Self-honesty requires that we are to be real, authentic, honest and without pretense. However, as discussed in their series on the Nine Family Dysfunctional Rules, Joel and Carol help us to see that true honesty is not something that comes naturally or easily to any of us but rather we’ve lived in a state of denial. Denial stems from an internal pre-occupation of avoiding pain and prevents us from not being honest within ourselves.

Joel and Carol attack the issue of denial and its negative effects upon all of us. Denial keeps us from the healthy, God-given intimacy that we all long for. When we are not honest with ourselves, our relationships suffer, as does our walk with the Lord.

This topic relates how self-honesty shatters isolation and superficiality to help show us how we can remove our masks of pretense and be free to love and accept ourselves weaknesses and all.

Romans 5:8 “But God has shown His love for us by the fact that while we were still yet sinners Christ, the Messiah, died for us.” (New King James Bible)