I conducted a survey with some of the guys in my dorm.  What I asked was: Do you think you could do my project and succeed, Do you think lying is necessary in our society, How often do you lie, and when was a time when you blatantly lie for your own self gain?  Some of the results were expected some of it was expected.

When I asked some of my friends if they could handle my project on their own, all of them said no.  That's kinda nice to know I'm doing something exemplary!  The main reason that my friends could not handle my project, is that they know they would lie.  This is kind of a simple idea, knowing that we all lie, but it made me reflect on my own achievements.  I really didn't accomplish everything that I wanted in terms of not lying.  I have lied some of the time.  I did not lie nearly as often, but I did lie.  One of my friends knows me pretty well and said that he would have a problem with not being able to fail.  Without that knowledge though, he said he would still fail.

Pretty much everyone agreed that lying happens in our society.  One even said that you need to lie to be in politics.  The election is coming up and we're talking about lying in the government.  Everyone agreed that we all lie and we all use it to keep relationships together.

The next question was a little harder to chew on.  I asked when was the last time that you blatantly lied for your own benefit.  One of my friends said that he lied to get away from people who were ruining his plans.  These girls apparently were driving him insane because he was trying to watch a debate and they wouldn't shut up.  It's funny how he's more interested in politics than girls.  He even invoked a spiritual need to fit what he wanted.  One of my other friends lies in a different way.  Rather than telling someone to their face, he simply leaves the situation.  He lies for comfort as a defense mechanism.  When an important event changed the way that his life was planned, he retreated into himself to protect his world.

From this survey, I have found that lying is extremely prevalent and that lying can take many forms.  Sometimes we know exactly what we are doing; sometimes we let lies slip by without thinking about it.  Maybe Paul had an idea about taking every thought captive.