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, it partly depends on your motivation and intent, but let the Paraclete guide you in your conscience. As a rule of thumb, we should tell the truth.

 

[pgp_protector]

Given my wife has Dementia, lying to some of her questions is simpler for her than letting her know that her "friends" that left never even existed.

 

[Laodicean60]

Given my wife has Dementia, lying to some of her questions is simpler for her than letting her know that her "friends" that left never even existed.

Wow, I never thought about it that way. My mother-in-law had dementia and the wife's family had to lie to her one way or the other to calm her down. I believe the problems today are from lies or deception. So yes lying is a sin because it comes from the father of lies.

 

[Richard T]

Therapeutic lies when you are calming someone with dementia. Hard to argue that is a good exception. It is interesting that Elisha told Hazeal to lie to the king. II Kings 8. Hazeal not only lied as Elisha suggested but he killed the king the next day as well.

10Elisha answered, “Go and tell him, ‘You will surely recover.’ But the LORD has shown me that in fact he will die.”

I would be interested in hearing what anyone thinks of I kings 22 though.
And the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab to march up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’
And one suggested this, and another that.
21Then a spirit came forward, stood before the LORD, and said, ‘I will entice him.’a
‘By what means?’ asked the LORD.
22And he replied, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’
‘You will surely entice him and prevail,’ said the LORD. ‘Go and do it.’

 

[tonychanyt]

I would be interested in hearing what anyone thinks of I kings 22 though.

See Did the Lord approve a spirit to lie to Ahab? and follow up there

 

[Froze]

Wow, I never thought about it that way. My mother-in-law had dementia and the wife's family had to lie to her one way or the other to calm her down. I believe the problems today are from lies or deception. So yes lying is a sin because it comes from the father of lies.

So now you have to ask yourself, is lying to calm one down better than letting her go ape nuts only to be calmed down by some sort of injection maybe? While lying is a sin, we ALL lie to some degree or another, we lie about Santa Clause, Easter bunny, to our kids about what they got for Christmas or Birthdays, we are always lying, and a lot of lying is self-preservation or to avoid punishment or shame, to avoid being judged which a lot of Christians are really good at! Or lying for no good reason, perhaps to tell a story that never happened, lie to get something they want, to keep private, people lie for malicious reasons. This is important because not all lies are bad, immoral, or criminal. Sometimes people lie for benevolent reasons, or to impress others, to come across in a positive way, or to protect others from harm, lying to outwit another person Now hold that thought so I can tell you a story.

Long story short, I was with a group of Christian men and women late one night, when another group of all men approached us trying to start trouble, one of the guys in the other group reached behind his back as if he had a gun, so I reached behind my back, and asked him how he wanted the night to play out, he looked me over and they all backed away and left. I didn't have a gun, but I pretended I did, but it was the only play I had, and I felt led by the Spirit to play that hand, and God honored that! Did I lie? sure, it was deception, a lie, a lie that saved the lives of at least one person and probably more. How many of you go to church after having a dragged-out fight with your spouse in the car, get to church and people ask how are the both of you, and you all stand there and say "We're doing great, how about you?" I seriously doubt any of you will say to that person, "I am so angry with my spouse, we were fighting all the way here" in the church foyer with everyone standing around listening! People lie every day, it's what we do for one reason or another, going all the way back to Adam, he lied to God directly, and that is from a man who walked with God? Who are we that haven't walked with God like that to say we don't lie? It's absurd to think that someone would have the audacity to say they never lied, that in itself is a lie!!!!

So, if lying to help a person stay calm is necessary, then that's what needs to be done, just as I lied to keep my group safe, it needed to be done, this sort of lying is what's called an altruistic lie, it's still a lie though.

 

[RDKirk]

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, it partly depends on your motivation and intent, but let the Paraclete guide you in your conscience. As a rule of thumb, we should tell the truth.

God told Moses to lie to Pharoah...God even gave Moses the lie to use.

Jesus wore a disguise to deceive his enemies who were watching for His entrance to Jerusalem.

God practices tactical deception in combat with His enemies.

 

[TPop]

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, it partly depends on your motivation and intent, but let the Paraclete guide you in your conscience. As a rule of thumb, we should tell the truth.

It is always wrong to lie. Pulling out examples of where people lied, without discussion as to why they lied, or how they were disobedient to God is commission allowing one to teach something that is not true.

Midwives lying to Pharaoh. False evidence - This is not a confirmed lie unless one can state that God did not in fact speed up the delivery of the births. Which no one can do. God is not the author of lies. So it is wise to first trust in Jesus that He did in fact speed up the delivery of the children. Else, lying becomes very profitable as shown by the riches draped on the midwives afterward.

Rahab lied in Joshua 2. False evidence - Rahab found justification before men for her works. But as Romans 4 points out. Justification before men is not justification before God. Works will not justify you before God.

[Rom 4:1-3 KJV] 1 What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? 2 For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath [whereof] to glory; but not before God. 3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

Additionally, James also talks about Rahab. The book of James is about justification before men. It is not about justification before God. Men need to see your good works, else how would they know your foundation? They cannot see your salvation, heart, or thoughts and prayers. They can only see your works.

Lying is a work.

Samson lied to Delilah in Judges 16. False evidence - Sampson is not a man held up in glory before God because he followed and obeyed God. Sampson did the opposite. He married whom he was told not to. It caused him nothing but trouble all his marriage. Was not fruitful for him. And cause him to fall into deceit/lying because he was so spiritually immature and out of fellowship with God.

It's like holding up men marrying multiple wives because it was done in scripture. Meanwhile, in the real life of those men, they were never blessed through polygamy. How could they be, they were in constant living in sin concerning marriage.

Not lying is a factual scriptural truth. Not abrogated, modified, silenced, or lessened by your immediate needs, desires, feelings, etc., and how justified you think that makes your lie.

To teach that lying is OK at times, and that one can be justified in doing so is to hugely miss the target God sets before you.

Peace and Blessings

 

[BNR32FAN]

Additionally, James also talks about Rahab. The book of James is about justification before men. It is not about justification before God.

This doesn’t fit with the beginning of that message.

”What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.“
‭‭James‬ ‭2‬:‭14‬-‭17‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

If their salvation is at risk because of lack of works then it’s not referring to justification before men. What James is talking about is that believing in Christ means nothing if you aren’t willing to walk in His ways. This is about having love for others and devotion to serving God.