CAN ANY CIRCUMSTANCES JUSTIFY A DEPARTURE FROM TRUTH?

Otago Witness, Issue 2983, 17 May 1911, Page 86

CAN ANY CIRCUMSTANCES JUSTIFY A DEPARTURE FROM TRUTH?

(Papers read at the Dunedin D.L.F. Club on May 2.) AFFIRMATIVE.—By Roxana. What ground has anyone for saying that it is wrong to tell an untruth? I believe I am right in saying that the Bible, on which is based the whole code of .laws governing our morality, contains no instructions concerning truth-telling or the reverse. The whole of the comm.andnients are summed

up in what is usually called "the eleventh commandment," which is "Love one another." I don't want you to think I am setting out to preach, to you, but a question of ethics (such as moral justification of an action) must bo judged by a moral standard, .and cur moral standard is the Bible, which says, " Love one another." How are we to reconcile two apparently opposing conditions? Can a person love anyone—love them, I say; I don't mean pretend to love them, or imagine they love them—l said, and I mean, love them, and yet bo ready to tell them a lie? lam not mincing matters- —a departure from the truth is nothing more nor 1033 than a lie.

When we have to break bad news—a loss, an accident, a death even—to one we love, do we not tell tliern >a lie, or a successioa of lies rather, to lighten the shock of the telling ? Who is there (here or anywhere else) who considers that such untruths require justification ? A husband and wife, wretchedly poor—the wife lying dangerously ill at home, slowly dying for want of proper food. The husband throwai out of employment, we will not question why. He fears to go home and tell his wife the dreadful news —it would only hasten her end, which can a/t most be only a few days (perhaps hours) away. No! He goes home at 5 o'clock just as though ha comes in from his work —keeps a- cheerful face, and chatters about the doings at the .shop,, and in the morning leaves', appaenrtly for work, at the usual time, and walks the streets in dread the whole day, rather than thai his dear one should suffer more anxiety than she suffers already. Are net his little subterfuges all departures from the truth? Would that I, in a sirniki'r position, were noblo enough to do the same! The mother sacrificing herself for ber children. Some little thing she has set her heart upon—no meed to> pry into such sacred matters, but on account of the children she goes without it. Oh! I didn't really want it—it doesn't matter. I oan easily do without. Didn't want it? Is that, or is it not, a departure from truth? And it happens every day, every hour of the day. And the world is the better for it. The keynote of self-sacrifice is, " I can do without; it doesn't matter 111 the least." Can any circumstances justify a departure from the truth? Say rather, "Does such a departure from truth require justification?" Such untruths may ba told, and still we may •" Love one another " ao we are bidden—in fact, it is love that prompts their telling.

Of course I admit, even if it does seem to spoil my case, that the mean lie, the lio that is prompted by a desire to avoid trouble for the speaker, even at the expense of another—a oowardly untruth like that is justifiable! by no circumstances whatever. Even if a person has promised on his word: of honour not io tell the truth, he has no right of any kind to tell an untruth. Not everybody, I expect, will admit that the half truths told to break the sihock of bad news aro really departures from the truth, but if I am wrong I sin in good company, as I can show if you wish. I could cite other instances where an untruth is batter than the truth, but I think you will agree that there are some—no, I hold, that there aire many--circumstances justifying departure from tho truth.

NEGATIVE.—By Adelina. To-night the subject for debating being " Oan any circumstances justify tho departure from truth?" or, in plainer words, Ougnt we ever to tell a lie or falsehood? I now give my decision in the negative, and I shall endeavour to point out to you some of the most important facts why I say " No." What is a lie? Ah! a small word with a big meaning, and one that lias caused many a man regret. It is like e disease sweeping over you until it gets a firm grip, too strong to be removed. And who gains by a lie? No one. Neither the speaker nor the actor nor the person spoken to or to whom the action is done. Have not all our thoughts, words, deeds and actions to be answered for? Ah, yes. There is a Better Land to be aimed for, and before admission we must arrive there with a clean conscience. What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul? Nothing is gained, but all His promises are lost. Happiness is lost to him, and his life is being weighed down with the burden of misery. It is from early childhood that suoh a catching plague as» " lies" should be well guarded against. The boy of to-day is the man of to-morrow, or more clearly, what a boy is' to-day so shall he be when a man. His character has to be built, and if a good foundation is laid, there is every possible chance of that boy growing into a good man. Does a lie drive away fear, perhaps in trying to save ourselves or others from disgrace of any kind. No. Think of a man. It is a case of life or death. What shall he say—the truth or a lie? God is whispering in one eair, while the devil is speaking loudly in the other. The man is puzzled The crisis has come. The truth or a lie, Ah, a lie. He goes away, satisfied, perhaps. with himself at being a hero, but how does be feel ? No one knows. All is within himself, and when he stops to think of the next world, a deep sorrow and regret passjis over him. His mind is uneasy, his head heavy, and a deep black stain is left on his soul. Let us all be like George Washington. Listen to these beautiful words-: " Lives of great men all remind us We oan make our lives sublime, And departing, leave behind us, Footprints on the sands of time." You have all read, or surely heard, of this gre»t and noble man, for noble he was. Did he not set us a good exmple, and why should we not follow in his footsteps? Here is a man that was never known to tell a lie. How many oan say this? Pew, yes, very few. Though sad to relate, yet it is a fact ■at the present time that the growing population are living on the fat of the land, or, in other words, are doing and acting just to please themselves. Honesty is a part of truth; it is action, while a lie is spoken. Here is a golden proverb rule: Honesty is the best policy; but, oh, how few there are that follow it. How often do wo hear and read of people who think nothing of depriving others of their rights, while they are doing so to themselves in a time to come. Too often do we ourselves cross such people's paths. Surely their lives are not happy ones. How can they be ? If they are net found out in this world, it is a sure belief that they will some dl*y be m the next, and the punishment they shall receive and will have to endure will exceed their happiness on. earth. After all his been said and heard, does it not male?) us feei more ambitious to better ourselves, to "lead honest and upright live 3, and to

tread Life's dreary path with, a light and cheerful heart? Let our conscience be spotless, and -we may fear no danger. These are a few of the great many reasons why I think that no circumstances can justify the departure from the truth.