Smoking is not bad for you. Cigarettes are good for your health (cigarette manufacturers said cigarettes were no more addictive than Twinkies or tea even after studies proved the link between smoking and cancer).1
We only want to provide defensive weapons to Cuba (said the Soviet Union, but they really intended to plant nuclear missiles on the island).3
The Piltdown Man is the evolutionary missing link (Decades later it was proven to be an orangutan jaw grafted onto a human skull).2
Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction (a lie that launched the Iraq War costing $2.4 trillion, and thousands of American and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives).1
There is no famine or actual starvation, nor is there likely to be (Known as the 1932 Holodomor, Stalin’s effort to wipe out private farms in Ukraine resulting in the starvation deaths of three to four million people).1
You can keep your insurance and your doctor (Misleading statement regarding the Affordable Care Act).6
The Fox Sisters and mysterious knockings (In 1848, three teenage sisters perpetrated a hoax which resulted in the creation of modern-day spiritualism.)7
I cannot tell a lie (a story made up by George Washington’s biographer).3
Nobody intends to build a wall (said Walter Ulbricht, former leader of East Germany, two months before they built the Berlin Wall).3
The Jews are the enemy of all classes of German society (propaganda that led to the deaths of more than 6,000,000 Jews).2
Anna Anderson was Anastasia Romanov (DNA testing has proven that Anastasia was killed with her family in 1918.)3
If you swallow a watermelon seed, a plant will grow inside you (There’s not enough oxygen in the gastrointestinal tract for it to germinate, and science says it’s impossible).4
If you swallow chewing gum, it will stay in your stomach for months, even years, and cause stomach problems (gum moves through the digestive system just like any other food).4
The Earth is flat (a belief put forth by the Catholic monk Cosmas and propagated by the Catholic Church. First Copernicus and then Galileo challenged the belief stating that the earth is round—it is actually an oblate spheroid, not exactly round. Galileo was branded a heretic and sent to the Inquisition, but was later cleared.)5
The theory of the “big lie” states that no matter how big the lie is—or more precisely, because it is so big—people will believe it if you repeat it enough. This is extremely prevalent today in the media, politics, education, religion, pretty much every facet of life.
Throughout the history of man there has been one lie after another that too often has resulted in division, suffering, oppression, and death.
But there is one lie—the biggest lie of all—that alone has brought so much devastation to individual lives, to nations, and to nature.
“Thou shall not surely die.”
Satan’s lie to Eve was one of misrepresentation. “You won’t die.” And because once she’d eaten from the fruit and didn’t drop dead on the spot, she chose to believe that Satan must be telling the truth and that God had lied. And that is the biggest tragedy of this lie—unbelief in God and, ultimately, disobedience—a tragedy that has affected the entire world and everything that is in it.
But when God told Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit of the tree or they would die, He meant something else entirely. Physical death would come as a consequence of sin and their disobedience, but the greater issue was how man would be changed. He would no longer be perfect, pure, and innocent, and his nature became selfish, corrupt, and desperately wicked. This new nature would be the driving force that would cause almost all of mankind, throughout all this world’s history, to not only die here, but to die for all eternity.
Satan intended that man would sin and then eat of the tree of life, thereby becoming immortal sinners. But God prevented this by casting Adam and Eve out of Eden and setting angels to guard the entrance to the garden and the way to the tree of life.
“I am bidden to warn all who make untruthful statements that they are serving him who has been a liar from the beginning. Let us be on our guard against untruthfulness, which grows upon him who practices it. I say to all, Make truth your girdle. Be true to your faith. Put away all prevarication and exaggeration. Never make a false statement. For the sake of your own soul and the souls of others, be true in your utterances. Never speak or act a lie. Truth alone will bear to be repeated. A firm adherence to truth is essential to the formation of Christian character. ‘Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness.’
“He who utters untruths sells his soul in a cheap market. His falsehoods may seem to serve in emergencies. He may make business advancement because he gains by falsehood what he could not gain by fair dealing. But he finally reaches the place where he can trust no one. Himself a falsifier, he has no confidence in the word of others.” Manuscript Releases, Vol. 20, 31
Man thinks of lies in degrees and argues that there can be acceptable justification to lie.
