What is a lie? According to Wikipedia, a lie is a statement used intentionally for the purpose of deception. The liar would have to already set in their mind that they want to deceive or mislead the person they are telling the lie to. Everyday people make the choice whether to tell the truth or not.
According to the Ten Commandments, it says “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.” In other words, to not lie about or to peers. It is obvious that lying is bad if you get caught. Lying is wrong.
Most people would say that lying is wrong, except when there’s a good reason behind it. Which means that lying is not always wrong in certain situations. For example, getting out of punishment we lie. Telling lies so that our siblings or our friends won’t get in trouble. Some kids tell lies so they can seem much better than who they really are.
Some people tell lies to have people up against each other. While others just lie to receive attention they are not receiving. What are the effects of lying? The effects are to remember your lies, losing people’s trust, and it being addictive. “A liar should have good memory” wise words from Quintilian. You have to have the ability to keep track of what you said to certain people. You have to remember your lies.
That calls for a lot of brain power. If you don’t have brain power, you may forget the lie you once told to someone. To get out of that lie that you forgot, so you won’t get caught, you’ll tell another lie, which will all add up at the end.
You will find yourself trying to remember lies on top of the ones you already told. Not only that, but the lies you might tell to one person, you might not tell the next person. Eventually, the lies will spread like wildfire and you will get caught. Not only by one person, but multiple persons. Life would be so much easier if people would just live in truth. When you tell the truth, it is easier for you to receive the information. If you would just simply tell the truth, you won’t have to remember anything. However, lying causes you to try to remember what never took place.
It causes stress and it does harm to your body. Lying takes too much work, so just tell the truth. Another effect of lying is losing people’s trust. When you get caught lying, people often mistrust any information you gave them from that point forward.
Continuing to lie to people around you will cause them to not believe anything that comes out from your mouth. This reminds me of the story of the boy who cried wolf. The boy wanted amusement and cried wolf, he claimed that a wolf was chasing their sheep. The villagers came running thinking there was a wolf and they noticed there was no wolf. The boy then started laughing while they were angry. He did this a second time.
The third time there really was a wolf and he cried wolf and the villagers didn’t pay him no mind, they realized that the boy did not come back with the sheep so, they went up to the hill and saw him weeping. They saw that it had been a wolf and walked back while an old man tried comforting the boy. As he comforted the boy, he said something very vital. He said “Nobody believes a liar.
..even when he is telling the truth.” What this showed to me was that when you lie and continue to live in the lie and people know that you are lying, when there’s a time for emergencies you will think the person is lying.
For example, pranks. A lot of youtubers do pranks on their friends, boyfriends, and their families. I’ve seen a prank called “dead girlfriend prank” and the boyfriend really thought that she was dead. Now if that was to happen again, he would think that she would be joking with him.
In your lies you get so consumed that you forget the truth. A habitual liar becomes a lonely person. No one would want to speak to them or to even just be around them. Trust is fragile, secrets and lies can damage your relationships and yourself.
This can cause you and the victim of the lie to grow apart. You will be known as the liar, the betrayer, or even the deceiver. When all people can see from you is a liar, your reputation is ruined. Remain truthful, that’s the only way to go. Addiction is a real thing. Addiction to lies are a real thing also. This also ties in with being a compulsive liar. One who lies at ease and finds comfort in it.
It all starts off with a white lie. This white lie will soon turn to a straight lie, after that straight lie you start to make it a habit. Once it becomes a habit, you then turn to a compulsive pathological liar. A pathological liar is no different from a compulsive liar. It is someone who lies for no reason at all. Being addicted forms a “new you.” This causes people to view someone who is not really you because of everything you have been saying to them to cause them to believe you.
At first, lying can seem rewarding by getting your way after you just told a lie. This causes you to feel powerful. Since you feel powerful you are going to want to partake in the same thing again so you can get the same feeling. Since you got away with the last lie, you are going to feel the need to do it again so you can see what exactly you can gain from it.
Lying this much brings us back to the fact that you will have to remember what it is you lied about and that causes more stress. Once you become hooked on lying, trying to break the pattern is very difficult.
