Truth and Lies

"Our town is a quaint little town with little crime and no prejudice whatsoever." "When someone in our family speaks, everyone listens. They have to, there are so many of us!" "I don't have the capacity to be prejudiced. I believe in live and let live, no matter how wrong they are." "I said to her, "I don't care whether you are Catholic or Christian, you just need to go to church somewhere!"" "I believe in God and all that . . . I'm just not so certain God believes in the Church. So, I'm not gonna put my time in there until I know it matters to God." "I'm a Democrat because I can't stand Republicans!" "I'm a Republican because I can't imagine being a liberal Democrat!" "I'm going to wait out the downturn in the economy until my unemployment runs out." "So far I haven't been able to find a job that meets my salary requirements." "I'm overqualified for hourly jobs and underqualified for management." "If it weren't for all the *%@#* (__fill in your favorite category here __), the world would be a better place."

These are just a few of the statements people make to me on a fairly regular basis. It is the world as people see it through their own lens, their own context, their own experience. It is what people choose to believe, to embrace, to advocate. They are the 'truth and lies' of our daily experience.

Why is it easier to believe the lies of generalization than to deal with the truth of particularity? i.e., " . . . there's no prejudice in our town." Does the truth frighten us so much that it is simply safer to speak a lie than to be forced to wrestle the truth in our own life? What do we protect by putting responsibility for . . . whatever . . . on someone or something else? Our honor? Our pride? Our values? Our morals?

Is it simply easier to believe that the Republicans, or the Democrats, or the Catholics, or the Protestants, or the Muslims, or the (name the ethnicity), or the (name the race), or the (name the trade union), or the (name the government agency), or the (name the government program), or the (name the legislator), or the . . . whomever, are responsible for all the issues which daily journey with us than to glance in the mirror of personal choices and own our participation in the outcome?

Is there truth in the lies? Yes. Are there lies in the truth? Yes. Everyone tells the story from their own perspective . . . and nearly everyone is telling exactly what they believe is happening. But, does that grant license to polarize the conversation with our belabored certainites? Only if we fear discerning a truth we can't handle more than living a lie we can manage.

"The mind of fools is in their mouth, but the mouth of the wise is in their mind." Sirach 21.26 It's something to be remembered the next time you hear the words, " . . . and I'm telling you the truth!"

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life." Let us measure our words, our way, our truth and our lives by the measuring stick of His life.

Your servant in Christ,

Pastor Don