liars

We call them fibs. I’m not sure we always realize how serious they are.

I’m a history buff, and I have a military history Masters. In most wars there have been over-reactions to people who seemed like the enemy, but World War II represents an extreme. During that war, our government put Japanese Americans in concentration camps and actively investigated thousands of people just because they spoke German in their homes.

Those cases were almost always abuses, but there’s some truth to the idea that to some degree loyalty can be detected by the language we speak. Look at this, from John 8:42-47: 

“Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.’”

Jesus is pretty clear here: the language of God’s kingdom is truth, and Satan’s native language is lies.

So what about those fibs? How serious are they?

Well, at a minimum they seem to me evidence that I have at least some familiarity with the language of the enemy. They might be evidence of more. They might point to disloyalty, or even subversion. Sometimes my lies might undercut the kingdom work Jesus is doing through other people, people I may not like very much.

I’m not one of those who thinks adherence to the truth means we can say any mean thing we want so long as it’s factually accurate. I think Jesus’ call to love means some things will go unsaid, at least by me. If they need to be said, God will send someone who’s already proved their love to say them.

I do think that Americans are casual with the truth, and that includes American Christians. We’re all far too fluent in the language of the enemy.