Honesty - World Scripture

Honesty includes telling the truth, speaking truthfully about what is on our minds and hearts, keeping promises, and acting in accordance with our words. Honesty before God requires confessing our sins and confronting our particular propensity to do evil, along with repentance and the pledge to reform.

Thus, Father Moon teaches that our prayers should be honest reports to God about our thoughts, words and deeds, plus setting goals and making determinations about how we shall think, speak and act in the future.

Speaking Truthfully to Others and God

Let your conduct be marked by truthfulness in word, deed, and thought. Taittiriya Upanishad 1.11.1 (Hinduism)

Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. Proverbs 12.22 Do not assert with your mouth what your heart denies. Tract of the Quiet Way (Taoism)

No man should talk one way with his lips and think another way in his heart. Talmud, Baba Metzia 49 (Judaism)

Putting away falsehood, let everyone speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Ephesians 4.25

Straightforwardness and honesty in the activities of one’s body, speech, and mind lead to an auspicious path. Tattvarthasutra 6.23 (Jainism)

Lying does not mean that one could not be rich; Treachery does not mean you may not live to old age; But it is the day of death [judgment] about which one should be baffled. If a lie runs for twenty years, it takes truth one day to catch up with it. The truth got to market, but it was unsold; lying costs very little to buy. Yoruba Proverbs (African Traditional Religions)

One should speak the truth and speak it pleasingly; one should not speak the truth in an unpleasant manner nor should one speak untruth because it is pleasing; this is the eternal law. Laws of Manu 4.138 (Hinduism)

A gentleman is ashamed to let his words outrun his deeds. Analects 14.29

(Confucianism) O you who believe, wherefore do you say what you do not? Very hateful is it to God, that you say what you do not. Qur’an 61.2-3

A speaker of falsehood reaches purgatory; and again so does one who, having done a misdeed, says, “I did not.” Both of them, men of base deeds, become equal in the other world. Dhammapada 306 (Buddhism)

If you plot and connive to deceive men, you may fool them for a while, and profit thereby, but you will without fail be visited by divine punishment. To be utterly honest may have the appearance of inflexibility and self-righteousness, but in the end, such a person will receive the blessings of the sun and the moon. Follow honesty without fail. Oracle of Amaterasu at the Kotai Shrine (Shinto)

The Duke of She addressed Confucius, saying, “In my country,y there was a man called Upright Kung. His father appropriated a sheep, and Kung bore witness against him.”

Confucius said, “In my country, the upright men are of quite another sort. A father will screen his son, and a son his father, which incidentally does involve a sort of uprightness.” Analects 13.18 (Confucianism)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
Being truthful is an attribute of righteousness, and being dishonest is an attribute of unrighteousness. (364:226, January 3, 2000)

When walking a path toward enlightenment, there should be no tricks or devices between the teacher and the student. You should be honest with each other. It means you should face each other with the utmost sincerity. (33:125, August 11, 1970)

Instead of clever patchwork to smooth over a situation at the moment, you should have a pure heart and patiently wait for God’s blessings. (127:89, May 5, 1983)

Just as God is a unified being, your mind and the body should be one centering on Heaven. Your thoughts should flow from that unified point… In other words, your words and your deeds, your mind and your efforts, should be one.

Only then are you protected. Only then will people testify to you and declare you a public person. (381:65, June 12, 2002)

People should be honest. Honesty enables us to pass through anything. If you admit honestly when you make a mistake, you will develop. Goodness cannot grow without going through this process.

Can people always do well?

People make mistakes, but they must be honest about them if they are to develop.

By honestly confessing and repenting for your mistakes, you can make a new determination. Making a mistake is not bad; it can stimulate you to leap forward. A mistake can be a good thing if it motivates you to leap to the good side.

For example, if you failed a test because you did not study, the shock and shame of failure can motivate you to become an honor student. The failing grade becomes an opportunity to change your direction towards the good. Therefore, you should be honest. People who try to hide their mistakes cannot develop.

On the other hand, honest people develop because the universe pushes them and supports them wherever they go. Whether in the East or the West, in the past, present or future, an honest person is everyone’s friend. (100:87-88, October 8, 1978)

Be an honest believer. You should be able to report honestly about yourself to God and say, “Father, I will be honest with you, so treat me honestly. You were honest with me when I appeared before you in righteousness.

Now that I stand before you carrying the burden of an unrighteous heart, will you treat me the same way? Regardless, I will face you with the reality of what is in my heart. Deal with me according to your righteous judgment.” (45:242-43, July 4, 1971)

I teach honesty, purity, and sacrifice from the standpoint of the Principle. First, a person must be honest in the presence of God. The Unification Principle teaches that falsehood separates us from God. I emphasize to our members that they are God’s emissaries and must identify themselves as my followers, even if it means they will be severely persecuted…

Whoever does not have the courage to do so, we have no need of them. People who do not identify themselves out of fear of harassment will miss out on all the blessings that come as a result of persecution… I can understand that people who face constant harassment do such things, but I do not praise such behavior. (91:128, February 3, 1977)

Keeping Promises

When a man vows a vow to the Lord or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds from his mouth. Numbers 30.2

Fulfill the covenant of God once you have pledged it, and do not break any oaths once they have been sworn to. You have set up God as a Guarantee for yourselves; God knows everything you are doing.

Do not be like a woman who unravels her yarn after its strands are firmly spun. Nor take your oaths in order to snatch at advantages over one another, to make one party more numerous than the other. For God will test you by this. Qur’an 16.91-92

When man appears before the Throne of Judgment, the first question he is asked is not, “Have you believed in God,” or “Have you prayed and performed ritual acts,” but “Have you dealt honorably, faithfully in all your dealings with your fellow man?” Talmud, Shabbat 31a (Judaism)

Tzu-chang asked about getting on with people. The Master said, “Be loyal and true to your every word, serious and careful in all you do, and you will get on well enough even though you find yourself among barbarians.

But if you are disloyal and untrustworthy in your speech, frivolous and careless in your acts, even though you are among your own neighbors, how can you hope to get on well?” Analects 15.5 (Confucianism)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
Once you have promised to give something to a friend, you should fulfill it without fail. Breaking a promise will stain your character. (Way of God’s Will 2.2)

Making excuses [for not fulfilling one’s word] is not the way to have many virtuous friends, to be positively recognized by one’s superiors, or to be trusted by one’s subordinates. People who make excuses are generally losers. You should not make excuses whenever something unexpected happens.

I never make excuses, even in the face of death. If confronted with the facts of the matter, I might wince with the answers, but I will never make excuses… Only honest people will survive and prevail over circumstances. We need to become honest believers more than anything else. (45:269, July 4, 1971)

A person of character fulfills his promises. If you say, “You forced me to make that promise, and therefore I do not have to keep it,” then you are not a person of character. In the law, a contract is a promise made and agreed to in public. All the parties to the contract must keep their promises.

After signing a contract, a person who does not fulfill his promise is punished by public regulations; hence keeping it is the responsibility of any law-abiding person. (31:13, April 8, 1970)

You should become a person who can be entrusted with a precious treasure. (Way of God’s Will 2.2)