The other day I was thinking about lying, dishonesty, perjury, etc. The news out of Washington has been full of this for so long. What really discourages me is the apparent acceptance of lying and dishonesty.
My parents intensely disliked lying. I'm sure Dad didn't tell the truth 100% of the time, but he sure expected his children to be honest.
I can vividly recall the couple of times I told a lie and he caught me at it. This was in the "stone-age" era of parenting". I never doubted my Dad's love, but the only one who had a "Time Out" was my father. He took "Time Out" to give me a good spanking. These painful events were associated with only the most heinous of childhood misbehaviors. But I didn't grow up to be a sociopath, wife beater, sire of out-of wedlock children or school drop out.
God says: "Fathers, bring up your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord". (Eph. 6:4) that means Dads, and Moms, too, are to 'parent' children in the compassion of God AND the commands of God. There is to be a balance between forgiveness and learning that there are consequences for behavior.
I was just thinking that there seems to be an enormous amount of "Out-of-Balance" parenting. Maybe that's why we tolerate so much lying and treat dishonesty as no 'big deal'.