Many, many people making a living from religion are on record as being against 'lying.' Which when you look it the situation without a bias is like being against the tide, or breathing. Lying is a function of controlling your environment, which is what being a human being is all about. Notice how "being" is a recurrent theme?
I was always impressed by what I thought of as a mature point of view in the Ten Commandments. Here is the exact (King James) wording of the ninth commandment:
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Those who practice rote religion take this as meaning Thou shalt not lie. But that's not what the clear text meaning is! Reverse the negatives:
Thou shalt bear false witness against not thy neighbor.
See? The Lord thy God is crystal clear: Take care of your neighbors, and do whatever is necessary to take advantage of those not your neighbors. So what becomes crucial isn't whether we should lie or not, but to whom we are allowed to lie, by a just and benevolent (and really With It) God.
Could you go a day (and a night) without lying? Maybe if you were really, really sick and confined to your bed. But anyone who leaves the house in the morning to walk among men - - as well as men's complimentary gender, women - - is going to tell a probably uncountable number of lies. And the Lord is cool with that, just as long as it's not to bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Just thought you'd like to know...
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3 comments:
Excellent. Since my boss doesn't even live in my neighborhood, I think I'll tell him what a good job he's doing.
I feel much better as I lie all the time. Phew.
I don't lie, which is why LK spends so much of his time 'explaining' what I meant. My moral side has far too much control. That's why I married him.
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