Cheaters never prosper...

Last weekend, as is the case on most fall weekends, there was no shortage of controversy over a particular college football game.  The allegation is that the California Golden Bears cheated against the Oregon Ducks by faking injury to disrupt Oregon's offensive rhythm.  The consensus winner of the worst acting job is cataloged here on youtube.

Kevin Hench, a writer for FoxSports.com posted an article today stating that "cheaters never prosper, except always."  The premise is interesting as he explores all the evidence suggesting that cheaters do actually prosper and even gives an example of a soccer team that suffered a foul that went uncalled because the player fouled managed to stay on his feet and did not engage in theatrics demonstrating foul play.

The reality of what he is saying has rung true for thousands of years.  The ancient psalmist lamented the apparent prosperity of those who employed guile in their quest.  The Lord himself in the New Testament acknowledged that sometimes a person might benefit temporarily from dishonest conduct.  Each of us has seen countless examples in our lives where someone else chose not to follow the rules.  Such occasions often cause us to ask ourselves why we follow the rules.

The answer, of course, lies in the effect of the conduct on one's own character.  Dishonesty is a practice, like most others, that become easier with repetition.  The effect of an act of dishonesty is to cheapen one's word or promise.  Even if no other mortal knows of the deception, the deceiver knows and the dissonance between what s/he knows to be right and what s/he did will be present.  At this point, the person has three choices: (1) Fess up to the mistake and fix it, (2) let the dissonance remain and tear the person apart psychologically, or (3) become so callused to the dissonance that it no longer bothers them.  If a person chooses option 3, they have to go through 2 for a while.  Both of those are unpleasant.  However, the true danger comes after one has settled into the 3rd choice because they start ignoring the difference between right and wrong altogether.  Let us not forget that there is a day of reconning for all.  Some might hope that the Lord will be in too much of a hurry to look at every little thing that we did (or didn't do), but alas, he is the Master of all--he's got time.

Only option 1 allows for a clear conscious and worry-free anticipation of meeting the Maker.  While I think Mr. Hench's article spends too much time on how cheaters apparently prosper, I do like his closing lines.  He quotes Connecticut's men's hoops coach Jim Calhoun as saying, "We may have broken rules, but we did not cheat."  Mr. Hench then observes, "It'd be fun to hear Calhoun explaining that to one of his six grandchildren."  I might add...or his God.