Oversimplification

Bible Reading:  Genesis 3:1-7

Key Verse: Verse 3 – “But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”

Key Words: neither shall ye touch it

Now we know that God never said, “neither shall ye touch it.”  We would call this a half-truth, but in reality it's a whole lie.

A fool is a person with short answers to long questions.  Anyone is bound to be a quack who says, "This 'ism' is the only disease of mankind, and this pill will cure it.”  As Benjamin Franklin said, “Half the truth is only a great lie.”  Oliver Wendell Holmes concluded that no generation is worth a thing – including this one.

To simplify is to falsify.  No problem in which many strings of action are interwoven can be reduced to just one thread.  Cure-all pills are peddled by phonies to be swallowed by the unwary. Beware of labels, slogans, half-truths, and oversimplifications, such as:

Rags make paper,

Paper makes money.

Money makes banks.

Banks make loans.

Loans make poverty.

Poverty makes rags.

True, paper is used to make money, but also many other products.  True, banks make loans, but they also provide numerous other services.  Yes, some loans lead to poverty, but they also lead to wealth when properly used.

A half-truth is often more dangerous than a lie, because it has just enough validity to trick the naive.

                                                                                        

What to do:

✞Remember that he who falls for half-truths lives a lie.