9th Word: Truth

Prepared by: Francis Gayoba

Exodus 20:16
“You shall not bear false witness
against your neighbor.”
Discussion
1. Why do people lie?
2. Can you tell if someone is lying?
3. How do you feel when you’ve been caught in a lie?
4. What makes lying wrong?
Why do people lie?
• To avoid feeling bad or to avoid a bad consequence
• To feel better and get rewarded
• To make other people like or admire them
Physical Symptoms
Polygraph Test
• Does not detect lies
• It detects the unconscious stress and fear
that lying causes
• The heart rate, blood pressure, respiration,
perspiration, and skin conductivity indicate a
lie
• Even body temperature and voice pitch
changes
• It’s as if the body itself is protesting the lie
Physical Symptoms
• The very second that lie leaves your lips, your body releases
cortisol into your brain.
• Your memory goes into overdrive trying to remember both the lie
and the truth.
• Decision making becomes more difficult and you could even
project your discomfort as anger.
• It can increase your blood pressure, cause headaches and lower
back pain, and reduce your white blood cell count
Lying and Health
• A Notre Dame research project looked into the effects of
pathological lying.
• The study involved 110 volunteers, half of whom agreed to stop
lying and the other half who received no instructions.
• At the end of 10 weeks, the group that lied less often had 54%
fewer mental complaints (like stress or anxiety) and 56% fewer
physical health issues (like headaches or digestive issues)
Lying and Health
• “Research has linked telling lies to an increased risk of cancer,
increased risk of obesity, anxiety, depression, addiction,
gambling, poor work satisfaction, and poor relationships,”
~ Deirdre Lee Fitzgerald, professor of psychology
The truth will always come out
“Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun,
the moon, and the truth.” ~ Buddha
When People Stop Lying
• Better sleep
• Less tension
• Fewer headaches
• Fewer sore throats
• Improved relationships
• Less anxiety
Forms of Deception
Forms Deception
• Deception can be thought of as intentionally misleading
someone, or causing someone to come to a false belief.
• The plainest case of deception is outright lying.
• Someone can lie to you by uttering a false statement, knowing it
to be a false statement, and yet representing it as true.
◦ Uttering a false statement by mistake is not lying.
Forms of Deception
• White Lies: Some people consider lies that don’t matter to be
“white lies.” Example: saying someone “looks great” even if they
don’t. Or, trying to cheer a patients up by giving an encouraging
“white lie.”
• False suggestion: A person makes true statements but leaves out
crucial information so that the hearer winds up believing
something false. Example: “I only ate one slice of pizza” (plus
spaghetti, and fried chicken, and ice cream)
Forms of Deception
• Exaggeration: Representing something as more extreme or
dramatic than it really is. It is deceptive if the listener is not aware
of the exaggeration.
• Concealment: Intentionally withholding, hiding, covering up, or
otherwise concealing the truth without making false statements.
Example: hiding the bad results of an exam from parents
◦ However, if withholding information is not done with the intent to mislead or
cause false belief, it is not deception.
Discussion
• Which forms of deception are most commonly practiced?
• Which ones have you done?
• Are there any situations when any of these would be ethically
acceptable?
Truth as a Way of LIfe
Truth as a Way of LIfe
• Truth is not simply something that is believed or spoken, but
instead is a character quality, a way of being
• One’s commitment to the truth is verified by deeds
An Attitude of Truthfulness
• Truthfulness as an attitude is synonymous with honesty and
relates to one’s communicative intentions.
• One is being truthful if one tells it as one sees it, without trying to
deceive another in any way.
• The facts may be wrong, but it is the intention that counts here.
• Truthfulness and fallibility are quite compatible.
Truthfulness and Integrity
• Truthfulness is inextricably bound up with intellectual integrity.
• The scientist or historian who fudges her data or distorts the
facts is not a real scientist or a real historian.
• The intellectual or writer who presents the work of others as his
own is a fraud and is rightly ostracized.
• To have an attitude of truthfulness is to live with integrity.
Conclusion
• Truth as a way of life will improve life tremendously
• We will have fewer negative physical and psychological ailments
• We will worry less about pleasing others
• We will have a better relationship with others
• Truth telling is a worthy endeavor
References
• Amber Pariona, “When You Lie, Your Brain Is Actually Suffering,” Life
Hack.
• Chris Iliades, “The Truth About Lies,” Every Day Health, July 14, 2010.
• Christine Carter, “The Power of Truth Telling, TEDx talk, March 24,
2017.
• Daniel Kaufman, “Truth and Justice,” The Electric Agora, January 8,
2018.
• David P. Gushie and Glen H. Stassen, Kingdom Ethics, Following Jesus
in Contemporary Context, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2016).
• “Truth Telling,” University of Missouri School of Medicine