Is it okay to lie?

[BoyRescue]

Is it okay to lie if it's for good intentions?

 

[Faulty]

Is it okay to lie if it's for good intentions?

Is it okay to commit adultery if it's for good intentions?

 

[BoyRescue]

Is it okay to commit adultery if it's for good intentions?

Not what I meant.

But is it okay to lie to help someone else out. For example, if someone in your family asks you to claim your brother's daughter as your dependent so she receives health insurance, but she doesn't live with you nor do you take care of her. This is done so that they receive aid from the government as well. I don't know how it all works, but that's the gist of it. Anyways, is this okay??

 

[Faulty]

Not what I meant.

But is it okay to lie to help someone else out. For example, if someone in your family asks you to claim your brother's daughter as your dependent so she receives health insurance, but she doesn't live with you nor do you take care of her. This is done so that they receive aid from the government as well. I don't know how it all works, but that's the gist of it. Anyways, is this okay??

I understood what you meant. My point was a "Is it okay to {insert sin here} if it's for good intentions?" is a dangerious question because a sin is still a sin, no matter how small it seems or how one is able to justify it. When a sin seems small and somehow right, remember, it was the eating of a piece of fruit, outside the will of God, which "seemed good", that ended up throwing the entire creation into chaos and condemning all mankind to eternal punishment.

Sometimes, you might find youself in an area where your sin got you into, and you have to sin to get out of (Ezra 9 and 10 if one don't understand what I'm referring to), but that don't sound like your situation.

 

[Optimax]

Not what I meant.

But is it okay to lie to help someone else out. For example, if someone in your family asks you to claim your brother's daughter as your dependent so she receives health insurance, but she doesn't live with you nor do you take care of her. This is done so that they receive aid from the government as well. I don't know how it all works, but that's the gist of it. Anyways, is this okay??

Really does not matter the reason. The devil is the father of lies!

John 8:44
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar , and the father of it.
KJV

 

[BoyRescue]

Thanks everyone.

 

[chelsea89]

I wouldn't especially because if discovered you could be audited or trying to defend tax fraud.

 

[Optimax]

I wouldn't especially because if discovered you could be audited or trying to defend tax fraud.

And we are "discovered" even before the lie is told.

By our God!

He knows even if no one else ever discovered it. He knows.

 

[Tamara224]

Not what I meant.

But is it okay to lie to help someone else out. For example, if someone in your family asks you to claim your brother's daughter as your dependent so she receives health insurance, but she doesn't live with you nor do you take care of her. This is done so that they receive aid from the government as well. I don't know how it all works, but that's the gist of it. Anyways, is this okay??

While I personally think that there are some situations in which lying is perfectly acceptable.... the above isn't one of them. What you're describing is called fraud. I would not recommend it. It's really not worth the trouble you could get into if you're caught.

 

[JimB]

While it may be true that there may be times when it is acceptable to lie, my conscience gives me such a hard time when I do it and I wonder if the lie that is acceptable to me is acceptable to God.

~Jim

God punishes us mildly by ignoring our prayers and sometimes severely by answering them. ~Selected​

 

[Svt4Him]

If God is truth, a lie goes against the very nature of who God is, and I can't see how that is good or ever acceptable.

 

[Blackwater Babe]

Is it okay to lie if it's for good intentions?

Like all the lies regularly told to discredit the theory of evolution? Apparently.

 

[Catherineanne]

Not what I meant.

But is it okay to lie to help someone else out. For example, if someone in your family asks you to claim your brother's daughter as your dependent so she receives health insurance, but she doesn't live with you nor do you take care of her. This is done so that they receive aid from the government as well. I don't know how it all works, but that's the gist of it. Anyways, is this okay??

No, it is not ok. Firstly because this is not just a lie; it is fraud, and may well result in prosecution if found out. The least you will end up with is a criminal record, but the penalty could be worse than that.

But even if it were just a lie, it would still not be acceptable. The commandment is 'thou shalt not bear false witness', and that commandment stands.

 

[Optimax]

While I personally think that there are some situations in which lying is perfectly acceptable.... the above isn't one of them. What you're describing is called fraud. I would not recommend it. It's really not worth the trouble you could get into if you're caught.

When a person lies especially with intent and knowledge that is discrediting their credibility, integrity and honor.

Lying when convenient is called situational ethics.

That is really no ethics at all, because it means it is ok to lie if it fits the situation.

There are no times that a lie is acceptable.

Weak character will lie rather than tell the truth in situations where one cannot just be quiet. Weak would rather lie than face the pressure of having someone upset with them.

