Other than war, it is arguable that the most severe man-made disaster ever to have occurred was the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear plant on April 26 1986.
One of the four nuclear reactors exploded, releasing five to 10 tonnes of radioactive material into the atmosphere, forming a radioactive cloud that spread across Europe.
Ironically, this accident happened during a safety check that went wrong. The primary cause of the accident was determined to have been a design fault in the reactor.
In 2019, a five-part mini-series was released based upon those events. I was able to watch some of that series during the last week.
From the very beginning of the first episode, it became abundantly clear that the author was trying to give the message that there was a deeper issue that needed to be revealed - the issue of truth.
The very first narration in the episode was, “What is the cost of lies? It’s not that we’ll mistake them for the truth, the real danger is that if we hear enough lies, then we no longer recognise the truth at all."
As another commenter put it, “The cost of lies is disconnection from reality …. and when you get disconnected, even the best intended of instructions have the potential to destroy everything they touch.”
The series went on to show how the socialist Soviet party tried very hard to hide the severity of this event and to prevent accurate news from reaching others, both nationally and internationally.
To quote the previous commenter, “the Soviets … decided that the party had more authority than reality. So, when the evidence said things that disagreed with the party line, the evidence was buried, and the people who found it were punished.”
Does any of this sound familiar in our present world? It should.
The series concluded with an inquiry hearing, where the expert said, “When the truth offends, we lie and lie until we can no longer remember it is even there, but it is still there. Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. Sooner or later, that debt is paid.”
This certainly proved true for the Soviets when, in 1991, the Soviet Union fell once and for all.
It is for very good reason that the 9th commandment says, “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour."
Lies are incredibly destructive, destroying everything in their path from human relationships through to entire nations, as the Soviets found to their detriment.
As the writer of the book of Proverbs said, “A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will perish.”
Yet even in the face of this we still have the reassurance of the words of Jesus who said “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
The contrast here is striking.
It is through the truth of Christ that every Christian knows their assurance of eternal life through faith.