I finally got around to watching a few movies on my “must see at least once” list. One of which included the movie The Invention of Lying. It was an incredibly thought-provoking, if not also insulting. It is definitely sacrilegious and anti-Christian, but definitely worth seeing once regardless.It is hard to imagine the world void of a specific sin, in this case deceit (as the title clearly suggests). I was led to examine my own life and ask myself, “Am I truly honest? Do I have strong integrity?”
I have to swallow a hard truth…honesty is my battle cry and deception is my shield. I do not always practice what I preach. On a daily basis I lie and deceive for the sake of my reputation, to avoid conflict, and to protect myself. In fact, we all do this! As a result, many peoples' friendships are shallow and continuously at the risk of breaking, because they are not true relationships at all. They are merely constructs of false connections by means of false common desires and beliefs. I am blessed to have relationships that are based on honesty and truth, but even within those I find myself withholding truth and dancing around honesty. If I do this with my closest friends, then you can be certain that I do this with family.
While some may find my logic here unreasonable and that I should reverse my last statement to say that “if I do this to family, then you can be certain I do this to friends”, I believe that what I have stated to be accurate. Blood is thicker than water; war more binding than the womb. It is possible for two siblings to also be friends and create a bond in blood, but it isn’t as common as many seem to think it is.
After watching the movie I started texting a dear friend a series of “truths”. These texts contained facts about me and my opinions of myself and the world that were completely and utterly true, nothing twisted to sound pretty or to sound humble or noble or anything; jut honesty. I found the exercise to be liberating and enlightening. I learned about myself and I faced some of my good and some of my bad in ways I never allowed myself to do before. Thank God for honesty, and thank God for people to be honest with.
Peace and Grace,
Stephen
Funny thing: For some reason those texts aren't coming through. Might want to look into that.
ReplyDeleteIn all seriousness, good post. Honesty is a real challenge in our politically correct, facebook edited, sissified culture.
Lol, I sent those to someone else. Didn't think you would appreciate a dozen texts at 9:30 at night, but hey I'll make sure to hit ya up next time ;)
DeleteThanks, and you're absolutely right. The culture to full of truth twisting elements.