 

[Tamara224]

When a person lies especially with intent and knowledge that is discrediting their credibility, integrity and honor.

Lying when convenient is called situational ethics.

That is really no ethics at all, because it means it is ok to lie if it fits the situation.

There are no times that a lie is acceptable.

Weak character will lie rather than tell the truth in situations where one cannot just be quiet. Weak would rather lie than face the pressure of having someone upset with them.

Oh blah, blah, blah. I don't think Rahab was a weak character when she lied about the Jewish spies she was hiding in her apartment. She was blessed abundantly for her deception.

I don't think God had weak character when he sent the lying spirit to the prophets.

Ethics are inherently situational. There really isn't any other kind of ethics.

 

[Optimax]

Oh blah, blah, blah. I don't think Rahab was a weak character when she lied about the Jewish spies she was hiding in her apartment. She was blessed abundantly for her deception.

I don't think God had weak character when he sent the lying spirit to the prophets.

Ethics are inherently situational. There really isn't any other kind of ethics.

Scripture says it best.

1 Tim 1:10
For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars , for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;
KJV

Titus 1:12
One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars , evil beasts, slow bellies.
KJV

Rev 2:2
I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars :
KJV

Rev 21:8

8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars , shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death
KJV

 

[murjahel]

Proverbs 12:22
"Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord...'​

Colossians 3:9
"Lie not one to another, seeing ye have put off the old man, with his deeds'​

Some Christians do not put off the 'old man', it seems... Lies pass through the lips of even those who call themselves
Christians... Too many Christians even regard lies as inconsequential...​

Among the seven things that God says He hates in Proverbs 6:16-19, three regard lying..​

The ninth commandment tells us to not bear false witness against our neighbor...​

Lying has many forms... its essence is 'deception'... lying is the telling of an untruth, with the intent to deceive...​

a person may change his mind, and not have lied...​

Cain lied when asked about Abel's whereabouts...
Cain said 'I know not'...​

Joseph's brothers lied when they said they found Joseph's coat, and did not know where he was...​

​

Sometimes, some try to word their 'lie' so it is not a 'lie'...

like the preacher who walked into the meat market, and said ... 'throw me a couple of those fish, I am supposed to be fishing, and I want to tell my wife I caught these fish, and I don't want to be lying'​

was that a lie for him to tell his wife he 'caught' the fish? when actually, he did 'catch' the thrown
fish... but did not fish and catch them with his fishing pole?​

yes.. that is lying too... for his intent was to deceive...​

Many advertisements are lies...​

the sales pitch of many a salesman is a lie...​

the politicians have lied and lied... and do not hang their heads, when after election they do not do what they promised to do... and they do what they promised not to do... they lie to get elected...​

Mankind destroys his character by lies... lying put Jesus on the cross... satan is the 'father of lies'...
John 8:44​

Lying is contrary to a Godly nature... Lying is serious...

Lies have caused many an innocent person to be convicted of crimes... they have caused many a saint to suffer persecution, even martyrdom... lying though does more harm to the liar, than the lie does to the one lied about...​

Jesus is known as the 'Truth'... and the more we know Him, the more we will want to tell the truth....​

The Holy Spirit is called the 'Spirit of Truth'...​

So... lies need to be repented of... lies need to be expunged from our words... and truth needs spoken...​

The demon spirits that God allowed to lie to Ahab, were not God's lies... Ahab had refused to hear the truth that God had had the prophet speak... So, God allowed the lying spirits to speak their lies... God works like that, He allows some to get a reprobate mind, but He is not making them to be weird minded reprobates, the passage shows that because they reject the Lord, they are allowed to have the resulting mind that their choice made them susceptible to... God does not lie... We cannot blame Him for our lies... He will judge all liars... they have a place reserved in the lake of fire according to the Book of Revelation.​

Jesus is Truth... the Spirit is the Spirit of Truth... His children are noticed by 'truth'... and liars are showing who their 'father' is... We become like the one we serve... We need to serve the One called 'Truth'.​

 

[Usernametaken]

Sure it is, it is perfectly acceptable to lie. God didn't mnd at all if you are not honest.

Now you have to figure out if that statement is a lie.

 

[SpiritPsalmist]

If the choice is death or life, I believe that "choosing life" overrides all other rules. The example of the op though does not fall into that category. No one dies by not being claimed fraudulently on one's taxes. As someone else pointed out, Rahab lied in order to save lives, not just hers and her family but also the spies.

 

[Svt4Him]

This statement is false.

Is that a lie?

Rahab lied because she didn't know better, she was not Jewish and God was not her God. God blessed her dispite her sin, not because of it.