(At the heart of intellectual honesty is being honest with yourself!)

Intellectual honesty is a misunderstood term, to say the least. So I thought I’d share some truth and wisdom on the topic. 

At the heart of intellectual honesty is being honest with yourself! I think everyone believes that they are honest with at least one person – themselves. But, the truth is, we lie to our self more than to anyone else. I believe the most common way a person is intellectually dishonest is when we ignore our own conscience.  This, in my opinion, is the most serious issue facing humanity today. You see, the greatest gift God has given mankind, next to free will and live itself, is our conscience. This is our guiding force. Ignoring it can have devastating consequences! While following it brings the most Joyous and rewarding benefits. You might say that your conscience is your true self or true voice. 

From my youngest memories, I wanted to be good and do good. However, I’ve often been disappointed by my lack of follow through or alignment with that desire. Further, I’ve been surprised and perplexed by those who seem indifferent to this ideal and seem to be more concerned with – “I want”.  

Lust is a powerful force that few seem to be able to master. All too often, lust is the master and we become the slave. Which literally kills us. As James the brother of Jesus said, “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”  What’s absolutely fascinating is how we lie to ourselves in an attempt to ease our conscience so we can fulfill our lust. This is the epitome of intellectual dishonesty. You see, most people cannot commit sin without first talking themselves into it. Even the most vile sinful acts cannot be completed until we talk ourselves into it. We have to justify the sin by convincing ourselves that it’s not a sin or “this is how we are made”, or that we are the exception. I remember thinking the latter when I was 14 and steady dating. (I write about this in detail in chapter 9 of my book, Look Up and Live)

Whenever anyone has to justify their actions they are being intellectually dishonest. The list of ways we can be intellectually dishonest is long. To long for a short blog or even a volume of books. But if we can catch ourself whenever we begin to justify, we would never sin and never be intellectually dishonest. How wonderful would that be? I remember the first time a business partner stole significant money from me. His justification was, “I have a family and you are single. I need the money more than you.”  Many people today justify sex before marriage because they “love” their boyfriend or girlfriend. Others justify sexual deviance by saying, “its sexually freeing or empowering” people justify divorce because “they have fallen out of love”. I justified dating at age 14 because “I was the exception and could handle it.” I learned by sad experience how much of a lie that was! And the list goes on.  

It always astounds me when someone I know well voices their justification. Even on the rare occasions when I call them out on it, they refuse to admit their duplicity – their intellectual dishonesty. In fact, those are the times they work harder to justify. Why can’t we just admit it when we are justifying and be honest to ourselves and others about it? I respect a person more who says, “I know it’s wrong but I still want to do it.” Than I do someone who tries to convince me that their actions and motives are pure while they commit sin. 

So, if you are going to be intellectually honest, you must be honest with yourself and God! Because In the end, your justifications won’t work on God anyway. What’s a little humorous to me is when people try so hard to convince others that their duplicity isn’t what it seems. They try all kinds of tactics and often pat themselves on the back about their own cleverness. But on judgement day, there won’t be any proud pats on backs for those so called clever justifications. Because they will know that God knows the truth. And no clever argument is going to make any difference. So why not just be honest with yourself now and avoid the pitfalls that come from intellectual dishonesty? 

(G. Dean Wessendorf – © 2020)

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