When we talk about lies, we talk about the danger they carry and the damage they can cause.
So, a lot of emphasis is placed on people always saying the truth.
We have sayings like “the truth will set you free”, “honesty is the best policy”, and many others.
On the surface level, I agree with these statements, but I also wonder why people don’t talk about the fact that telling the truth can also be used to achieve the same end result as telling a lie.
If the goal of a lie is to mislead and to deceive, then sometimes saying something that is technically true, or presenting the reality of a situation in a certain manner, can also achieve that exact same goal.
When the devil spoke to Eve in the Garden of Eden, he told her that eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would make her wise.
And it did.
He also assured her that she had nothing to fear by eating it because she would not “die”.
And she did not, not in the physical sense that she thought he meant anyways.
So, technically, you can make a case for the Devil and claim that he didn’t “lie” to Eve.
But did he deceive her? Yes, he did.
When we zoom out into the broader picture, we see that although parts of what the devil said contained truth, the overall message functioned as a lie because it achieved its real purpose, which was to deceive the man and the woman and lead them into rebellion against God.
This analysis tells us something important.
And it is that, when it comes to categorising statements as “truths” or “lies”, or categorising actions as “wrong” or “right, we cannot always examine the words/actions alone and conclude that they are absolutely one or the other.
We also have to consider the context, the timing, the framing, and, most importantly, the intention behind the words being spoken or the actions being carried out.
This, I believe, is something worth deeply pondering.
When a mother tells her young daughter, “If a man touches you, you’ll become pregnant,” is she lying?
Well... yes, because it’s just not that straightforward.
But when we weigh her admittedly skewed wording against the overall context and the intention behind the statement, can we honestly say the mother’s goal is to deceive her daughter?
Of course not.
In the same way, when an investment manager tells you that you can make x100 your financial investment, is he saying something that’s true?
Yes, because getting that kind of return is technically not impossible.
However, if he leaves out vital information like the volatility of market conditions, the amount of time it could realistically take to reach such a return, and the fact that you could lose all your money before even making a single dime of profit, then he is, in fact, lying to you.
Two different scenarios:
One is a lie that contains a foundational truth.
The other is a potential truth that became a lie through presentation.
Do you understand it?
When we’re dealing with people, the statements they make, and the actions they carry out, we can’t always force everything into neat black-and-white categories.
Sometimes, things really are black and white, but many other times, they aren’t nearly so straightforward.
Lies can be told to achieve positive outcomes, the same way truths can be framed to achieve deception.
Maybe, at the end of the day, we can never really know whether something is ultimately a lie or the truth until its full purpose has been accomplished.
This same idea applies to actions.
Good actions can be carried out with bad intentions, the same way bad actions can be carried out with good intentions.
And maybe, once again, we cannot fully define an action as “good” or “bad” until the original intention has come into full realisation.
Let’s take some examples.
If a guy takes a girl on dates, says all the right things, and behaves exactly as she hoped he would, it could appear that he is being “good”.
But if she eventually marries him and he goes on to abuse her and subjugate her until she becomes a shadow of her former self...
And we later discover that he always intended to do this to her because he hated how confident and ambitious she was...
Can we still describe his earlier actions as “good”?
On the other hand, if a father takes a dangerous object away from his little child, the child cries, screams, and throws tantrums.
From the child’s perspective, the father can be seen as “bad”.
However, years later, when the child is older and understands that the object could have caused him or her serious harm...
Would they still consider the father’s actions as “bad”?
Think about it.
In understanding certain statements or actions, sometimes we simply need more context, sometimes we need greater understanding, and sometimes we need more patience to wait and see the result before making sweeping moral judgements and conclusions.
Obviously, this doesn’t apply to everything because some things are inherently evil regardless of intention, and some other things are inherently good regardless of intention.
However, this quick and conclusive judgement is certainly not a one-size-fits-every-situation case.
This is why I believe time is one of the greatest vindicators of people and actions.
