Should we always be honest even if it's not the morally right thing to say?

[JW876]

Hi everyone,

I would be hugely grateful for some advice around an area of uncertainty I'm facing at the moment. I was recently informed that my role at work is being made redundant. From my experience of the on-the-ground nature of the organisation's operations, I have huge reservations around the idea. Having had an incredibly high workload since being in the job, I feel very concerned for the already incredibly busy staff who my tasks would be transferred to - how they will cope, anticipating them being incredibly overwhelmed. With this I worry for knock on effects for the beneficiaries and stakeholders we support too.

I have not formally appealed as I had the option to but have strongly voiced my concerns to the Chair in writing who has invited me to meet this week to talk things through. However, as I had actually been considering leaving the job in the near future anyway, I am not that concerned for my own job personally and do not in all honestly really want to continue in the role myself. Because of this it has been difficult finding the motivation to fight for it to be continued, even though I feel it is the right thing to do for staff and the organisation going forwards. I have also been offered an alternative, very different role in the organisation, which I have agreed I would like to take up, having been keen to gain more experience in this areas instead.

I am going to stand with the view point for the meeting that my role should be continued, but if there does come to be a willingness for plans to be rethought in order for the role to be continued (unlikely but a possibility), I anticipate they may ask if I wish to continue in the role myself, considering the interest I have shown in the other role I said I would like to take up. So if it comes to this, I'm unsure whether to be honest and admit that I'm not really keen to continue in my current role. If I am honest in this then I think it's extremely unlikely they would continue the role by recruiting someone else, especially considering we have a lot of recruitment going on at the moment.

So I suppose my question is - I know the Bible teaches to never lie, but is it right to lie and say I'm very willing to continue in it, even if I'm not?! It feels like the morally right thing to say otherwise and ignore my own selfish preferences, in order to prevent the difficulties and stress that will arise otherwise. So I'm unsure whether it's right to essentially be dishonest and say I would be very happy to continue, in order to do what I feel best is for the organisation, or to be honest...

Thanks so much if you've read as far as here! Any thoughts would be really appreciated Thanks so much.

 

[Pavel Mosko]

When I started reading this, I thought the problem would be that you thought your place of work didn't need you that much etc. But it looks like it is the opposite problem.

I don't really get how this is a problem if you really believe your coworkers are up to their neck in work, I would challenge it etc. Unless the problem is you are worried about getting a bad name in the company/ institution.... You think, or know you are going to be reassigned somewhere and not out of a job etc.

Really this kind of depends on where the danger is. It is good to stick up, with your coworkers, but it is also there responsibility to give input too. So don't go out of your way to speak out if you are worried about somehow hurting your reputation etc. in the company or institution.

 

[.Mikha'el.]

Hi everyone,

I would be hugely grateful for some advice around an area of uncertainty I'm facing at the moment. I was recently informed that my role at work is being made redundant. From my experience of the on-the-ground nature of the organisation's operations, I have huge reservations around the idea. Having had an incredibly high workload since being in the job, I feel very concerned for the already incredibly busy staff who my tasks would be transferred to - how they will cope, anticipating them being incredibly overwhelmed. With this I worry for knock on effects for the beneficiaries and stakeholders we support too.

I have not formally appealed as I had the option to but have strongly voiced my concerns to the Chair in writing who has invited me to meet this week to talk things through. However, as I had actually been considering leaving the job in the near future anyway, I am not that concerned for my own job personally and do not in all honestly really want to continue in the role myself. Because of this it has been difficult finding the motivation to fight for it to be continued, even though I feel it is the right thing to do for staff and the organisation going forwards. I have also been offered an alternative, very different role in the organisation, which I have agreed I would like to take up, having been keen to gain more experience in this areas instead.

I am going to stand with the view point for the meeting that my role should be continued, but if there does come to be a willingness for plans to be rethought in order for the role to be continued (unlikely but a possibility), I anticipate they may ask if I wish to continue in the role myself, considering the interest I have shown in the other role I said I would like to take up. So if it comes to this, I'm unsure whether to be honest and admit that I'm not really keen to continue in my current role. If I am honest in this then I think it's extremely unlikely they would continue the role by recruiting someone else, especially considering we have a lot of recruitment going on at the moment.

So I suppose my question is - I know the Bible teaches to never lie, but is it right to lie and say I'm very willing to continue in it, even if I'm not?! It feels like the morally right thing to say otherwise and ignore my own selfish preferences, in order to prevent the difficulties and stress that will arise otherwise. So I'm unsure whether it's right to essentially be dishonest and say I would be very happy to continue, in order to do what I feel best is for the organisation, or to be honest...

Thanks so much if you've read as far as here! Any thoughts would be really appreciated Thanks so much.

I don't believe the Bible prohibits lying. If we didn't lie to each other occasionally, our society would descend into chaos and anarchy, and the authors who made up the various Biblical books seem to understand that.

 

[Running2win]

I don't believe the Bible prohibits lying. If we didn't lie to each other occasionally, our society would descend into chaos and anarchy, and the authors who made up the various Biblical books seem to understand that.

>The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in those who tell the truth.

>6There are six things the Lord hates,

seven that are detestable to him:

17haughty eyes,

a lying tongue,

hands that shed innocent blood,

18a heart that devises wicked schemes,

>1Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?

Who may live on your holy mountain?

2The one whose walk is blameless,

who does what is righteous,

who speaks the truth from their heart;

3whose tongue utters no slander,

who does no wrong to a neighbor,

and casts no slur on others;

4who despises a vile person

but honors those who fear the Lord;

who keeps an oath even when it hurts,

and does not change their mind;

5who lends money to the poor without interest;

who does not accept a bribe against the innocent.

