SUN-DAY SCHOOL CLASS: LYING ABOUT A LIAR by eric d.graham
What is a lie?
According to the scholars, a lie is a statement or act
designed to deceive another person. The motivation for most lying is either to
hurt the one against, whom the lie is directed or to protect oneself, usually
out of FEAR OR PRIDE. Lying is emphatically condemned in the Bible (Ex:20:16)
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. “
It is wrong because it is contrary to the nature of God,
according to Hebrew (6:18)
Why? Because, “it is impossible for God to lie…”
But, what is a pathological liar? The comedic world,
hilariously, has attempted to tackle this topic with Jim Carrey’s 1997 film
LIAR-LIAR, which is about a conniving attorney Fletcher Reede, whose dishonesty
is destroying his family alongside the iconic pathological liar character
created by Jon Lovitz named Tommy Flanagan on Saturday Night Live, who couldn’t
stop embellishing the simple matters of his life.
As we laugh at these comedic geniuses, a pathological liar
is typically an unstable person with negative pattern of thinking, who has
become obsessed with lying in order to validate their own truth or perspective,
while trying to justify his or her struggle or inability to being sincere and
honest.
Usually, this person, psychologically, has narcissistic
personality disorder. Meaning, he or she has an excessive need for admiration,
disregard for others' feelings, an inability to handle any criticism, and a
sense of entitlement, while trying to destroy your confidence, credibility with
others, and perspective of reality, reasoning and overall mental health.
Many of them were raised this way, influenced by family
members, where overtimes, they become accustomed to it. Which, can be deemed as
a product of their environment. Others, however, simply love to do it. Because,
they can get away with it.
But, how does one deal with a pathological liar?
First, don’t be surprised. Secondly, you must stand firm and
confront them. But, don’t argue with them or over react to their lying. Why?
Because, if you feed into their Shenanigans , it gives them the power. And, you
don’t want to engage in power plays with a pathological liar.
For, he loves to divert the conversation into all
directions, never addressing the real issue, sidestepping the situation, while
trying to trap you into psychological triangulation, where he/she will attempt
to pull other people into their web of deception.
It could be your family members, workers at your job,
friends on Facebook and all other social platforms. They, in fact, will try to
influence all of these people-by charming them, deceiving them, manipulating
them with intelligent conversations, witty jokes, late-night phone calls or
envious e-mails while sneakily spreading their poisonous venom, toxic thoughts
and lies in their attempts to assassinate your character.
The Book of Romans 3:13 explains it this way: The heart is compared
to a tomb, for buried in it is the seed of death. The throat reveals the
corruption inside, the spiritual decay. The lips are like the fangs of an asp;
they contain deadly poison.
All of this is happening, of course, without your knowledge,
or awareness. As a result, you may find yourself trying to figure out why
nobody wants to deal with you. Or, has turned against you-all of a sudden.
As you can see, a pathological liar has the ability to make
your life a “living Hell.” They, however, live to play the victim. And, without
shame, will multiply your words, changing their meaning, in order to convince
others-as well as-yourself that you said-something you didn’t- So, you may have
to play “STUPID” when dealing with them.
Especially, with a person, who thinks they can OUTSMART you.
Understand, you can’t give a pathological liar an inch. Because, they’ll turn
it into a mile, using it against you. For, a pathological individual has an
unstable personality. He/she, in fact, is cold and calculated plus very
vindictive and vicious. Their overall goal is to harm, destroy, get over, get
ahead, gain power, and gain authority over you.
For, "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to
kill, and to destroy" (John 10:10)
They will do whatever it takes to get to their goal. Or,
what they believe is necessary. But, during this process, when he or she
slithers like a snake, which was made reference to in Genesis (Genes-of Isis)
in Chapter 3: verses 1, when it states: Now the serpent was more subtil than any
beast of the field…..
With that said, when dealing with a pathological liar, you
must remain calm and emotionless by not reacting in the way they desire, while
removing the shock value from your face and attitude.
