06/24/14 WHEN YOU DISCOVER YOUR ERROR, CORRECT IT OR BE A LIAR

06/24/14 WHEN YOU DISCOVER YOUR ERROR, CORRECT IT OR BE A LIAR

Anyone (or any organization) can make legitimate mistakes in judgment and/or reporting. On one occasion, I told a congregation that when Moses stood before the burning bush, God told him, "take off your feet, you are on holy ground." Of course, God did not tell Moses to take off his feet. He told Moses to take off his shoes. The more often a person talks the more likely he is to make a mistake. It would be erroneous to have called me a liar because of my mistake.

Also, if a person makes a decision based on commonly known, but errant, information, then the decision will be flawed, though the intent may be honorable. The outcome of an errant decision can be just as destructive as an intended act of duplicity, but it is not necessarily a matter of moral failure.

Sometimes our errors are lapses in thought, or the fault of being misinformed, or misunderstanding what we have learned from another person. If a person misrepresents the facts, he is in error (he is wrong), but he is not necessarily a liar. Likewise, If a person knows of information that he needs to communicate to other people, yet he refuse to share it, he is a liar, because he is deliberately allowing a person to be deceived, by keeping information that rightfully belongs to the other person.

NOW, if I had continued to tell people the "take off your feet" story, as a fact, then I would be a liar. If I make up stories or if I deliberately change facts, or if I convey information that I know to be untrue, then I am a liar. If I realize my error, but my pride or an ulterior motive keeps me from confessing and correcting my error, I am a liar.

We should apply these principles to people and organizations, such as Bush and Obama, or whoever; Republicans and Democrats, or whatever. If they fail the honesty test we should not endorse them. If they have an agenda contrary to truth, we should denounce them. Even if they tell the lies that you like, you should distance yourself from the lie and the liar.