Teaching morals through lies

You —

Forum

You — Thu, 5 Nov 2009 - 01:03

I have no idea if these are true stories or made up lies, but is there harm to use lies to teach good manners/morals/ethics etc?

(copied from Tribune, so they may be lacking in some ... lettters)

an old man was on a train platform with his 25 year old son, as he sat on the train his heart filled with joy and curiosity, he was sitting on the window side, he felt the rushing air and said 'papa see al the trees rushing by',a couple on the train saw this behaviour odd for a young man, again son shouted 'papa see the animals and the valleys', iit started to rain and the young man said 'papa the water is touching my hands =), young couple felt embarrased they asked why dont u take your son to a doctor , ' old man said we have just come back from hospital my son was blind before but has just been given the gift of sight.

and

a young lady sat in the boarding room of an airport, she became bored of waiting and brought a book from the airport shop and also a paket of cookies, as she sat down to read the book a man sat next to her, she opened her packer of cookies and as she took one so did the man beside her, she felt frustrated but said nothing, again as she took another cookie the man also took one,, again felt frustrated but didnt want to cause a scene, when there was only one cookie left...
he thought what would the man do know 'ha', he broke the cookie in half and gave her half,,she felt so enraged that she stormed out of the room,, when she went to sit in the boarding area she opened her bag for her glasses and saw 'her pack of cookied in her bag', she felt so ashamed and there was no way to say sorry to that man.

so are they harmless stories or something that people should be careful about as introducing lies into morality/ethics is a slippery slope indeed?

s.b.f — Thu, 5 Nov 2009 - 01:05

These 'lies' could be based on truths. Stories that have been passed on by people to people.

Why do you think lies when you read those stories?

You — Thu, 5 Nov 2009 - 01:11

Well, there is also this story where there was a similar debate...

Side one: That can't happen
Side two: Who cares? its beautiful! it teaches good morals. stop being so negative.

s.b.f — Thu, 5 Nov 2009 - 01:17

Well, maybe if you're teaching children morals:

a) It can be nice to illustrate it with talking animals/or those 'lies' that you have highlighted above. So it makes it easier for them to see.

But with adults...does it matter if its a lie or not? Why do you care?

Suhail (not verified) — Thu, 5 Nov 2009 - 01:36

Lol admin why u gotta be so negative for,,,its teaching morals not even lying 'its a story' so would u call a story book where u just happened to learn something from......'a lie'

theres....'non fiction' and 'fiction'.

Ya'qub — Fri, 6 Nov 2009 - 13:58

In the film 'the Invention of Lying' there is no fiction and all movies/books are historical accounts of true stories.

It is all very boring.

I think this issue is way to complicated to pick one of the the options in the poll. There should be an 'I don't know' or 'it's complicated' option

Saira — Fri, 6 Nov 2009 - 21:45

I once was told a story where a mother would always tell her son to read his prayers first and then Allahw ould reward him with food for evening dinner.
Mother had already got food prepped in oven and left it there to stay warm but it was to teach son importance of prayer and faith in Allah.
This was a daily habit.
One night mother couldn't get hom on time for whatever reason and knew that she had not prepped any food - what would her son eat and what would he think
Upon finding there was no food after prayers?? Mother panicked.
When she got home, she saw son who told her he had eaten.
Mother confused asked where he got the food from.
Son replied: same as always, Allah had sent food for me after I read my namaz.

Whether its true or not - I don't care - Allah exists and therefore there is a possibility that this could have happened.
I see no harm in even hoping that this is true and hope one day I find proof that it is but in this stoey mother although rightly told her son that sustenance comes from Allah, it was done in a manner where the son thought it came literally direct from Him as if by a miracle and so in that respect there was a slight element of a lie so she was blessed that Allah made food available for her son so he would not lose faith at a young age and understood her good intentions.

It is kinda complicated as lying is haraam and yet I do believe that sometimes a small "white" lie as they call it to save someone from being hurt unnecessarily or to teach morals isn't so bad.

And come on, how many of our folks told us about the tooth fairy and that she only leaves money and takes the teeth when the kids have gone to bed early and if their tooth is in a decent state and that was just to ensure kids brushed teeth before bed and went to bed early - their intentions were good and its not as if finding out years later that there is no tooth fairy has actually damaged us for life (altho I was somewhat gutted for a while 🙁 )

You — Fri, 6 Nov 2009 - 21:49

were you really told about the tooth fairy? why?

I also dislike that schools are in on the lie that santa is real...