By Scott Williams
(Photo Kelsey McNeal/Fox)
For awhile now I've been feeling a need to post about the new show on Fox, The Moment of Truth. The promos have been so provocative that it's hard not to react, whether you watch the show or not. For many weeks I was not able to bring myself to watch the show, but in celebration of the final episode of the season, I finally watched five previous episodes so I could write about it here.
If you haven't seen the promo or the show, contestants privately answer questions while hooked to a lie detector to get their responses. Some time later, they are asked similar questions, but this time, in front of family members and a cheering/jeering audience.
The monetary payback grows as the questions get more personal. After each correctly answered question, the contestant can quit and take the money he or she has already earned. But once the contestants hears the next question, he has to answer it truthfully to keep the money. The yes/no answers are compared to the results of their polygraph test to determine whether the contest will keep moving toward the prize money.
The Moment of Truth could best be described as Jerry Springer meets Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
You can bet the questions get plenty personal … and downright inappropriate. One particular episode was so controversial that Fox considered not showing it. But, I guess the executives came up with the same decision most of the contestants do-the monetary gain is worth whatever damage the show causes. Consider these questions that contestant Lauren Cleri answered on a now infamous episode:
"Since you have been married, have you ever pretended to be asleep in order to avoid having sex with your husband Frank?"
"Do you secretly stay in touch with any boyfriends that your husband does not know about?"
"Have you ever taken off your wedding ring to appear as if you were single?"
"Do you believe you might have been in love with a former boyfriend on your wedding day?"
The answers she gave to each question matched her lie detector performance, usually making herself look bad and causing grief to her husband and family in the audience.
And the tough questions were still to come.
A former boyfriend was brought onto the stage in a surprise appearance. Here are both questions the ex-boyfriend asked:
"If I wanted to get back together with you, would you leave your husband?"
"Do you believe I'm the man you should be married to?"
Cleri's reply was, "Well, I'm going to be honest and say yes."
The audience looked on as she continued to destroy her marriage and family.
Question: "Since you've been married, have you ever had sexual relations with someone other than your husband?"
Answer: "I'm going to have to say yes."
And then the question that tripped her up:
"Do you think you're a good person?"
Answer: "Honestly, I think I am a good person, yes."
Unfortunately for Cleri, her response on the lie detector indicated that her belief didn't match the truth, and she lost.
Lost everything. The $100,000 she had accumulated. And whatever unity she had with her family. And probably her marriage.
Most of the other contestants I've seen on the show chose at some point not to keep going with the questions, but you could see even in those how the questions they did answer sent shock waves through the family members who were present on stage to lend moral (or is it, immoral) support.
The damage from answering the questions is inevitable, no matter who the contestant. One woman—a conservative, committed Christian—answered her questions with confidence, believing her life was upright enough not to fear her answers. But even she couldn't avoid the problems that her "Yes" answers would create for her family and current fiancé.
"Do you blame your father for tearing your family apart?"
"Are you still in love with your ex-fiancé?"
Watching this program led to several gut reactions. First, you have to wonder why these people go onto the show. Don't they realize the damage it may bring to their family? Second, I'm disgusted at Fox television for being a purveyor of voyeurism and a shameless exploiter of people's bad judgment.
But I also had an unexpected reaction. I pictured myself up there on stage, answering questions aimed at my weaknesses; questions that leave me exposed for who I really am. The same person reflected in Scripture. I desire to live an upright life and make decisions that allow me to keep a pure conscience. My pattern is God's Word, my guide is the Holy Spirit, and my hope is in Christ.
But my sin is always there to remind me that I'm not the person I want people to see. If I was on that stage, it would just be a matter of time before the right question was asked, and I would be exposed as being pathetically and hopelessly flawed just like anyone else.
The Bible is packed with Moment of Truth passages. Consider the following:
Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. -Isaiah 6:5
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? -Jeremiah 17:9
None is righteous. No not one. -Romans 3:10
And look at the words of the apostle Paul. After coming to Christ, he lived a no excuses life of pure commitment. But from his own mouth he reveals that his earlier mistakes and his still-present sin nature were never far from his mind:
… Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. -1 Timothy 1:15
… I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! -Romans 7:23-25
All of us fall short of the righteousness of God, some by stumbling and others by diving headlong into sin and wallowing in it. Yet we so often try to shade the truth from others, as if they can be fooled into thinking we're the only ones without shortcomings. What's even more foolish is when we try to trick ourselves-and even God-into thinking that we're above fault.
I am reminded that I need to walk in purity of heart and mind, depending on God's Word and the Holy Spirit to keep me centered on the truth. Not just for a moment but moment by moment, day by day, all my life.
Stumble It!
