Please Don’t Lie to Me

Even in professional ministry, people lie to me.  Sometimes those lies are bold-faced, bald-faced, or bare-faced. Sometimes the liars are parishioners and sometimes they are pastors.

Lying kills trust by definition. Lying is the opposite of truth-telling.

Yes, sometimes the truth hurts or it’s embarrassing.  But we cannot be a healthy organization without Truth.  Remember when Pilate asked Jesus, “What it truth?”  Best question ever.  Especially on Election Day.

Some say it’s true to call even peaceful protesters a “mob.”  Some say it’s true to call a caravan of poor migrants an “invasion.”  Some say it’s true to call the migrants themselves “diseased” or “criminal.”

Some say it’s true to call Republicans “racists.”  Some say it’s true to call conservative people “deplorables.”  Some say it’s true to call President Trump a white nationalist (although he self-identified as a nationalist a couple times and he is white.)

What is true?  Sometimes it depends on who’s talking.  Sometimes it depends on context. By this definition, many media personalities have told many lies.

And sometimes facts are facts.  Places of birth, dates of legal actions, and most checked statistics are facts.  By this definition, our President has told many lies.

Only a conniving person would say something like “it depends what the meaning of ‘is’ is”  when asked “Is there an improper relationship here?”  There are liars of every political persuasion.

I would love to live in a world where everyday truth was clearer.  But in the meantime, I pray that noble people are elected today and that we – in the Church – would always tell the truth for the sake of the Gospel.  Healthy organizations speak the truth in love.  We’ve known this for over 2000 years.

Sometimes I feel like channeling Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive.  Look out Dr. Nichols.