Well, the first is a hard question and I think the answer is: It all depends. And you would
ask “On what?” I’ll tell you what I think and you’ll say if you agree or not.
(Because I do not believe in everything I’m told unless it is consistent with
what I have learned is the truth through my experience.)
In several places in the Bible it is quoted when Jesus talks asserting
that the mouth speaks out that which fills the heart. Of course it’s true, but
that is in the case one speaks for oneself with no restriction or censorship.
When you are speaking for a salary, you might not be so frank, perhaps because
you owe it to who pays your salary. Also
when you are aiming to reach a most needed goal in life, like it happened to
many of us in our country of birth where you could not talk negatively about
the people in power and had to agree, for instance, in the school exams, with
everything the teacher said, whether it was true or not, in order to get a good
grade and be accepted socially, some of us had to lie. Only the brave ones did
not, even when losing the year or getting expelled. That was a matter of being
hypocritical or not. Since the exams
there were not multiple choice where you have the answers some not completely
true, we had to write our own, and hoped our teachers liked them. So the consequences in math and other science
subjects, where there’s only one answer, it was OK, but in the ones you had to
speak your heart out, like in writing, sociology, history, there was trouble.
In the life we live, no matter where, we have problems too. If we
pretend to be something, and are not consistent with it, we are liars. Some
pretend to be good but are unfair in their acting. Parents, teachers, leaders
may say “Do as I say, but not as I do.” Perhaps
they feel weak, or are not sure in their belief, or are acting to not hurt a
friend, or because they feel compelled in order to be gratifying for some
reason. If the reason is “good” because
it will benefit many, excellent, but if it’s somewhat selfish because it will
benefit only “me” and/or my sinful cravings, I am not acting according to what
I pretend to be and the result is that I am a liar and I misguide everyone who
might follow me. The Word of God is very clear on that when it says: Whoever
causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for
him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the
sea. (Mark 9.42)
We are Christian not because we go to church every Sunday and tithe, or
because we love everyone no matter what they think, or because we work in the
church to help out, or because we do whatever Christ asked us to do, BUT
because Christ gave up his life in the cross to cleanse us and we accepted Him.
In my case, as long as I have the power over my thinking, I will not change
that although my life be threatened. Christ did it all for me and whatever I do
is a consequence of it. If anyone thinks different and acts or not to gain
salvation, its his/her/their problem with God. He’s the only one who can judge.
And we cannot blame teachers, pastors, or anyone who tells us right or wrong
for whatever reason because we are smart enough to search into the Word of God
ourselves:
For the word God is living and
active and sharper than any two--edged sword, and piercing as far as the
division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the
thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His
sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we
have to do. (Hebrews 4.12-13)
