Ditto.The commandment is: "Thou shalt not bare false witness against your neighbour." I think what we know as lying is a little bit different.
If a stranger came up to you in a dark alley and said, "How much cash do you have," you might walk away instead of answering.
Or if a friend said, "You have two bikes, can you give me one?"
If you're in a social group with ten unemployed people, and they ask you about your job, you wouldn't offer information that would make them feel miserable or alienated. "Great, I just got a raise that put me up to 200 k, and I'm going on a business trip to the Bahamas." (Not my case btw.)
We have a relative with Alzheimer's, and find ourselves lying to prevent her from suffering grief over and over. "Where's my husband?" is not answered by "He died several years ago," but "He's not here right now."
If they ask, "Is he down parking the car?" We would tend to answer yes, because she will ask the same question again anyway, and a different answer will seem completely natural.
Context, purpose, end results, wisdom... I think it is more about intents of the heart. There would be no spies if spies were always revealing the truth. And if being too open about truth, people can get hurt and lose ambition, hope.
Bearing false witness puts blame on the wrong person. Justice is not upheld.
I'm not saying that lying is approved, but there are times we need to open-not-our-mouths.
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