Truth is such an essential part of life that everyone is trying to produce some of it. The only difference is how much and what quality. What else do people do with words besides produce truth? They often lie, but lies are denied and concealed. So the question here is, why produce truth. What's wrong with lying?

Truth is the communicated representation of unified reality. It's characteristics are described on the page titled Truth.

Unified reality is the combination of all realities which have consistent relationships between them. In material life, it is the material universe. In the spirit world, something similar exists, but less visibly so. It is all realities inside minds and created outside minds, when consistently related to each other.

Therefore, spiritual life is unified reality, while death is dissociated reality. Another way of saying it is that life is "ordered complexity," and death is "disordered complexity."

What people are driven to do in life is solve problems. Houses, cars, clothes and food are methods of solving problems. Persons who "have it all" might not assume they are trying to solve problems, but only because someone else solved most of their problems for them.

Solving problems is the essence of morality, because morality is "that which sustains life," and solving problems sustains life.

Persons who are well off are less driven to solve problems. Therefore, they might be inclined to create problems, unless they have developed moral character. Persons in poverty have a need to solve problems, and this is why poverty (humane) creates morality as the "path to life" which Christ described (Mat 7:14).

The key question here is "why do people use words?" Usually words are an attempt to solve problems, directly or indirectly. Sometimes words entertain, but entertainment meets a need, which is the same as solving a problem.

We now sharpen the focus by looking at lies. Lies are words which conflict with unified reality. Lying is sin (immorality), because it destroys life. So the question is, "how do lies destroy life."

Lies misrepresent unified reality. If no one believes them, there is no reason to state them. But the purpose of stating lies is to get someone to believe them. The false reality then enters someone's mind as a conflict with unified reality. It corrupts the unified reality in the mind.

Unified reality in the mind is understanding. Understanding is essential for life. It allows people to solve problems instead of create them. Minds must contain a representation of external realities in order to handle, or relate to, external realities in a problem-free manner. Understanding creates the ability to predict and solve problems. Education creates understanding for this reason.

Therefore, truth is needed for the same reason education is needed. It allows understanding in minds to develop and relate consistently with external realities.

The conclusion is that truth allows life to proceed harmoniously, while lies create problems. It is a sin to create problems for people, which is why lying is a sin.

Nothing but truth ends sin. Sin cannot exist in the light of truth. For this reason, producing truth is a moral responsibility. Christ said his entire purpose for appearing in the human society was to testify to the truth (John 18:37). He also said truth would set people free (John 8:32). It frees people from sin, because sin cannot exist in the light of truth.

Christ came to free people from sin by producing truth. Frauds claim he had other purposes, but he described his purpose as producing truth (John 18:37).

Producing truth is a moral requirement, not an option, for humans. The reason is because sin destroys life, and the world is controlled by satan, which means a lot of sin is destroying life. To be a part of a sin world carries an obligation to diminish the sin. To not diminish the sin with truth is to be a part of satan's sin machine, which carries a moral responsibility for the sin.

Truth (basic characteristics)