Essay About Integrity and the Effects of Cheating

Honesty, defined by Merriam Webster Dictionary, is the adherence to the facts.  The Biblical definition of honesty is truthfulness.  Someone who is honest is truthful, meaning they make trustworthy statements about life, self, others, and God.  The Bible talks a lot about honesty: “Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.”  Ephesians 4:25, “An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.”  Proverbs 24:26, “An honest witness tells the truth, but a false witness tells lies.”  Proverbs 12:17, Honesty is crucial for several moral, psychological, and spiritual reasons.  First, the Bible tells us that it is a virtue that Jesus displays.  As followers of Christ, it should be our goal to mirror and reflect Him.  Additionally, honesty is the path to a fulfilling free life.  It means being real and open about the truth and who you are.  Psychologically, being honest means being authentic which improves mental health and overall gives you a truer sense of self and happiness in life.  Morally, honesty is important because it produces trust which is the most fundamental part of relationships.  It is impossible to have good friendships without trust and trust can’t be built without honesty.  People respect honesty because it displays merit of that person’s character.  

Cheat, defined by Merriam Webster Dictionary, to deprive of something valuable by the use of deceit or fraud; to influence or lead by deceit, trick, or artifice; to elude or thwart by or as if by outwitting.  Almost everyone is familiar with cheating.  There are almost limitless ways to cheat in almost everything.  You can “cheat” in your career, a sport, a game, and even a person.  Cheating is basically succeeding by breaking the rules.  Cheating is morally wrong because it unfairly treats others.  Also, it is normally the result of laziness.  The Bible talks on cheating and why it is wrong as well: “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”  James 4:17; “Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out.”  Proverbs 10:9; “Better the people whose walk is blameless than the rich whose ways are perverse.”  Proverbs 28:6.  In the Bible, cheating is described as sinful, crooked, and perverse.  The result of cheating is people don’t trust you and don’t want to engage with you.  Cheating can be associated with disrespect for others and so it’s not surprising that cheaters are, in return, not very respected themselves.  This is akin to Mathew 7:12, “In everything, treat others as you would want them to treat you, for this fulfills the law.”  Nobody wants to be cheated so treat others with respect and fairness.  Cheating is destructive because it produces entitlement, impatience, and laziness.

These two virtues, opposites, should hold significance to Christians.  The Bible is not vague or ambiguous on these topics because they are very clearly important to God and therefore should be to us.  When God lists the fruit of the spirit, He didn’t explicitly list honesty, but the other virtues imply it because cheating or lying is not loving, joyful. peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, or self-control.  Another verse, Philippians 4:8, “Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on such things.”  Honesty and integrity are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and commendable.  Therefore, it is commanded that we think upon and act on these things.  The word integrity came from the Latin word “integer” (not the math term) which translates to complete.  You can’t be a person of integrity without being complete.  To be complete means to be whole, full, and lacking nothing.  To summarize, this can’t be accomplished without honesty because when you are dishonest with others, you are also dishonest with yourself.   And if dishonesty can take many forms such as lying, cheating, bribery, and more, then all of these things are not integrity characteristics.  This proves that morally and spiritually, honesty is righteous and lying is sinful.  However, it can be shown that honesty improves mental health.

Several studies have shown a link between physical/mental health and honesty.  First and foremost, dishonesty makes you a less desirable friend which can make you feel undesirable.  A study by Anita E. Kelly, Ph.D., psychology professor at University of Notre Dame found that when people intentionally stop lying, their overall health increased.  In the study, 55 people were asked to make a conscious effort to stop telling lies (big or small) for ten weeks and another 55 weren’t asked to do anything lie-related for ten weeks.  Once every week, all of the participants took polygraph tests to see how many lies they said that week.  Additional tests were also performed to evaluate their health.  Interestingly, the study found that the participants felt fewer feelings of tension or melancholy, as well as fewer health problems like headaches and sore throats when they told fewer lies.  Additionally, the study affirms the first point when participants reported feeling more honest and having improved relationships.  Another study performed linked dishonesty with stress.  When people lie, they are more prone to feeling anxious or blue, and to experiencing frequent headaches, runny noses, diarrhea, and even back pain.  Other studies have already shown these symptoms to stress which is why it’s not shocking that dishonesty can also lead to these as well.  The stress is the result of guilt you feel after telling a lie.  The more guilty or anxious you feel, the more physical and mental symptoms you’re going to experience.  The opposite is also true.  When you tell the truth, you achieve a sense of freedom and strength.  It just simply feels good to not worry about a lie.  The same is true for coming clean of a lie.  “Fessing up” can be extremely beneficial because you choose to release built up stress, guilt, and anxiety which, in turn, will greatly impact your mental and physical health. 

The word honest comes from the Latin derivative honestus which means honorable or respected.  Initially, honest referred to the merit of one’s appearance.  Today, honesty refers to the merit of one’s word.  By all standards, dishonesty is morally, psychologically, and spiritually harmful.  It is destructive to one’s character, mind, and Faith.  Lying is not a new invention.  The first lie ever told came from Satan in the form of a serpent when he said, “You will not surely die.”  The next dishonest act came from Adam and Eve when they hid from God out of shame.  This doesn’t excuse deceitfulness or make any more right, but it does mean that it isn’t a new struggle.  You can’t use the excuse that everyone does it, but it does mean that it’s something that everyone struggles with.  The goal of this essay was to show why lying and cheating is wrong and why honesty and integrity is a virtue to strive for.  To close, I’ll end with a quote from Fred Rogers: Honesty is often very hard. The truth is often painful. But the freedom it can bring is worth the trying.