“Can You Spot A Phony?”

Authentic …. a word that implies being real, genuine, true, faithful. The opposite of authentic is fake, false, phony, insincere. At it’s root, inauthenticity is a lie, a violation of the  truth. 

It’s not always easy to spot a phony. The words said may seem right, may seem sincere. While the body language and facial expression may seemingly portray authenticity, a closer look stirs a question in your heart. Hmmmmm, something doesn’t seem right, something’s fishy ….. “the lady doth protest too much, methinks” notes Shakespeare in Hamlet….or “I smell a rat” notes Moe of the Three Stooge.

Sometimes good manners can cover up insincerity. My mother was usually pretty discerning, but she could be fooled by someone with good manners. How something was said would often trump what was being said…..”oh that Hitler has such nice manners….”

The Holy Spirit helps us to recognize the truth and to unmask a phony, but we need to ask for his help. We can all be fooled by a slick presentation, so we need to be alert and on our guard. We need to keep our internal spiritual antennae in good shape. Forming our conscience is vitally important. 

Sometimes we may hear a well rehearsed presentation on being pro-choice; ”….it’s your body, you are the decision maker, no one can come between you and your doctor, you are not prepared for this moment, maybe later, etc.”  At first the reasoning can seem pretty convincing until, hopefully, the alarm goes off in your conscience shouting, IT’S A BABY, IT’S A HUMAN LIFE. If the choice involved a job or house or vacation or car or animal, the reasoning may pass the “conscience test”……but IT’S A CHILD MADE IN THE IMAGE AND LIKENESS OF ALMIGHTY GOD.” 

The truth sometimes arrives in a banged up jalopy, while a subtle lie may arrive in a nice limo. We need to be careful as we embrace one and reject another.  We’re in  an election season where there’s a lot of phony bologna floating around. Let’s not be fooled by the pretty smile and shinny shoes. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to help us seek out the truth. It’s very important.