I got a message from a dear reader and a friend in which he said,” His grace, Anba Armia, the general bishop: as I was following up your articles and among them the series “Principles” which you write at Akhbar Elyoum newspaper that I am following up with great care. You talk about principles that we don’t find nowadays not only in Egypt, but also all over the world. It is a positive vision to much negativity, but I found out that cheating and trickery prevail; all people are trying to achieve only their gains. I here mention “gains” and didn’t say “success” as life becomes different nowadays; it is not the same as it was in the past and nothing will be changed. “.As a beginning I would like to thank my dear friend, for following up my articles, writing me a message that is full of encouraging words and honestly expressing his opinions. Second, I agree with my dear friend that life is not the same as the past, however we shouldn’t forget our role to accentuate principles that life can’t go on without them. Is there a meaning to a life with no justice, wisdom, mercy, encouragement, love, goodness and many other life bases?What will happen if we stopped talking about them because they disappear or become rare in our life?. However, my friend’s quote that “cheating and trickery prevail” has made me think, thus today I will talk about acts of cheating and trickery.
There are many sorts of deceit:
Giving Misleading ideas: presenting wrong information to someone to make him take an action against or for the sake of another person, topic or issue.
Emotional deceit: making someone believe that he is loved or cared about in order to get other benefits or gains.
Dishonest behavior: cheating at buying and selling or dishonesty at work.
Trickery is a forbidden matter by all religions and in all fields. I will talk about how religions consider kinds of trickery in more details, but first I’d like to make some points clear
1- Trickery is not wise as you can’t deceive people all the time, but definitely others will discover the truth and all the masks will be removed one day. As no secret won’t be revealed and as they say “ “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time“
2- Trickery may lead to attain personal gains shortly, but it can’t be a law of life. When it is discovered, all the gains and benefits achieved by the dishonest person will be lost along with others’ trust which will work as a barrier between him and others and that will add more difficulty to his life.
3- A deceitful person won’t find peace or rest as he will be constantly worried about how to hide his trickery and whether it is discovered or not, no matter how smart he is. He will always be in doubt that people around want to deceive him as well, discover his reality, or act in revenge for his trickery.
4- One of life’s rules God constituted is that the deceiver will be deceived and the cheater will be cheated on someday, one reaps what he seeds, this is God’s, Glory Be to Him, Justice in life. If others thought that God is silent toward what is happening and that he doesn’t uncover the deceivers quickly, they should know that He does so out of His Mercy. He is giving the deceivers a chance to repent and turn back after being astray….To be continued,,
Anba Ermia,
General Bishop & President of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center
