Have you ever lied on an application to get a job? Would you donate an organ to save your mothers life? Would you cheat on your spouse if you know you wouldn’t get caught? These are the kinds of questions participants are asked on the new FOX TV show Moment of Truth.
The rules are simple, answer 21 increasingly personal questions honestly, as determined by a polygraph, and win up to $500,000. Sounds easy enough, just tell the truth, but how hard would it be to tell the truth not only in front of all America, but in front of your closest loved ones including your spouse, relatives and friends?
Up for the challenge this week was Lauren Cleri, a 26 year old hair salon assistant and newlywed of two years. In front of her husband, mother, father, sister and brother, Lauren faced her first question: As an employee of a hair salon, have you ever told a customer that you like their hairstyle when in fact you didn’t? Right away Lauren answers no, the lie detector determines that her answer is true (the audience applauds). However, as the questions got more personal, it quickly became apparent that a moment of truth can produce a lifetime of pain.
- Do you know things about your father that you keep secret from your mother?
- Have you ever took off your wedding ring to appear as if you were single?
- Do you believe you were in love with a former boyfriend on your wedding day?
Yes, Yes and Yes, congratulation you have won $100,000! You are now 3 questions away from winning $200,000 on your way to the $500,000 grand prize! However if you chose to continue the next question will be asked by a special guest. Out comes Frank, Lauren’s former boyfriend. Question number 1 on your way to winning the grand prize (mind you her husband is sitting right there):
- If I wanted to get back together with you, would you leave your husband?
This question gets voted out by her sister and replaced by the following question: - Do you believe I’m the man you should be married to? Yes
Ok two more questions. Question number 2: - Since you been married, have you had sex with someone other than your husband? (What? Do you think they are trying to give money away? It’s all about the ratings baby) answer: Yes
Ladies and Gentleman, here it is, the moment of truth, the reason for this blog and Lauren’s greatest challenge. After destroying her husband, ruining her family, admitting to being a liar, cheater and adulteress who would feed a stray dog before giving it to a homeless person (folks, I’m not making this up) now faces her greatest question. Here it go (ebonics):
- Do you think you’re a good person?
Lauren answers, “Honesty I think I am” (as her father nods away in approval). In the words of Maury “the lie detector determined . . . BUZZZZ! That was a lie. Lauren loses everything! No consolation prize, nothing; just a hand shake and a thank you, now get off the stage and go deal with real life.
Wow is this an episode of Jay Budziszewski’s “Revenge of Conscience” or what? How is it that we can admit to lying, stealing, cheating and ruining the lives of others yet cannot find it in ourselves to admit to being a sinner? How is it that Lauren could proclaim with her lips what she could not deny with her heart? The Book of Hebrews gives us the answer.
The little traitor that cost Lauren the ½ million bucks is what is described in Scripture as the Moral Law written on the heart. The Bible records God saying, "I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts" (Heb. 8:10; 10:16). It is by the Moral Law that we discern what is right and wrong. In his letter to the Roman church, Paul writes, "When Gentiles who do not have the law do instinctively the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them" (Rom. 2:14-15).
If we know right from wrong, why do we still behave immorally? Well the Bible teaches us that we suppress the truth in our unrighteousness because we love darkness rather than light. Some might try to defend her by saying that doing bad things doesn’t make you a bad person! Yeah? And committing murder doesn’t make me a murderer! Listen, we can’t fully divorce what we do from who we are. We don’t say “She is an honest girl who happens to lie a lot” no we say you’re a liar! In Lauren’s defense, had she been able to admit to all of those things, and with a straight face answer that she sincerely believed that she was a good person, we might find her to be a bit weird or at least odd (there’s hope for you Lauren).
I guess the thing that trips me out the most isn’t all the stuff she admitted to doing wrong, but the fact that she was willing to tell the truth at the expense of hurting others to win some cash and yet lose it all when she couldn’t be honest to herself. I guess it is true that a moment of truth can bring a lifetime of pain, and in some cases an eternity of torment. The first thing we all have to admit to ourselves is that we are not all that good; in fact we are sinners in need of a Savior.
My Mind, My Thoughts, My Heart, My Words
