New Reminders: Self-Deception

Human beings are very adept at self-deception. What’s worse, we are not always aware that we are deceiving ourselves. There are many forms of self-deception. There is willful ignorance where in, we only listen to one side of an issue. There is willful blindness. We might all see the same event but come away with opposite conclusions of what happened or who might have been to blame. That is what is meant by the quote: “In desperate moments people hear what they want to hear and see what they want to see.” Mitch Albom in The Little Liar, p154.

 Self-preservation often plays a role in our ability to deceive ourselves. We fear that if we don’t go along with certain ideas or behaviors, our comfortable life might be adversely affected.  We might lose our job or our social standing. We sometimes go along to get along, and we are all good at allowing ourselves to believe something we should know is not true. It helps us face uncertainty. But the Bible warns us not to be deceived, even by our own selfish desires. Jeremiah 17:9 says: "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?"

Some people in authority are very good at manipulating people into believing that a lie is true.  They use repetition of the lie to wear people down. They use euphemisms, (calling bad, difficult or harmful things “good” by using more acceptable terms.) For example, calling the necessity to grow one’s own food during war time “raising victory gardens”. They use scapegoating to paint certain groups as bad to have someone to blame for all the problems the rest of the people are facing. They also use it to justify treating people badly or even killing them and to get certain people to participate in their evil process. The Bible is clear that using lies to gain power over others is wrong. Propaganda works to get people to do the right thing, like rationing certain things in war time, but it is also used to get people to believe lies and to do terrible things as a result.

Proverbs 26:24-26: Warns us not to believe those who speak charmingly but harbor hate in their hearts.  2 Corinthians 11:13-15: speaks of false apostles masquerading as servants of righteousness.  In Matthew 24: Jesus warns, "Watch out that no one deceives you". 1 Thessalonians 5:21: Advises us to "test all things; hold fast to what is good".