There is a divide in our country. It is not about morals. It is not about religion. It is about our President of the United States. President Trump, because of his method of communication has caused much discussion and even hot tempers. I read this morning a writer’s characterization of this split. The “division between pro-Trump voters and anti-Trump voters could be described as follows: his opponents took Trump literally, but not seriously; whereas his supporters took him seriously, but not literally.”
What we say is important. I believe the way we say things are also important. The Pro-Trumper,s find his style of communications refreshing and appreciate is “speak your mind” way of addressing issues. The “Never Trump group calls our President a liar. They want to judge President Trump on his words based upon a concept of what truth is. They seem to want to take every word, every phrase and dissect them to a point to where these snippets become giant inferences of the total character of the man speaking them. Sure, we all live in a community, we all speak with a perceived audience and with every word we expect them to hear the words as we speak from our ears. It just doesn’t work that way. So should I, or even the President be responsible for everyone to instantly understand the framework of the speaker and not from the hearer?
So what am I trying to say? What is a lie? Are the words spoken to be judged by the hearer or the speaker? I am well aware the answer to this last question expects to be a yes or no. But it is not that easy. First and probably most important is the words must be understood from the person saying them. A lie is a mismatch between what’s in your heart, that is what you take to be true and what’s on your tongue or what we say is true. We lie when we speak words that are not what our lives and hearts believe. We lie when we speak words that contradict our thoughts.
OK, how about someone who speaks words that are part of his life and fully believes in what he is saying? Is this inwardly truthful person a liar? If I truly believe the world is flat and say so, am I a liar? Don’t think so. I am just speaking my heart, my belief, my understanding of the truth. Am a liar? No I am not. I am just deceived or haven’t placed truth deep in my heart. Liar, no, deceived, yes.
If you call someone a liar you are simply saying to the one speaking the words that your concept of the truth is different than what someone else is saying. But the problem saying they are a liar is a judgement based upon your truth. Your understanding of the truth is not the same as the speaker’s understanding of the truth. And if speaker is not violating the internal understanding of the speaker’s truth, it is not a lie.
Maybe those who are so critical of our President are on to something. God does care what we think. And he knows that what we really think will always, in the end, come out of our mouth. The issue is a judgement based on our own personal views of truth. And your truth is not always my truth. Your truth may not be anyone else’s truth. We as Christians are people who are on a journey to the place where we believe that truth brings more hope than lies. That journey makes us more and more honest — more and more like God our Father who never speaks what he knows to be untrue, and whose heart is disclosed to us perfectly in the words of Scripture, and, above all, in the Word of God, Jesus his only-begotten Son. I cannot call anyone a liar. And I truly believe neither should any other Christian.
What do you think? Leave a comment.
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A lie is telling something that is untrue with an intent to deceive. If a speaker often says things that do not hold up to be true, a reasonable audience will wonder about his intent. Regardless, even if the speaker is not a “liar”, people will repeat and believe an untrue statement- especially when the statement is made by the President of the US, in which case, it seems that fact checking is a moral obligation, no?
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