It’s an election year, also known as “the season of lies.”
Candidates regularly accuse their opponents of dishonesty. Some news agencies research the claims. They try to sift out the honest wheat from the dishonest chaff in all the promises and accusations. Voters wonder who, if anyone, is trustworthy.
It’s easy to point fingers at those in high-profile positions for lying. But what about our own fibs? Why do we misrepresent facts or embellish the truth?
For more than two decades, researchers have examined humanity's less-than-truthful reputation. This is what they found: Everybody lies.
We tell little white lies. We flatter falsely. We change facts to get what we want. We strive to look better than we really are. We defend our reasons for lying.
Kang Lee, a University of Toronto professor, has researched human development and the practice of deception. He set up one experiment in a video-monitored room. Would children lie about peeking at a toy when an adult left the room?
At age two, already 30 percent lied, Lee says. At age three, that grew to half. By five or six, a full 90 percent were “pants on fire!”
Maurice Schweitzer says, “I would say we’re lying constantly.” He studies deception and decision-making at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. Schweitzer says white lies “fall under politeness norms and are not very harmful,” but, “there are other lies that are self-interested.” Those can be really harmful.
Why do we accept lying? Scientists believe one reason is merely comfort. People who are brutally honest aren’t pleasant to be around. We like people who make us comfortable—even if that means sacrificing truth.
People also believe lying can be necessary. For example, people who care about politics think lying will help their policies succeed, says psychology professor Dan Ariely. That’s a philosophy of “the end justifies the means.” The result you want matters more than what it takes to get there.
But lying takes a toll. One lie leads to another. It takes effort to keep covering up. It’s exhausting.
Lying also alters the human heart. For some, lying hardens the heart, making it easier to keep doing it. For others, guilt eats away at contentment. They fear getting caught or despair over the harm their lies cause. And when lies are found out, trust is lost. Relationships suffer. Sometimes it’s impossible to repair the damage.
Intentional lying proves one universal truth: People are insecure. If we really believed God is good and in control, we would not need to lie. We lie when we put our hope in something made up rather than in Him.
Jesus is the truth. (John 14:6) We can trust Him no matter how life’s events go or what other people think. Believers are safe in His care. There is no need to lie. Truth is enough.
