Is it ever right to lie?
Is there any situation/circumstance wherein lying is not a sin, such as telling jokes, keeping non-judicial secrets, playing games, etc? Related topic: https://ebible.com/questions/4975-is-it-right-to-lie-for-the-sake-of-politeness-to-keep-a-surprise-party-secret
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Asked July 01 2013
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Anonymous (via GotQuestions)
For follow-up discussion and general commentary on the topic. Comments are sorted chronologically.
Aju Thom
This is a very terrible situation. Richard Wurmbrand of Romania has confesed lying to save Christians from imprisonment for being Christians. When we lie we see it as breaking the command and will of God. But do we look upon a person who disobeyed parents or government for obeying the command of God as a sinner? No we dont. So I think God's will for a particular situation can be different from a general command. Any way it is difficuilt to answer.
John Harvey
There is a further consideration, and that is the law of love. In Matt 22: 39 & 40 Jesus said the second most important commandment is to "love your neighbour as yourself. All the law & the prophets hang on these two commandments" Therefore if telling the truth would violate this commandment we can lie with a clear conscience. Of course it is always a difficult question, because as the saying goes: "tell one lie & you have to tell two more to cover it up" where does it stop? If our motives are pure, it is up to our conscience. In general, Christian love "rejoices in the truth" 1Cor. 13:6.
Richard Mukasa
I do not understand why people are so obsessed with the law of the Old Testament when we have the grace convenant. The greatest commandment is to love God and to love man.
In all things that we do, we must ask ourselves. Do these acts constitute to love or do they simply cause other people to hurt. If I lie to save a Christian from being beheaded by Muslims, does that constitute to love or hate?
Christ commands us to be wise. By handing over your fellow loved ones to murderers simply because you want to be truthful to these killers, you will not be acting wisely. Paul had to be smuggled out of the house otherwise, the Romans and the Jews were going to kill him.
In whose interests are you acting? Are your actions in God's interests or in the interest of Lucifer?
James Kraft
Peoples needs usually come before law. The Pharisees rebuked Jesus for His disciples picking corn on the Sabbath to eat. Jesus reminded them that David and his men ate the show bread in the temple because they were hungry. The Pharisees were many times using a lesser law to override a higher law. Stealing is against the law, but not feeding your family is worse than an infidel. Compassion and love are many times better than a minor law.
Jennifer Rothnie
In Jewish tradition, the precedent for 'tact' - that is, omitting or softening truth out of kindness - was set by God in Gen 18:11-13. Sarah laughs because she is past the age of childbearing and Abraham is old, but when God asks Abraham about it, He omits the part where Sarah thought Abraham was old.
The Jews take that as God sparing Abraham's feelings out of kindness, and as such the rabbinical tradition is that tact is more loving and kind than frank admission, and as such lies closer to what God would want.
Grant Abbott
When we decide there are some situations where it is ok to lie, for the greater good, we are playing God.
It was this desire to play God that got the human race into trouble in the first place.
Why not ask the author of ALL WISDOM, the Holy Spirit, for a solution to our problem? Ask Him for words to speak that will not cause us to sin. He will do it. He will give us words that will be helpful and encouraging without involving sin.
Why? Because God cannot tolerate sin of any kind and he always has a solution to any moral dilemma we may face that protects us from sin.
Pray and ask the Holy Spirit for his wisdom. We will never be disappointed.
Danny Hickman
"Is there a situation / circumstance in which lying is not a sin?"
There is a difference in lying as a witness to a murder and in lying as a witness to a theft. Thievery is much less serious than the taking of a life. So if a person lies and testifies to defend a thief, his /her offense is less serious than testifying to defend a murderer.
But is that what really matters? There are no technicalities for sin! Sin doesn't need to be decomposed! To not tell the unvarnished truth is to at least mislead, and at most to be grossly unfaithful. To mislead is to falsely persuade; to be unfaithful is to cheat the truth. None of that needs to be anatomized. Lying is sin.
Does God endorse sin? No! Is it rewarded? No! