Biblically, lies and death are intrinsically related. To pursue life, we must pursue truth and to pursue truth we must battle against lies. To be passive about lies and deception is to leave the door open to death. So was the case with my mother. Lies and deception led to her death. The liar is still believed and it has led to and will lead to further death; at least of relationships, but possibly even people's souls. And since I’ve seen that silence is one of the modes of deception, I would be complicit to this death dealing pretense if I too remained silent.
We need to clarify that usually lies by themselves are not effective to accomplish their self serving ends.
Often the liar will shoot tranquilizing arrows that render those around him powerless both to see or fight against a lie. What are these arrows? Truths! ...unrelated, distracting, self-justifying & self-enhancing truths.
How is it that we would not fight against a lie? Usually, because we are busy dutifully fighting for “the truth.“ But in reality we are fighting for a lie dressed up in truth. That is a key strategy of deceit. Imagine one of our enemies dressed up in the uniform of our own troops. Our instinct and training is to defend this fellow soldier. We think we are fighting for the truth when in fact we have been deceived into defending a lie. We have to come to see that no amount of truth worn by a lie changes the nature and danger of that lie. Name tags, badges, even metals of honor, only serve to increase the effectiveness of the disguise. They don't prove that it is not a disguise.
My dad wears a suit & tie, the name Christian, the title pastor, honors like “Pastor of the Year,” these all provide an excellent cover for the lie,
“We have arranged for the best of care” so he could get all the Drs. & medical staff to sign for his wife’s release. She came home to no such care!
Who would think for a moment this pastor would disregard doctors’s orders for essential monitoring and communication with him? His actions didn’t match his “uniform” and his “credentials” left him unquestioned.
This commemorative monument is a capstone to the wall of pretenses and charades that hide the truth that led to my mother’s death.