Lesson #12 - Untruthfulness

Terry Siverd
08/13/17 - Sun AM

Lesson #12 – Untruthfulness

1. Are those who constitute your circle of friends generally believable and trustworthy?

  When was the last time you sang under your breath, “liar, liar, pants on fire!”?

  Are there certain ones that you have more or less written off as being serial prevaricators?

- Politicians? … News Media? … Attorneys? … Criminals? … Etc.

~ Do you find yourself growing weary of having to always be wary?

~ Are you more suspicious than ever?  Have you become cynical?

~ Robert Thornton has created a format for writing references:  LIAR = Lexicon of Inconspicuously Ambiguous Recommendations.

LIAR letters, whether perceived correctly or not, are virtually litigation-proof. e.g.,

“In my opinion, you will be very fortunate to get this person to work for you.”

“I assure can assure you that no person would be better for this job.”

“I would urge you to waste no time in making this candidate an offer of employment.”

  Who do you generally find trustworthy?

~ Jesus? … Bible? … Parents? … Mate? … Minister? …

2. Name some euphemisms for LYING.

  Shading the facts … Stretching the truth … Sugar-coating … Bending the rules … Doublespeak … Spinning …

  Does truth matter to God?

~ Jehovah is “God of truth” (Ps.31:5) … Thou dost desire truth in the innermost being (Ps.51:6).

Prov.6:16-17 / God hates lying lips … Prov.12:22 / lying lips are an abomination to the Lord.

~ Eph.5:8-9 / We are called to walk as children of light (for the fruit of light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth).

~ Eph.4:25 / lay aside falsehood … Col.3:9-10 / do not lie to one another

3. Jesus: the way, THE TRUTH, and the life (Jn.14:6).

  Jn.1:24 / The Word became flesh and dwelt among us…full of grace and truth….

  Think how often Jesus prefaced His words with, “verily, verily, I say unto you…” (i.e., “most assuredly”).

  Jesus taught against the need for making oaths.  cf. Mt.5:36-37

~ A.M. Hunter notes, “oaths arise because men are so often liars.”

4. Discuss different degrees of untruthfulness.

  Bold-face lies – Acts 5:3  and 

~ Cain flat-out lied about his brother’s whereabouts (Gen.4:9) … Jacob lied to his father, asserting that he was Esau (Gen.27:19).

  Little white lies / Fibbing – “Tell him I’m not in.” … “The check is in the mail.” … “I’ll get right on it.”

  Flattery – insincere praise and counterfeit caring – cf. Ps.12:3;  Prov.26:28; 28:23 & 29:5 and Jer.5:31 & 6:14

  Broken promises –all Christians ought to be promise-keepers!

  Intentionally misleading – Joseph brothers mislead their father (Gen.37:31f).

  Honest Mistakes – Have you ever misspoke?  Have you ever misquoted a Scripture?

~ Have you ever come to understand a passage of Scripture in a deeper, more accurate way?

  Can a case be made for justifiable lying?

~ Was Rahab “excused” in lying about the spies? – cf. Josh.2:3-6 and Heb.11:31

~ Might Bonhoeffer be “exonerated” for defying Hitler and lying to the Nazis in the interest of saving others (and his country)?

5. Does speaking the truth give a green light to being rude and brutal?

What does it mean to speak the truth IN LOVE ?– cf. Eph.4:15