Saturday, January 16, 2016

A World of Lies



The Ninth Commandment, or the Eighth, depending on which numbering system is used, states, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:16, NRSV) Though in a narrow reading this refers to testimony in a court of law, it is generally understood to forbid telling a deliberate untruth in most circumstances.
Humanity has wrestled with the necessity for truth-telling and the propensity to lie for as long as written records exist.  The philosopher Diogenes of Sinope, who flourished in the fourth century BCE, is said to have walked the streets of Corinth with a lighted lamp, searching for an honest man.  In our own time theologian and professor Joseph Fletcher stirred widespread debate with the publication in 1966 of his book “Situation Ethics,” in which he argued that adhering to absolute rules such as “never lie” could produce cruel and unethical results.