The importance of the truth

I met a woman last month who is in her 50s.  When she was 18, she attended a very strict Christian college where she got engaged to a guy who was studying for the ministry.  Trouble was, this college forbade any student to be engaged.

The couple kept it a secret for awhile, but eventually word got back to the administration.  So, this young woman was called before the college disciplinary board.

“We hear you got engaged,” they asked her.  “Is this true?”

She thought about her answer.  She knew that she would probably be expelled if she told the truth.  But she finally answered, “Yes”.

Then the board dismissed her and called her young man in, and asked him the same question:  “Are you engaged?”  He answered, “No”.

She got suspended for the semester.  He got expelled entirely.  More importantly, she decided that if he couldn’t tell the truth about her, he probably couldn’t be trusted to tell the truth to her either.  So, she dumped him.

It ain’t exactly Ananias and Sapphira, but there is a pretty good warning/lesson here.  If this had been a movie, I’m sure that the romantic thing would have been for him to lie to protect her.  Maybe that’s what he thought he was doing.  But in this REAL world, she saw a deep character problem revealed in his willingness to disown her before men.  So she waited until she found someone who would tell her the truth…and expect it from her.

May 3, 2008 · Filed Under Life

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