July 17, 2014
Twisting the Truth
A Dear Abby letter writer (7-5-14) was in a difficult situation
because a friend asked her to read his self-published novel and then write a
“great” review to post on-line. There were many flaws and errors in the novel,
hence the dilemma. I was surprised when the communist advised, “Find SOMETHING
you liked about the book and mention that ...” Such reasoning might be
appropriate in a one on one friendship situation, but I question the wisdom of
such advice when it affects others looking for truthful reviews. Abby determined
that because the reviewer wasn’t a literary critic, her credibility wouldn’t
suffer. I’m reminded of the incident when Moses sent men to explore the land of
Canaan. Upon their return, “They gave
Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does
flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people
who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large” (Num
13:27-28b, 30 NIV). The first part of the report was accurate, but in their
fear they had to find SOMETHING to say. Immediately Caleb silenced the
people with the truth, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we
can certainly do it.”
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Gail;
-----So, if we want to get purist about the truth, Caleb has a problem. God told these guys all along that he would push the people out of the land. There wasn’t any “we” about it. God would push the Canaanites out before them. But then, that might just prove your point. Had Caleb expressed the truth, maybe the people would have remembered the parting of the Red Sea and taken courage at the Lord’s movement before them.
-----But the reviewer and friend were hardly standing on Jordan’s banks with the Lord prepared to conquer the Levant for them. If the reviewer did reviews for a living, the gloss-over would be a major problem for her, besides doing the small damage of convincing a few good people to waste some money on a bad book. But she wasn’t a literary critic; she had no professional reputation at risk; and the few extra bucks a couple people might spend on his trash at her word does not rattle the earth to its foundations. Besides. Every psychologist who is an actual psychologist tells us everyone lies. We all who are still sane know this, too.
-----So, maybe the issue isn’t whether or not she should lie for her friend, but is what action would maximize proper benefits and minimize detriment or improper benefits. Maybe we should recognize that most of what we say or think is not purely true or purely false, but a mixture of both, often much more of one than the other. Maybe she could have gone, “This book needs a bit of editing, but it’s greatness is that it feels like a friend is telling you the story, not some far off Shakespeare, or Dickinson, or some other dickens.” Where would the lie be in that? Well, in the suggestion that you ought to read it, making her audience complicit in that lie, too.
-----And. As long as we are on the subject, how could we forget II Chronicles 18:18-22 , “And Micaiah said, ‘Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing on His right hand and on His left; and the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab the king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ And the LORD said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go forth, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And He said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go forth and do so.’ Now therefore behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these your prophets; the LORD has spoken evil concerning you.” But I guess the Lord Himself didn’t lie; the spirit did. And figure out John 7:8-10, where, at the suggestion of His brothers to go to the feast of Tabernacles, Jesus replied, “’Go to the feast yourselves; I AM NOT GOING [emphasis mine] up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come.’ So saying, He remained in Galilee. But after His brothers had gone up to the feast, then HE also WENT [emphasis mine] up, not publicly but in private.” This is the only passage of the Bible which after reading I stop thinking.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
Post a Comment