Faith Meets Life: No doubt that honesty is the best policy
Jesus is quoted as saying that people need to be truthful. To paraphrase (but not very freely), your “yes” ought to simply mean yes and your “no” no. Anything beyond this is evil.
What Jesus wanted to squelch was what he observed among his fellow first century Jews: the habit of making impressive sounding pledges. Not having stacks of Bibles on which to swear, and not inclined to swear on mothers' graves, folks of that time might invoke the name of God or, more often because they did not want to give offense to him, refer to him indirectly by naming his home (“Heaven”) or the world he made (“the earth”).
In the Jewish and Christian view of life, honesty and truth telling are of first importance. They are of first importance for the health of a community. If a girlfriend can't count on her boyfriend to be honest, the relationship is not going to do well or go far. If a teacher can't grade quizzes and essays honestly, the teaching and learning experiences are going to suffer.
Being honest and straightforward: our actions need to match our words. What we promise needs to be consistent with what we are able to deliver.
Perhaps it is even more important than in earlier decades to be honest because of we are able to communicate so quickly and frequently. A text message, an email, or a verbal comment can escape into the airwaves or the air very quickly. Every aspiring musician and their pet is able to release a music file or a video clip. Every company is free to hire advertising professionals to talk up its product. The potential for communicating, both truthfully and deviously, has grown far beyond what earlier generations imagined.
Examples of communications where it seems that the communicator was not completely candid are not hard to find. Rogers, the communications company, said it was dropping its system access fee, but then replaced it with a “regulatory recovery fee.” (This week the media is praising Telus for dropping their fee and not replacing it.)
Some Canadians are upset because the games and quizzes they were playing were actually a thinly disguised way of signing them on to a Premium Text Message plan — with the premium prices to go with it.
Most of us have grown used to promises made before an election not being fulfilled. A major reason for the start of the war on Iraq was the alleged presence of “weapons of mass destruction.” None were ever found.
Moneylenders in the U.S. used to assure their clients that their homes would rise in value, that their salaries would increase, and they would able to make their mortgage payments when they rose. It didn't exactly turn out that way.
Advertisers exaggerate the performance of their products. If their claims were true our parents would all have the slim bodies of actors in commercials, and their smooth skin too.
This is an age of many words and images, and of rapid and frequent communication. Because of this, it is perhaps more important than it was in the past to take care of what we say. We can listen more than we speak. We can try to sort out passing impressions of people or events from what may be more accurate. We can take care to not pledge more than we can deliver.
Trying to communicate as truthfully as possible can help on a lot of fronts. Our friendships, family connections, relationships with our employers, and the college experience will all be better for our efforts to be honest.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
What Jesus wanted to squelch was what he observed among his fellow first century Jews: the habit of making impressive sounding pledges. Not having stacks of Bibles on which to swear, and not inclined to swear on mothers' graves, folks of that time might invoke the name of God or, more often because they did not want to give offense to him, refer to him indirectly by naming his home (“Heaven”) or the world he made (“the earth”).
In the Jewish and Christian view of life, honesty and truth telling are of first importance. They are of first importance for the health of a community. If a girlfriend can't count on her boyfriend to be honest, the relationship is not going to do well or go far. If a teacher can't grade quizzes and essays honestly, the teaching and learning experiences are going to suffer.
Being honest and straightforward: our actions need to match our words. What we promise needs to be consistent with what we are able to deliver.
Perhaps it is even more important than in earlier decades to be honest because of we are able to communicate so quickly and frequently. A text message, an email, or a verbal comment can escape into the airwaves or the air very quickly. Every aspiring musician and their pet is able to release a music file or a video clip. Every company is free to hire advertising professionals to talk up its product. The potential for communicating, both truthfully and deviously, has grown far beyond what earlier generations imagined.
Examples of communications where it seems that the communicator was not completely candid are not hard to find. Rogers, the communications company, said it was dropping its system access fee, but then replaced it with a “regulatory recovery fee.” (This week the media is praising Telus for dropping their fee and not replacing it.)
Some Canadians are upset because the games and quizzes they were playing were actually a thinly disguised way of signing them on to a Premium Text Message plan — with the premium prices to go with it.
Most of us have grown used to promises made before an election not being fulfilled. A major reason for the start of the war on Iraq was the alleged presence of “weapons of mass destruction.” None were ever found.
Moneylenders in the U.S. used to assure their clients that their homes would rise in value, that their salaries would increase, and they would able to make their mortgage payments when they rose. It didn't exactly turn out that way.
Advertisers exaggerate the performance of their products. If their claims were true our parents would all have the slim bodies of actors in commercials, and their smooth skin too.
This is an age of many words and images, and of rapid and frequent communication. Because of this, it is perhaps more important than it was in the past to take care of what we say. We can listen more than we speak. We can try to sort out passing impressions of people or events from what may be more accurate. We can take care to not pledge more than we can deliver.
Trying to communicate as truthfully as possible can help on a lot of fronts. Our friendships, family connections, relationships with our employers, and the college experience will all be better for our efforts to be honest.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