Sometimes it takes five years, sometimes ten, sometimes fifty, and sometimes even hundreds, but…
Only then are the words and actions of certain people finally recognised as wisdom or bravery.
And only then are the words and actions of others finally exposed as foolishness and condemned as wrong.
Time is the ultimate vindicator.
Unfortunately, human beings are rarely patient with things they do not understand, which is why I’ll add this:
If you’re trying to build something that nobody around you has seen before...
Or if you’re trying to pursue ambitions that don’t yet have a reference point...
Then you must be ready to be seen as a “liar” for a long time, even when your intentions are true.
Similarly, if you’re in a place where everybody praises everything you do as “true”, you need to check again.
Are they doing so because that’s actually the reality?
Or are they only telling you that comfortable “lie” because they prefer the way your dreams and plans are relatable to them and easy for them to understand?
Before you get confused by my words, just zoom out and pay close attention.
Whenever people introduce something new, unfamiliar, or disruptive, they are usually first fought and resisted.
Look throughout history and you’ll see many great people, many great ideas, and many great inventions that were initially dismissed as “lies” by the people of that generation.
It’s only after those ideas became reality, and those inventions changed the world, and those people achieved what everyone said was impossible... that those same “lies” became accepted as truth.
My point is simple.
If you’re going to live a consequential life, you must be willing and be open to being misunderstood.
Even by the people who care about you, and perhaps even harder to accept, especially by the very people you’re trying to help.
This next illustration is theologically debatable, but make sure you get the point I’m making.
Till today, people still condemn God for wiping out the earth with a flood during Noah’s time, but if He hadn’t, the Nephilim race would have continued to wreck havoc and continued to spread their evil until the Earth was in total chaos.
Meaning that all of humanity would have eventually become hybrids like them (half-man and half-giant), leading to the end of the human race as we know it and the end of any form of redemption for humankind.
So… God had a choice.
Intervene and be seen as cruel, or
Do nothing and appear loving while allowing the destruction to continue.
We all know the choice He made.
Like I said, because we often lack context, are impatient with timing, are influenced by framing, and are ignorant of intention, we can easily mistake truths for lies and lies for truths.
I believe that the absence of all those things is one reason God remains the most misunderstood Being in the universe.
As men and women today, there are simply things we do not know and things we cannot yet know, and yet we proudly and confidently draw conclusions from the tiny window of understanding we possess.
It is very intriguing.
If you’re going to become anything consequential, you must develop this same immunity to external opinion and perception.
Whether it is criticism or validation from people who do not understand what you’re building, or people who cannot do what you do, or people who have never dared to dream as big as you have.
If you truly believe in what you’re doing, then do it with all that is in, and leave time to do its job of vindicating your words and your actions.
And even if it never does, well, at least you made sure you still did all the things you wanted to do.
To conclude this article, please, let us kill the belief that “every rumour has an iota of truth in it.”
My friend, that is very false.
Some rumours are simply lies, plain and simple.
Not every gossip spreads because it resembles reality; sometimes a lie is simply just that, a lie.
So be careful of internalising and believing all the “truths” you hear every day on the internet, on the news, from people you love, from teachers, from influencers, from leaders, and from everywhere else.
The truth can deceive you too.
A true statement can be distorted by timing, it can be distorted by framing, and it can be distorted by intention until, eventually, it becomes a lie.
Be vigilant.
You may never truly know who is speaking truth and who is speaking deception until time has finished its work, so be careful.
One last thing:
If a “truth” can ever change, then it was never really true in the first place.
The truth is true and always true.
That’s why we tell the truth, and we can tell a lie, not the lie.
One is always constant; one can change depending on a number of factors.
Keep that in mind.
I’m bringing back an old series.
So, if you have any questions you’d like me to answer, feel free to use the link below to send them.
Yes, it’s anonymous…
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I'm so happy that you put that final statement at the end. I was asking myself about the difference between a truth and the truth and it seems like when the truth becomes twisted into a lie, it becomes a truth because it has lost it's original true. I don't know if I make sense. But this was a good one, thank you 💕
Wowww.