My Views On Honesty....
Submitted by Chris on 2003-03-15 16:28:13, Saturday
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Hi All Interested Persons, I am having kind of a hard time keeping up with threads in here because of my new job and the limmited time I get to spend online. However, this is one discussion I feel I must comment on. The one about total honesty.... You know, I think I have to agree with Bach on this one. For all but one practical purpose, total honesty really IS a sham. The one practical purpose in which it is (hopefully) not, is in a Christian's relationship with the Father. Actually there are two hopeful catagories...the other one is in one's relationship with one's own self. Shakespere said it best, "To thine own self be true." I have never encountered anyone who could be 100 percent honest with anyone. In fact, it is rare that someone can be that honest with himself. Yes we DO keep secrets, because in this fallen world complete honesty would be a mistake. I have had my own bout with honesty. I am a recovering alcoholic, and in A.A. we believe in a program of "vigorus honesty" in order to stay sober. That goes back to being true to "thine own self". But we also believe that the same kind of vigorus honesty can be harmful if practiced with other people. We will do a moral inventory and share it with another person, usually a pastor or very trusted frien, but that is for the purpose of staying sober. With everyone else in our lives, we must watch just how completey honest we are with them, because the disclosure of certain facts about ourselves CAN be quite harmful to both us and them. Here is another way I have been dealt harshly by honesty, or rather, the lack of it. My family has known about my being a B.L. for most of my life. I have also known this as long a period of time as they have known it. I actually chose NOT to admit it to myself. Why? Because I wanted to believe that they carred about me and loved me as a member of thier family. I did not want to face the fact that they were joking about me behind my back...;joking and making all kinds of cruel accusations about me because of my orrientation, and my friendship with my YF, "L". But in the back of my mind I knew the truth, and it hurt so bad that I CHOSE to lie to myself. However, that came smashing down around me when I got drunk one morning and got into the fight with my brother that put me in jail. That was when all of the really nasty and painful truths were hung out on the clothesline for everyone to see. It has been the most horrably painful experience in my life. Total honesty is quite the sham in our daily relationships with other people. It should not be with our relationship with God and ourselves. But really, how many of us get THAT right? We need God!!! Without Him, we are lost. He can provide the way to a much better and healthier life, but the way is often quite painful, isn't it? Love in Christ Jesus, Chris |
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