Tell the Truth (It’s Easier)

Telling the truth activates fewer areas of the brain than lying, and, so, literally, takes less brain effort. At least that was suggested by a study at Philadelphia’s Temple University School of Medicine in 2004, which used magnetic resonance imaging to take scans of volunteers’ brains. In the small-scale study, six volunteers were asked to pick up a toy gun, shoot it, then lie and say they hadn’t. The remaining three volunteers watched the proceedings, then told the truth on what had transpired. Brain scans revealed seven areas activated in the liars, but only four areas lit up in the truth-tellers. Just as it takes fewer muscles and less effort to smile than it does to frown, so it is easier on the brain (not to mention the conscience) to tell the truth. Is it any wonder that honesty and happiness should be a better fit for humans than lies and despair? After all, the God of all truth (and true science) made us, and with the idea we imitate him. For millennia, the Bible has upheld, not only the rightness of truth-telling, but also the easier time right-doers have, generally. “Good understanding giveth favor; But the way of the transgressor is hard” (Proverbs 13:15). How many people have told lies, then been pressured into telling more lies to coincide with the previous lies? How many people have lied and forgotten the content of their untruths, only to be caught later in their inconsistencies? Nothing good comes of a lie. As Sir Walter Scott wrote in his poem, Marmion, “O, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!” Yes, the liar will have a harder go of it in this life, but it will be especially rough in the next, since “all liars…shall be in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8). Visit us at the church of Christ, where we value the truth of God’s word on every subject. And remember to always tell the truth. It’s easier.