Lie is evil. Lie is not only evil, but it destroys rather than building and uniting people. Bible says in the Book of Revelation that all liars shall go to hell fire. Islam also considers lie as a major sin and holds that lie has no religious support.
A liar is an enemy of the human society at large. Liars are mischievous and treachery. Lies are like opiates that extinguish moral consciousness and human capacity to appreciate the truth by concealing reality.
The messenger of Allah once said: “Three types of people are hypocrites, though they may pray and fast: Liars, people who are not true to their words and those who betray a trust. Anyone who desires the pleasure of faith must abstain from lie telling even in jest”.
It is important to understand that, not only is lie telling condemned as a major sin, it is apparently unacceptable to reason as well.
For the good of the society, every child should be taught honesty and truthfulness. Truth and honesty should be inculcated in our characters and those of the children who should be taught not to tell lies so that anywhere they go they will be honest by upholding the truth no matter the circumstances.
Many children lie because of fear of being punished if they admit their faults. When a child, for example, tells his mother that he actually did it, he may be scolded, so to avoid being ridiculed, he has to cover up some mischief.
Some parents are to blame for their intimidating attitudes while dealing with children. There is also this erroneous belief that children don’t lie whereas they often do. Some parents claim to trust little children and one is not surprised to hear such commendation as: “I trust you my boy or my beautiful daughter”, with the conclusion that the wrong done is the “handiwork of that stupid housemaid”. The result in some cases is that children end up believing that it pays to lie than to tell the truth.
It is clear that if parents must teach honesty, they must prepare to be honest. Parents should not give impression that there is gain in telling lies. Children should be properly trained to learn to be honest. In a nutshell, a child should not be threatened or provoked into defensive lying nor should the parents deliberately set up opportunities for lie telling. Whenever a child tells lie, parents’ reaction should not be hysterical and moralistic but factual and realistic. We want our children to learn that there is no need to lie to us.
Parents should live exemplary life for their children to emulate. Parents should stop telling children to say: “Tell him I have gone out” when they are around but don’t want to see the visitor or neighbour.
We in the Mighty Voice use this medium to re-emphasize that honesty is best impressed on the feeble consciousness of a child when adult themselves are honest.
Aminat Adesope is our Staff writer
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