Whoever does these things

will never be shaken.


feet that are quick to rush into evil,

19a false witness who pours out lies

and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.

 

[Carl Emerson]

Well - I feel constrained by the Holy Spirit not to lie.

However as with Rahab saying the spies went 'thataway' and being acclaimed for her faith... exceptional circumstances could render false witness to be kosher. After all God sends deceiving angels...

So in my view sanctified lies are super rare.

 

[JW876]

When I started reading this, I thought the problem would be that you thought your place of work didn't need you that much etc. But it looks like it is the opposite problem.

I don't really get how this is a problem if you really believe your coworkers are up to their neck in work, I would challenge it etc. Unless the problem is you are worried about getting a bad name in the company/ institution.... You think, or know you are going to be reassigned somewhere and not out of a job etc.

Really this kind of depends on where the danger is. It is good to stick up, with your coworkers, but it is also there responsibility to give input too. So don't go out of your way to speak out if you are worried about somehow hurting your reputation etc. in the company or institution.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post ans so much for your advice. I'm not very concerned about getting a bad name in the company, as I am more concerned for the staff and the young people we support here. Although I don't feel I want to come across in an overly pushy, angry manner either by challenging to too large a degree, as even though I feel I have challenged the changes quite strongly through communicating lots of reasons for my concerns, I feel that also doing things in a fairly calm manner is the most sensible and, I suppose, Christian way to go about things, and I hope will help them respect my views more. Although perhaps I have not been forceful enough, it's very hard to now what balance to have and so whether I should still be quite questioning at the meeting, even though I feel the decision has already been made.

I also did not fully explain, to save myself making the post even longer (!) that my responsibilities are mainly going to be passed onto a new manager who has been due to be recruited for a while, following the last leaving a few months back. As the old manager was also overcapacity, I just don't see how adding many of my responsibilities to their role is going to work. But this is why those who are going to be most effected haven't given much input, because they are yet to be hired! So I think it's all going to be quite a shock for them. Apologies for not explaining this fully before.

 

[.Mikha'el.]

>The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in those who tell the truth.

>6There are six things the Lord hates,

seven that are detestable to him:

17haughty eyes,

a lying tongue,

hands that shed innocent blood,

18a heart that devises wicked schemes,

>1Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?

Who may live on your holy mountain?

2The one whose walk is blameless,

who does what is righteous,

who speaks the truth from their heart;

3whose tongue utters no slander,

who does no wrong to a neighbor,

and casts no slur on others;

4who despises a vile person

but honors those who fear the Lord;

who keeps an oath even when it hurts,

and does not change their mind;

5who lends money to the poor without interest;

who does not accept a bribe against the innocent.

Whoever does these things

will never be shaken.


feet that are quick to rush into evil,

19a false witness who pours out lies

and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.

I take this to mean a habitual liar, not someone who lies occasionally to keep peace and harmony because the truth would be too destructive.

 

[Pavel Mosko]

I think you did at least the minimum of your due diligence with your letter to the Chair.

If your conscience is bugging you maybe you can work out a compromise, like stay around longer than you would prefer in order to train of help-out the newly hired staff then go to a new project.

I don't think, I would lie or sugar coat things where people believe things are better than they really are.

If you stay around a bit longer is there anything positive you might get for yourself? e.g. like a letter of recommendation. Actually if you are staying in the same basic company /institution having people who feel like they owe you some kind of debt/favor is worth it as far as office politics and promotions are concerned.

 

[Joined2krist]

Sometimes, lying might mean the difference between life and death, what do you do in such a case? I remember I was inspired to say something that wasn't true to avoid an attack once.

However, in your case, there's no need to lie. Tell your Boss that you would like to take up the challenge of working in a new role but you still feel your previous role shouldn't be scraped and give reasons to support your view. God bless

 

[JW876]

Sometimes, lying might mean the difference between life and death, what do you do in such a case? I remember I was inspired to say something that wasn't true to avoid an attack once.

However, in your case, there's no need to lie. Tell your Boss that you would like to take up the challenge of working in a new role but you still feel your previous role shouldn't be scraped and give reasons to support your view. God bless

Gosh that's terrifying. Completely understandable you lied and shows how valuable it turned out to be to do so. And thank you, that's perfect advice. I have had the conversation now and this is more or less how it ended up going. Feeling hopeful that things will pan out going forwards how God intends them to, for the good in the long run. Thanks again, really appreciate it.

 

[JW876]

I think you did at least the minimum of your due diligence with your letter to the Chair.

If your conscience is bugging you maybe you can work out a compromise, like stay around longer than you would prefer in order to train of help-out the newly hired staff then go to a new project.

I don't think, I would lie or sugar coat things where people believe things are better than they really are.

If you stay around a bit longer is there anything positive you might get for yourself? e.g. like a letter of recommendation. Actually if you are staying in the same basic company /institution having people who feel like they owe you some kind of debt/favor is worth it as far as office politics and promotions are concerned.

Thank you and that's a sensible thing to suggest yes. I'm going to be staying for 3 months before switching to my new role, not quite as long as they wanted but longer than the 2 months that was was the minimum option available to me so I hope this is a reasonable compromise. 3 months will be positive to a degree for myself anyway, as it gives me more time to wrap things up before moving on! I will still be around in the new role to support with small odds and ends anyway, so although I may not be a significant help, I'm sure this will have a little benefit.