The Belt of Truth
can seem old - fashioned
and out of place in our society.
After all, everybody lies - don't they?
?
Here is an example of 2024 U. S. culture.
This company is proud to promote....
lying.
This page contains a Bible devotion on truth.
It also encourages us to
teach children
to tell
the
Truth.
When I was young, my peers told me that crossing your fingers behind your back made any lie you told void of consequences.
Lying was rationalized, excused, and tolerated.
Yet, when I watched television,
I saw a world where
telling the truth was honored
and being a man of your word
was respected.
Therefore, I was presented with both sides of the moral argument.
Today,
I rarely see both sides of the moral argument presented.
~
Does anyone
wear
the Belt of Truth anymore?
Is telling the truth just a choice? |
Lying
doesn't really have consequences....
does it?
I do not watch a lot of television.
Yet recently I have seen many commercials that
present these messages:
* White lies aren't real lies.
* It is cool to lie.
* There are few, if any, consequences to lying.
* Watching people lie is funny.
Commercials
that Encourage Lying and/or Deception:
* Mother wears her daughter's clothes and then lies about it. (She gets away with it and appears smug.)
* Parents run out of sugary cereal and lie about the nutritious cereal they give their child. (They get away with it and appear smug.)
* A parent lies about making a delicious treat from scratch that everyone loves. (This parent gets caught by the other parent. The consequences appear minimal and are downplayed.)
* Father allows child to do something and then says, "Let's don't tell your mother." (We are not shown what happens next.)
Television shows and movies also regularly
promote lying
by
showing
people lying and getting away with it,
and then
appearing happy about their choice.
What do you think about that?
If you are a Parent
what do you teach your children
about lying?
I encourage you to begin to combat this barrage of media deception being presented in a positive way to your child.
One way to do this is to reward your child after he finds a certain number of deceptions - deceptions that are presenting lying in a positive way by the media.
This will at least train your child to notice deceptions and regard them as bad models of behavior.
Another way to teach your child about honesty and truth is to play an entertaining song about truth.
Children need to be taught that.....
Telling the truth
is not obsolete and
lying is not insignificant but actually a sin.
For Parents:
Children are imitators.
Am I
teaching my child
to tell the truth?
Am I modeling - telling the truth
or
making excuses for lying?
A few years ago,
a friend of mine was struggling with lying.
At that point,
I really started to think in depth about the issue of lying.
I realized that I had never heard one sermon on lying. Yet as I searched the scriptures, I found that God is very stern toward lying. A warning about lying is one of the Ten Commandments: Exodus 20:16 and Deuteronomy 5:20 "Do not lie." |
Leviticus 19:11 Proverbs 6:16 |
Colossians 3:9 TLB
says,
Don’t tell
lies to each other;
it was your old life
with all its wickedness
that did that sort of thing;
now it is dead and gone.
It began to dawn on me that our society is full of lying.
I began to notice all kinds of examples
of
lying and deception
in the media and in daily life.
Withholding telling the truth
(in order to get away with something or avoid consequences)
is a form of deception.
~
God calls us to tell the truth.
In fact, Jesus said one of his names is Truth.
~
Demonstrating the need for Truth
Now that God has dramatically begun to show me the vast problems with deception in our society, I have begun to teach on the subject of telling the truth.
During my presentations, I usually assign a person to be Jesus. Then I demonstrate that each time we tell a lie, we actually turn our back on truth - and that means we turn our back on Jesus.
When we put that visual picture in our mind, it will help to keep us alert so that we do not take advantage of any subtle invitations to lie.
Take note that many times we lie about ourself.
The following are lies:
"I am no good."
"I am worthless."
"I am unlovable."
"Nobody really cares about me."
"I'll never amount to anything."
All of those are lies.
-
When we say or think those things, we are lying.
____
The truth is:
God loves you
with an enormous, extravagant love.
God calls you valuable.
~
I encourage you to put on the belt of truth
and
resist repeating
the lies that the devil
and
demonic forces
want you
to believe.
Music for Feeling - God's Love.
God never meant for us to make lying insignificant.
He tells us to promote truth:
"Instead,
we will lovingly follow the truth
at all times -
speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly -
and so become more and more
in every way like Christ
who is the Head of his body, the church."
Ephesians 4:15-16 TLB
And God tells us the truth about disobedience:
"A false witness will not go unpunished,
And he who tells lies will not escape."
Proverbs 19:5
REFLECTION
Do my actions show that I promote honesty?
What positive difference would it make
if
everyone wore the Belt of Truth?
"Do not lie."
Leviticus 19:11
"Do not lie to one another."
Colossians 3:9
"The righteous hate what is false."
Proverbs 13:5
Some interesting thoughts to consider.
Back to the top of Belt of Truth
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