Is lying a sin?

[tonychanyt]

Exodus 20:

16 You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

Leviticus 19:

11b You must not lie or deceive one another. 12You must not swear falsely by My name and so profane the name of your God. I am the LORD. 13a You must not defraud your neighbor or rob him.

Revelation 21:

8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

On the other hand, there were excusable occasions in the Bible.

Midwives lied to Pharaoh in Exodus 1:

19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”

Rahab lied in Joshua 2:

3 So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.”
4But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from.

Samson lied to Delilah in Judges 16:

6So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me the source of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”
7Samson told her, “If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I will become as weak as any other man.”

Is it always wrong to tell a lie or untruth?

No, but let the Paraclete guide you in your conscience. As a rule of thumb, we should tell the truth.

 

[SabbathBlessings]

Yes, lying is a sin and its breaking one of the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20 and God’s heavenly Temple Rev 11:19. These are the commandments that God wrote and God spoke and we cannot edit Deut 4:2 because they are the works of God Exodus 32:16 and no man is above God.

It’s never good to lie under any circumstances. Rehab was a harlot at the time she lied and my guess she repented for that lie as there is no record of it in Hebrews 11 when many of the people sinned and through repentance and a changed heart turning to Christ walking in Him in obedience our sins will be blotted out. Acts 3:19

It’s a sin to lie and a sin to break any of the commandments. It’s something we must repent for with a sincere heart and not only repent, but ask Jesus to help us overcome.

1 John 2:3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

Revelation 22:15 But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.

Compared to the previous verse:

Rev 22:14 Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.

 

[tonychanyt]

Rehab was a harlot at the time she lied and my guess she repented for that lie as there is no record of it in Hebrews 11

Can you explain your logic here step by step? Note the boldfaced words.

 

[SabbathBlessings]

Can you explain your logic here step by step? Note the boldfaced words.

Lying is a sin Exodus 20:16 it is something detestable to God Proverbs 6:16-17 which does not come from God John 8:44

At the time Rehab lied she was a harlot. She obviously had a conversion because when we get to the faith chapter in Hebrews 11 there is no record of the lie same with the other heroes of faith who sinned and repented shown in Hebrews 11, so Rehab obviously repented from lying because we know it is a sin to lie, but it was blotted out, like we are told when we repent and want to change.

Hebrews 11:31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.

 

[tonychanyt]

Rehab was a harlot at the time she lied and my guess she repented for that lie as there is no record of it in Hebrews 11

Please explain your logic here step by step. Fill in the blanks:

Step 1: ___.

Step 2: ___.

And so on. If you are able, please fill in the blanks.

 

[ozso]

Exodus 20:


Leviticus 19:


Revelation 21:


On the other hand, there were excusable occasions in the Bible.

Midwives lied to Pharaoh in Exodus 1:


Rahab lied in Joshua 2:


Samson lied to Delilah in Judges 16:

Here's another one. Abraham told his wife Sarah to lie:

"Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.” Genesis 12:13

 

[fhansen]

Exodus 20:


Leviticus 19:


Revelation 21:


On the other hand, there were excusable occasions in the Bible.

Midwives lied to Pharaoh in Exodus 1:


Rahab lied in Joshua 2:


Samson lied to Delilah in Judges 16:


Is it always wrong to tell a lie or untruth?

No, but let the Paraclete guide you in your conscience. As a rule of thumb, we should tell the truth.

It's difficult to always be totally honest in this fallen world-and the Old Testament gives demonstrations of this as was pointed out. But our alliance must be with the truth, as we already have a proclivity to lying due to our fallen natures; falsehood has no part with God or His creation. Now, we don't owe everyone the truth in this messed up world, so it can be withheld at times, but to lie is sin. I've found that I had to learn to consciously value truth, to place it at as a highest good, as the world doesn't always do so to put it mildly.

 

[tonychanyt]

It's difficult to always be totally honest in this fallen world-and the Old Testament gives demonstrations of this as was pointed out. But our alliance must be with the truth, as we already have a proclivity to lying due to our fallen natures; falsehood has no part with God or His creation. Now, we don't owe everyone the truth in this messed up world, so it can be withheld at times, but to lie is sin. I've found that I had to learn to consciously value truth, to place it at as a highest good, as the world doesn't always do so to put it mildly.

Nice and balanced

 

[ozso]

It's difficult to always be totally honest in this fallen world-and the Old Testament gives demonstrations of this as was pointed out. But our alliance must be with the truth, as we already have a proclivity to lying due to our fallen natures; falsehood has no part with God or His creation. Now, we don't owe everyone the truth in this messed up world, so it can be withheld at times, but to lie is sin. I've found that I had to learn to consciously value truth, to place it at as a highest good, as the world doesn't always do so to put it mildly.

What do we do about situations where a friend, brother, son paints a picture that you think is the ugliest thing you've ever seen, and then he asks "Do you like it"?

Then in real life situations I have to deal with mentally ill people sometimes at work as a security guard. Recently a lady came up to me fairly agitated reporting some imaginary situation taking place somewhere in the city, and I finally said "I'll report it to headquarters" to appease and defuse her.

Now in that situation I hated lying, but I think it would have been worse to say what I honestly thought which would've been "you're hallucinating, go away".

 

[fhansen]

What do we do about situations where a friend, brother, son paints a picture that you think is the ugliest thing you've ever seen, and then he asks "Do you like it"?

Then in real life situations I have to deal with mentally ill people sometimes at work as a security guard. Recently a lady came up to me fairly agitated reporting some imaginary situation taking place somewhere in the city, and I finally said "I'll report it to headquarters" to appease and defuse her.

Now in that situation I hated lying, but I think it would have been worse to say what I honestly thought which would've been "you're hallucinating, go away".

I agree: it can be very, very difficult. I can only say that I do my best to be subjugated to Truth above anything less, above my own interests or preferences-and don't always succeed. In an innocent world complete transparency would naturally rule the day; a feigned smile would be an anomaly, a disorder, an unnecessary lie, a sin.

 

[ozso]

Another one occured to me. What about undercover law enforcement who have to lie about themselves to catch and arrest criminals.

 

[childeye 2]

Exodus 20:


Leviticus 19:


Revelation 21:


On the other hand, there were excusable occasions in the Bible.

Midwives lied to Pharaoh in Exodus 1:


Rahab lied in Joshua 2:


Samson lied to Delilah in Judges 16:


Is it always wrong to tell a lie or untruth?

No, but let the Paraclete guide you in your conscience. As a rule of thumb, we should tell the truth.

The semantics that appear in the terms we use show that we usually lie in a sinful manner when led by our carnal nature and moreso when our carnal nature is in a state of blindness/darkness to what is the knowledge of God's Holy Character. In this way we tend to lie to our own selves. Hence Jesus said that the Father of lies has no truth in him.

If I told a Jewish family I would hide them from the Nazi's in the 1930's, and then the Nazis came looking for them and I said that I had not seen them, it would not qualify as a lie; it would qualify as keeping my word and hiding them. However, this example shows that there are circumstances when we must say things or do things that appear to be dishonest, so as to be honest. The Holy Spirit instructs us how to be as wise as serpents but as gentle as lambs.