Today’s post is an article written by Dee Bowman.

I honestly believe that the most commonly committed sin is that of lying. Which of us has not, at one time or the other, told an outright lie? Oh, we dress it up and say it was simply “an untruth,” but when the finish with which we whitewashed it wares off it is still just a lie. And it is not a “white” or “black” one ether, just a lie! And the saddest part of it is that we don’t ever seem to learn that truth will always win and that we cannot profit by engaging in any form of untruthfulness (whoops! I mean lying!). Had you ever stopped to think what implications are involved in lying? They are many.

Lying shows contempt for truth. When we engage in lying, we openly admit to the world that we don’t have a high regard for truth. We debase all that is honest; we make corrupt all that is good.; we malign and degrade all that is true, and we show our disinterest in all who participate in truth and integrity. All this because we lie.

Lying shows a weakness of character. It is sometimes, admittedly, difficult to tell the truth, but it is never wrong to do so. To do any less reflects on your lack of respect for the dignity and propriety of everything that relates to truth. The person who is not strong enough to present a truthful position or relate a true picture of a thing is indeed a weak character and is in need of what truth can do for him.

Lying shows a lack of concern for others. I believe lying to be one of the first manifestations of selfishness. One lies to make and keep his relationship with others. Few lies are told that do not have the personal welfare of the teller at their basis. We lie to protect our image in the eyes of our fellows and in doing so we deceive them into thinking something that is not true. And that means that we are not interested in how it affects them, only in what light it shows us.

Lying is one of the most subtle of the tools of the Devil. And he uses untruth in a most concealed manner. He is able to so camouflage the truth so as to dupe people into believing an untruth. Most lies are hidden deep in some shroud that so resembles the truth that they are difficult to recognize. And herein lies the effectiveness of telling lies because they do so resemble the truth.

There are some lies that are not even consider to be so by the mass of people. For instance, exaggeration is lying. When we so add to the truth that we distort its real nature, we have surely told a lie. When we take a fact and add to it to make it appear more than it really is, it is a lie as surely as it [sic] we have just made up the entire story from start. Flattery is another of those willey tricks of the Devil. He is able to make great gain who is adept at the fine art of flattery. If, by the glib tongue and tickling phrases, one is able to beguile another, he is guilty of the lie. It may not appear as bad as some of the other forms of untruth, but still is the same. We need also to learn that to misrepresent the facts by not relating al the truth is to be a party to the lie, too. When a person will lead you to believe a thing by leaving off a part of the facts in that thing, he is the same stripe as the person who deliberately sets out to perpetrate a fraud with the lie!

The end of all liars is the same. When one persists in it, he eventually finds himself unable to recognize the truth. He will become so enamored with untruth that he will believe it himself. He will then, based on his own life of dishonesty, become distrustful of others and an overly suspicious nature will come to cause him great mental anguish. But most terrible of all is the fact that “… all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone” (Rev. 21:8).

– Bowman, Dee. The Sin of Lying. Auburn Street Reminder. Vol. II No. 24. August 15, 1973.