--- title: Dilemmas about truth and friendship — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Dilemmas about truth and friendship», a lesson of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: A dilemma is a choice where two good things pull in different directions, such as being honest and being loyal to a friend. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/41-dilemmas-about-truth-and-friendship/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Religion ethics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/) / Dilemmas about truth and friendship # Dilemmas about truth and friendship Lesson 41 of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school: 20 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/religion-ethics/41-dilemmas-about-truth-and-friendship/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/41-dilemmas-about-truth-and-friendship/0/) — A dilemma is a choice where two good things pull in different directions, such as being honest and being loyal to a friend. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/41-dilemmas-about-truth-and-friendship/1/) — Imagine your friend knocks a vase off the teacher's desk, and the teacher asks the class who did it. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/41-dilemmas-about-truth-and-friendship/2/) — You want to tell the truth, and you also want to stand by your friend. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/41-dilemmas-about-truth-and-friendship/3/) — A good answer to a dilemma does not just say "because"; it gives reasons, looks at who could be hurt, weighs the other side and treats every person with respect. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/41-dilemmas-about-truth-and-friendship/4/) — Christians believe truth and love belong together: the Bible speaks of "speaking the truth in love" (Ephesians 4:15), so honesty should be gentle and kindness should be honest. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/41-dilemmas-about-truth-and-friendship/5/) — For a child today this means: loyalty is good, but not loyalty to wrongdoing; secrets that put someone in danger must be told to a trusted adult; and a real friend never asks you to lie for them. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/41-dilemmas-about-truth-and-friendship/6/) — A dilemma is a hard choice between two things that both seem right, or two things that both seem wrong. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/41-dilemmas-about-truth-and-friendship/7/) — Loyalty means standing by your friends, family and groups, but loyalty to wrongdoing is not a virtue. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/41-dilemmas-about-truth-and-friendship/8/) — Lying to protect a friend who did wrong usually lets someone else take the blame and stops the friend from putting things right. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/41-dilemmas-about-truth-and-friendship/9/) — A good way through is often to encourage the friend to own up first, and to give them a chance before you tell. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/41-dilemmas-about-truth-and-friendship/10/) — The "murderer at the door" is a famous puzzle: should you lie to someone who wants to harm your friend hiding inside? - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/41-dilemmas-about-truth-and-friendship/11/) — Most people think lying to the murderer is right because saving a life matters more; the philosopher Immanuel Kant argued that even this lie is wrong (disputed). - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/41-dilemmas-about-truth-and-friendship/13/) — Telling tales is telling just to get someone into trouble; reporting harm is telling to protect someone. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/41-dilemmas-about-truth-and-friendship/14/) — A useful question is: am I telling to help someone or to hurt someone? - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/41-dilemmas-about-truth-and-friendship/15/) — Christians believe God is truthful and wants people to be honest too; one of the Ten Commandments forbids lying about others. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/41-dilemmas-about-truth-and-friendship/16/) — Christians believe in "speaking the truth in love" (Ephesians 4:15): honest words said gently and with care. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/41-dilemmas-about-truth-and-friendship/17/) — Peer pressure is feeling pushed by friends to do something you think is wrong; real friends respect your choices. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/41-dilemmas-about-truth-and-friendship/18/) — A promise creates a duty; breaking it just because something more fun came along lets the other person down. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/41-dilemmas-about-truth-and-friendship/19/) — Some promises can be outweighed by a more serious duty, such as helping someone who is hurt, and then you should explain and apologise. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/41-dilemmas-about-truth-and-friendship/20/) — Covering for a friend means lying that they were with you; it can hurt the people who are fooled, the friend, and you. - ← previous: [How to argue: counter-arguments and respect](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/40-how-to-argue-counter-arguments-and-respect/) - next →: [Finders keepers and what belongs to whom](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/42-finders-keepers-and-what-belongs-to-whom/) - ↑ back to [Religion ethics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/)