Lies: Big Lies

Everyone tells lies; we've established this. White lies, we call them, the little lies that we tell each other that make society run smoothly. But there are other, bigger lies. Some of them are good, some of them are bad. We tell them not to easy our way, but to manipulate the way the world around us operates.
Institutions like the Baptist college I went to tell lies to both their students and their supporters. They seek to present an appearance of holiness and conformity and will tolerate nothing that might tarnish that appearance, or "testimony" as they like to call it. This would be an example of a bad big lie, not necessarily because of the lie itself but because of the lengths they will go to in order to protect the lie.
Politicians lie. It has become so prevalent that we expect our government officials to lie to us. A "campaign promise" is nothing more than a lie. Yet not only do we expect these lies, we demand them. A politician who told only the truth would never be elected, because we demand to hear what we want to hear, even when we know we are only being placated. Of course we would prefer to hear the truth, or so we say...but we too are lying, if only to ourselves.
Speaking of lying to ourselves, we often tell huge lies to ourselves, damaging our own lives and selves much more than any external influence could. And it doesn't even make any sense, half the time. We tell ourselves we are fat or ugly or stupid or clumsy or untalented...or we tell ourselves that we are skinny or beautiful or brilliant or graceful or artistic. Of course these things are not always lies, but sometimes they are. Often, too, we are merely repeating the lies that we believed when someone else told them to us. But why do we continue to lie to ourselves? Why do we seek to convince ourselves that we are one thing when we are truly another? Why do we believes ourselves so inherently invaluable that we must be something other than what we are?
Religions lie. Whether you call yourself Christian or Buddhist or Hindu or Muslim or anything else, your religion has lied. Does that make your actual beliefs false? No, of course not. But religion, as an organized or semi-organized body of humans, is possibly one of the worst propagators of lies ever to exist. Religion's lies have been both good and bad. To some, they have granted peace and contentment in this life; others, they have sent forcibly out of this life altogether. Whichever, good or bad, I think we can all agree that religion's lies have had a tremendous impact on the lives of billions of people throughout history.
The point here is that lies, like all other words, have consequences. It is cause and effect, and you cannot always know exactly what the effect will be.

This is Part Two of the series "Lies." Part Three, "My Lies," can be found here.