. I almost immediatly said to myself, based on this my youth group, these kids are in trouble.
Their was even a study done on online dating places. The particpates where meaured in height, weight, and age, both men and women. Almost 80% of everyone in there told some kind of small lie even if it was slightly misleading. It was also found the women were more honest and closer to their measures but the men where the biggest liers. Do you want to guess what they lied about the most? They lied about their height, nearly an inch.
How accurate do you think we are at detecting lies? I can tell you as a youth pastor I am pretty good. How accurate do you think we are as a society? It is 54%. We are bad about detection. What do we rely on? The eyes are not a window of the soul. We want the pinnochio picture, but it does not happen. The eyes tend to give idea when there are high stakes. Pupils dilate, body movements, and suttle things. But in general the eyes are not a good indicator.
Here is something else I want you to know, until about 5,000 years ago, we had no written language. When we quit talking, we begin writing, and as we are writing, we are speaking less. It has only been about 500 years since the first printing press, things were being written, there was even less speaking and more writing. Now we are in the network times, now there is not neccsaarily less lieing but there is more of a record. You kids text everything. Never put anything you want to come back on you in writing, I have learned that the hard way. You text, why do you not just pick up the phone and call? You know now we have something we have not seen before. We see lies. We see false advertising, we see facebook lies, we see text on phones.You cannot deny your guilt when it is written. Now it seems as though this generation is a bunch of liars when really it is probably the same as before.
What does that mean? That means when you leave a record of something, you can be caught. Lying about someone or something online or in the media, you leave a record. What is happening now is a computer has been devised even to detect lies.
Examples: Real Estate. People that had actually been there vs people who have not.
Just by analyzing the words, a computer can detect deception and you are going to see a lot more law suits filed and people be held accountable for their words.
Now all that I have told you may amaze you but guess what, there has always been a recording of your words.
Proverbs 6:16-19 ESV There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.
Proverbs 19:9 ESV
A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will perish.
Proverbs 12:22 ESV
Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.
Colossians 3:9-10 ESV
Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
Psalm 101:7 ESV
No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes.
1 John 2:4 ESV
Whoever says, I know him but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,
Ephesians 4:25 ESV
Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
Luke 8:17 ESV
For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.
Proverbs 24:28 ESV
Be not a witness against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your lips.
John 8:44 ESV
You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Matthew 15:18-20 ESV
But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.
Revelation 21:8 ESV
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.
Exodus 20:16 ESV
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Psalm 58:3 ESV
The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies.
James 3:14 ESV
But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.
