--- title: Why honesty matters: trust holds everything together — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Why honesty matters: trust holds everything together», a lesson of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Trust is believing that someone's words are true and that they will do what they say; honesty is what makes t --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/81-why-honesty-matters-trust-holds-everything-together/) [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/) / Why honesty matters: trust holds every… # Why honesty matters: trust holds everything together Lesson 81 of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school: 17 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/81-why-honesty-matters-trust-holds-everything-together/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/81-why-honesty-matters-trust-holds-everything-together/0/) — Trust is believing that someone's words are true and that they will do what they say; honesty is what makes trust possible. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/81-why-honesty-matters-trust-holds-everything-together/1/) — Think of Ollie, who tells the whole class, "My dad plays for Arsenal, swear down." By Friday everyone knows it isn't true, and now nobody believes him even about his new puppy. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/81-why-honesty-matters-trust-holds-everything-together/2/) — Trust is built from many true words and can be lost with one big lie; after that even the true words sound suspect, like the boy who cried wolf. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/81-why-honesty-matters-trust-holds-everything-together/3/) — Christians believe God is truthful and cannot lie (Titus 1:2), and the commandment "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour" (Exodus 20:16) guards the trust between neighbours. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/81-why-honesty-matters-trust-holds-everything-together/4/) — People of other faiths and of none agree: friends, families, shops and teams only work when words can be relied on, even when nobody is checking. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/81-why-honesty-matters-trust-holds-everything-together/5/) — Trust is built from many true words and can be lost with one big lie; afterwards even true words sound suspect. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/81-why-honesty-matters-trust-holds-everything-together/6/) — The commandment "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour" (Exodus 20:16) guards the trust between neighbours. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/81-why-honesty-matters-trust-holds-everything-together/7/) — Paul wrote, "Put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbour, for we are all members of one body" (Ephesians 4:25). - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/81-why-honesty-matters-trust-holds-everything-together/8/) — A mistake told is a problem shared; a mistake hidden becomes a lie on top of a mistake (Proverbs 12:22: the Lord "delights in people who are trustworthy"). - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/81-why-honesty-matters-trust-holds-everything-together/10/) — Plato told of the ring of Gyges, which made its wearer invisible, and asked whether you would still be honest if nobody could ever see you. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/81-why-honesty-matters-trust-holds-everything-together/11/) — Jesus taught, "Let your 'Yes' be 'Yes', and your 'No', 'No'" (Matthew 5:37): an honest person's plain word is enough, without "I swear" or "no cap" ("no cap" is slang for "no lie", and "cap" means a lie). - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/81-why-honesty-matters-trust-holds-everything-together/12/) — Scientists find most children start trying lies around age 3 or 4, and learn honesty as patient grown-ups help them; Adam blaming Eve and Eve blaming the serpent (Genesis 3:12-13) is the Bible's first hide-and-blame story. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/81-why-honesty-matters-trust-holds-everything-together/15/) — Honest shops last because buyers come back; Proverbs 11:1 says, "The Lord detests dishonest scales, but accurate weights find favour with him." - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/81-why-honesty-matters-trust-holds-everything-together/16/) — Christians believe God cannot lie (Titus 1:2) and Jesus called himself "the way and the truth and the life" (John 14:6). - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/81-why-honesty-matters-trust-holds-everything-together/17/) — Hindus say "Satyameva jayate", "Truth alone triumphs", now India's national motto, and one of the five Buddhist precepts is to avoid false speech. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/81-why-honesty-matters-trust-holds-everything-together/18/) — Grandad's old saying «a man's word is his bond» means a promise could be relied on like a signed agreement; because people were known to keep their word, a deal could be sealed with just a handshake. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/81-why-honesty-matters-trust-holds-everything-together/19/) — A lie can hurt more than the thing it hid: a cup can be replaced, but broken trust must be rebuilt, and that takes time. - ← previous: [Life and death: putting it all together](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/80-life-and-death-putting-it-all-together/) - next →: [Trust that breaks and takes long to mend](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/82-trust-that-breaks-and-takes-long-to-mend/) - ↑ back to [Religion ethics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/)