PREVARICATION

I Was Just Thinking About – PREVARICATION. 

An old saying expresses: A rose by any other name is still a rose. In a similar way, one should understand: A Prevarication by any other name is always a lie. The strict definition in the Oxford Dictionary is to: “Speak or act in an evasive way.” The Miriam-Webster definition is: “To deviate from the truth; equivocate.”

In parenting, one of the more painful experiences is when a child looks innocently into one’s eyes and tells a very interesting account of an act or situation where the parent knows unequivocally that it is all a figment of the child’s imagination and is false. In other words, deception, lies and evasiveness are on display. The parent did not train up their child to lie. So then, why has the child lied?

The current issue of National Geographic Magazine (June 2017) has an extended article on the subject: Why We Lie: The Science Behind Our Deceptive Ways. The Introduction indicates: “Lying, it turns out, is something that most of us are very adept at. We lie with ease, in ways big and small, to strangers, co-workers, friends, and loved ones. Our capacity for dishonesty is as fundamental to us as our need to trust others, which ironically makes us terrible at detecting lies. Being deceitful is woven into our very fabric, so much so that it would be truthful to say that to lie is human.” In a graphic presentation on: “Why Lie?” several conclusions are reached. It was determined that the largest percentage lied to “protect yourself.” Lying Frequency by age over a 24-hour period resulted those who lied one to five times a day as:

Ages 6-8:       29%

Ages 9-12:     43%

Ages 13-17:    59%

Ages 18-44:   45%

Ages 45-59:  39%

Ages 60-77:  34%

A pattern of deception/lying begins at a very young age and continues throughout one’s lifetime. The question is: “Why?” With the religious leaders of His day, Jesus Christ declared to them (and us): “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). The words of Ephesians 4:25 should be emblazoned on one’s heart, mind, conscience and soul: “You must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are members of one another.” 

What best describes who you are and what you do? Are you best known for being a person who speaks Truth or a person who willfully Deceives others?

Prayerfully – consider these things with me!