Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. God cares a lot about how honest and truthful I am in my communications with others. As an omniscient God, he knows every time we make even the smallest white lies.
In Jesus day, many forms of oaths were used, some more binding than others. This allowed people to make subtle, dishonest variations in their truthfulness (see http://biblehub.com/commentaries/matthew/5-33.htm). God does not allow this. He requires honesty with exactness. I have two favorite quotes about honesty that I have pondered for many years. President Gordon B. Hinckley once taught, "Some may regard the quality of character known as honesty to be a most ordinary subject. But I believe it to be the very essence of the gospel. Without honesty, our lives and the fabric of our society will disintegrate into ugliness and chaos" (https://www.lds.org/ensign/1990/10/we-believe-in-being-honest). Dishonesty has significant ramifications. (Which reminds me of a VeggieTales movie about an ever-enlarging fib monster. But that's a story for another day... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nydi62P7zHQ) My second favorite quote about honesty comes from the legendary Highland high school rugby coach Larry Gelwix, who taught, "The essence of a lie is not the words you choose, but the message you convey." In other words, being honest is more than just saying things that are technically truthful. It means conveying a truthful, accurate representation in everything you do and say. I am grateful for Jesus Christ's teachings about honesty and his perfect example of applying the principles of honesty and integrity.
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For anyone interested, I have a professional blog titled The Instructional Designer's Toolkit where I share tools and inspiration for instructional designers and e-learning developers.
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