Greetings!
One thing that all the religions of the world frowned about is telling lies and this is because of the end result or the consequences that come with it. Lying to some religion is an abomination or let me say, a great sin and for this reason, it's always being preached about.
Though, lying is not good as we have been taught from all the religious bodies and groups. Also, all the religious books I have come across are not in support of telling lies, as they all preached against it, but the funniest thing about the preaching of these religious bodies is that, with all the preaching, they have not been able to curb the act of lying in people.
Even some of those preachers preaching against lying have not been able to lead and live as an example to the teeming populace. Had it been that their preaching is working in the lives of the people, the society would have been free from all sorts of lying and corruption by extension and this is because of the popular saying in my area that says, “ anyone that lies will surely steal.” So, corruption and stealing would have been partially eradicated in the society.
Telling lying has been with human since the time immemorial and it's always been the norms when it comes to the day activities of human, also, it's always been part of how we relate with each other on a daily basis as this can be seen in our conversation being it physically or on air when I say on air, through our mobile phone which is now mostly used in telling lies about our location and other things.
Like I said earlier, telling lies has been from the outset of the world as this can be seen in the life of father Abraham who told his wife to lie to a king that she's his sister just to save him from being killed by the king. Can we now see that lies have been in existence since ages past?
WHY AND WHY SHOULD WE LIE?
Though, telling is not good and acceptable and there's no reason or justification for lying. No matter how we justify ourselves while lying, it will not change the name from lying to truth.but at the same time, there's certain situations or circumstances that can make us lie. Though, I'm not in support of telling lies, but if the situation warranted it, then there's no issue about telling lies to save the situation as in the case of the father of faith, Father Abraham. Where and when he told his wife to lie just to save his life. Had it been he didn't lie, maybe the king would have got him killed, but the lie really saved him from being killed.
So, telling a lie to save a situation isn't that bad, I also have experienced such a situation where I needed to tell a lie to save the situation. There's this friend of mine that used to asked me for money, but anytime I borrowed or lent him money, this my friend would not pay me back as he would be given me flimsy excuses and since I have noticed that, I have made up my mind not to borrow him what I can't afford to give him.
So, on this particular day, he called to ask me for money as he used to do, but with what I had in my mind, I ended up telling him a lie just to avoid lending him the money. I told him I did not have the money and that I was expecting money from a friend which was a blatant lie from me to him, so, he said he trusted me and that had it been I have the money, I would have given it to him and that's the end of the conversation. Though I felt bad after telling him the lie, I was able to save myself from the impending loss of my money.
WHEN AND WHY SHOULD WE NOT LIE?
There's a situation when we should not lie. When we should not lie when we know that telling the lie will affect others negatively. Also, we should not lie to back up our bad deeds and also, we should not lie to put others in trouble, most especially as a false witness. There's some lie that can get the innocent indicted. These are the kind of lies we should not get ourselves involved in as this would not save any situation but add as a spoiler to the welfare and wellbeing of others.
So, telling lies can save a situation and also destroy lives. We should not get ourselves in what's bad or implicate others because of our selfishness with lies; rather, we should come out clean and face the consequences ourselves. Remember, a good name is better than the riches of this world. But like I said earlier, we can lie to save the situation if the need be. But I'm not saying we should be a perpetual and unrepentant liar.
This is my entry to week 166, Edition 02 of the weekly Featured contest in the Hive Learners community.
Thanks for reading.
Picture sourced from metaAi.