ETHICAL VIRTUE GROUP

Because I value moral excellence as Christ's way, I choose to make decisions based on ethical principles.

How To Make Good Decisions

Honesty

God is truthful. He never lies. What He says and does is always right.

Definition

Honesty related virtues: Truthfulness, integrity, sincerity, trustworthy.

Honesty means: Giving the correct idea or impression, equal things on a scales, keeping your word, honoring your commitments, paying your debts, returning what you borrowed, doing your own assignments, to be real, genuine

See flipchart

Click picture below:

I’ll Be True, AYS, 92
A Heart Like Thine, AYS, 1
Cleanse Me, AYS, 14
I Need Thee Precious Jesus, AYS, 80

Student Life Applications

1 Student giving back the extra change from the clerk over-ring.
2 Student holding card that says “Work Record”. He is looking at clock and writing down the time.
3 Student admitting he dropped the broken vase on the floor.
4 One student with crib notes and one student thinking out his answers to tests.
5 Students writing on papers that say “Test” at the top. One student is looking over at another student’s paper
obviously trying to read the answers.
6 One student stealing snacks and putting them in his pocket, another student telling him to put them back.
7 Person is not noticing that he has dropped some money while a student is picking it up and hiding it in his stuff.
8 Student on the bus is giving back change to the bus driver who hurriedly and mistakenly gave him too much change.
9 Student confessing that he was the one who started the fight.
10 Student with money in hand, talking to the owner of the broken window.
11 Customs declarations.
12 Answering parents when you don’t want them to know what you have been doing or where you have been.

Bible, E.G. White

Exodus 20:16 You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
Psalm 25:21 May integrity and uprightness protect me
Psalm 34:13 Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies.
Psalm 119:128 I hate every false way
Proverbs 11:1 The Lord abhors dishonest scales
Romans 12:17 Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.
Revelation 14:5 No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.
Acts 6:3 Look ye out among you seven men of honest report.
II Corinthians 8:21 Providing for honest things, not only in the Lord, but also in the sight of men.
II Corinthians 13:7 You should do that which is honest
Philippians 4:8 Whatsoever things are honest,...think on these things.
1 Peter 2:12 Having our conversation honest among Gentiles.
Revelation 14:5 No lie was found in their mouths

“Principle, right, honesty, should ever be cherished . . .The Master requires His servants to be honorable in motive and action. Those who choose honesty as their companion will embody it in all their acts. To a large class, these men are not pleasing, but to God they are beautiful.” 4T 607
“In your association with others, put yourself in their place. Enter into their feelings, their difficulties, their disappointments, their joys, and their sorrows. Identify yourself with them, and then do to them as, were you to exchange places with them, you would wish them to deal with you. This is the true rule of honesty.” MB 135
“Life's best things--simplicity, honesty, truthfulness, purity, unsullied integrity--cannot be bought or sold; they are as free to the ignorant as to the educated, to the black man as to the white man, to the humble peasant as to the king upon his throne.” 7T 28

Reinforcing Stories

Stepping Stones by Dorothy Eaton Watts, December 19, October 26,
“Peter Pays Up”, “Conkers and Conquerors”, Volume One, Uncle Arthur’s Bedtime Stories, pp. 48, 70.
“Seventeen Cowards”, Volume Three, Uncle Arthur’s Bedtime Stories, pg 113
“ Susie’s Suitcase”, “Weighed in the Balances”, Volume Four, Uncle Arthur’s Bedtime Stories, pg 82 by Arthur S. Maxwell
Great Stories for Kids III, pg. 151, by Jerry Thomas
Christian Values Every Kid Should Know, pg. 14, by Donna Habenicht
Teaching Your Children Values, pg. 41, by Linda & Richard Eyre
“Bigger and Bigger”, Book One, The Children’s Hour
“Honest Tommy”, Book Three, The Children’s Hour by Arthur S. Maxwell
“ Hannah’s Tests”, “Cheater”, “A Friend’s Business”, Book Two, Great Stories for Kids, pgs. 141, 148, 155,
“An Expensive Pat of Butter”, “Just Seventy-Two Cents”, Going Up by Charles L. Paddock

Student Activities

1. Practice grading own papers,
2. The next time someone asks you about an event, tell more than you need to, just to practice honesty.
3. Think about the last time you were dishonest, and try to go for one day without exaggerating or embellishing anything.
4. Play the telephone game: Someone starts a story and each person adds his item. Compare the true and first statement with the end of the line story to notice how things can grow out of proportion
5. True Drop: Line up several students, give each a small book. On a signal they are all to drop their books from as high as they can reach. Notice how they fall. This is an honest drop. The fall is a true line of gravity and can’t be changed.

Links to the Curriculum

English: Verbals look like verbs but aren’t. We should be Christians and also look like Christians.

Resources

Primary:
Tell or write two ways that show that God is honest.
Tell or write about a time when you saw someone show honesty.
Tell or write about when you showed honesty like God would do.
Tell or write about when you saw the hurt and unhappiness when someone was not honest.
How do you think God feels when He sees people who are honest?
How do you feel when you are honest?
Tell two ways that you can show honesty.
What makes you want to be honest?
What is the opposite of honesty? Who makes us act that way?
Finish the sentence: We can be honest when we..........

Middle:
Why does God care if I am honest?
What difference does it make whether I am honest or not?
What effect would it have on my future if I did not choose to be honest?
How would people treat me differently if I did or didn’t choose to be honest?
How would I feel about myself if I did or did not choose to be honest?
Give some reasons why you think it is best to be honest. Why would someone do differently?
Why should someone do differently?
What makes choosing to be honest better than the opposite?
List some ways that a person might be honest without anyone noticing?
List 3 situations where a person could be honest in his work, home, or at the shopping mall.
Is it possible for a person to get better at being honest? Explain.
Can you think of someone who seems good at being honest? What makes them better at it?
How could you learn to be better at honesty?
How often do you show honesty? Think of the last three times and tell me.
Do you like to join in when people are being honest? How have you joined in?

High school:
Would you practice honesty if no one was checking on you? Your parents, school, or the law?
What is the alternative to honesty and what do you see as the results of that choice?
Would you recognize it if someone was not fully honest? How?
Would you keep quiet if someone paid you a lot of money not to be honest?
Are you proud to be honest and willing to tell others how you feel?
If someone in a group spoke out against honesty would you speak up to give the other side?
Are you willing to put some of your money toward supporting honesty in your city, class, work?
Can you say that being honest has become a habit? How often are you that way?
What effect do you think honesty will have on your future life?
Do you see your family practicing honesty? How about your church, city, or nation?
What do you think should be done to promote honesty in your family, friends, church, city, nation?
Does it make much difference if they are honest or not?