We may chuckle at the scenario when the wife asks her husband if her dress flatters her figure and his response is that she looks beautiful, when in fact, the dress does not compliment her at all. He might feel that if he tells her the truth, her feelings would be hurt, and it is admirable that a husband does not wish to hurt his wife. But how do you think she will feel if she goes out in the dress, and a friend tells her it’s not her best look? She will realize that her husband lied to her, causing her to question if there is real trust in their relationship, and then she is hurt just the same and perhaps even more.
Someone might argue that in this world where sin causes so many bad things to happen, that maybe it’s okay in some situations to lie—to save a life, or to steal to help their own or another’s circumstances, to spare a hurt, to provide hope to a dying patient, to obtain a better position, to get a better job, to hide a past indiscretion, to rule the world.
The thing about lying—or violating any of God’s law—is that it becomes easier, once we’ve done it, to find a justifiable reason to do it again and again and … you see where it leads; because that’s our nature. True love, for both God and our fellow man, will, with tenderness and compassion, always tell the truth, because to do otherwise carries eternal consequences for others as well as for ourselves. God does not intend for us to break His law to do something that seems right.
“Never speak a lie.” Medical Ministry, 38
“Let us never, by a word or act, or by silence, testify to a lie. If all, under every circumstance, would speak the truth when the truth ought to be spoken, what a different world this would be.” Manuscript Releases, Vol. 20, 30
“He [Jesus] teaches that the exact truth should be the law of speech.” Sons and Daughters of God, 64
“Never was there a time when truth and righteousness should be so highly exalted by those who are in God’s service as the present.” The Paulson Collection of Ellen G. White Letters, 256
“When a falsehood is uttered, the heavenly angels turn away in sorrow, grieved that Christ’s heritage should so dishonor Him. One falsehood spoken prepares the way for another. The Lord desires all to adhere strictly to the truth, to be straightforward in every transaction. Never tell a lie, because thus you hurt your own soul, and disgrace yourself in your own eyes.” The Review and Herald, January 12, 1911
“Truthfulness and integrity are attributes of God, and he who possesses these qualities possesses a power that is invincible.
“Never prevaricate; never tell an untruth in precept or in example. … Be straight and undeviating. Even a slight prevarication should not be allowed.
“The Saviour has a deep contempt for all deception. …
“Lying lips are an abomination to Him. He declares that into the holy city ‘there shall in no wise enter … anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie.’ ” My Life Today, 331
I do not find, in either Scripture or the Spirit of Prophecy, that we are given the instruction “Do not lie, except … .” We are safe only as we hold fast to the belief that it is better to keep, in all respects, the law of God, no matter the circumstances.
“God requires us to be faithful in the smallest details of life—to guard our words, our spirit, and our actions. To do this, we need to acquire perfect self-control, and this will demand of us constant, ceaseless watchfulness. …
“… Study the Guide Book, and with a serious mind seek to know its requirements, and to do them—should they make practical its injunctions—what a transformation would there be in the conduct and conversation! . . . Every relation in life, every position of responsibility, every affection and habit, every emotion of the mind, is to be brought to the great standard of righteousness, the commandments of God, which are exceeding broad. We must have simplicity of heart that we may understand, and willingness of mind to practice, all the teachings of God’s word.” Sons and Daughters of God, 285
Sources:
1 saturdayeveningpost.com/2018/05/8-historys-destructive-lies
2 history.howstuffworks.com/history-vs-myth/10-biggest-lies-in-history
3 factinate.com/things/45-true-facts-biggest-lies-history
4 theimpactnews.com/tilt/2021/03/10-biggest-lies-in-history
5 solarmythology.com/galileo/flatearth
6 politifact.com/obama-like-health-care-keep
7 history.com/news/ghost-hoax-spiritualism-fox-sisters
Judy Rebarchek is the managing editor of the LandMarks magazine. She may be contacted by email at: judyrebarchek@stepstolife.org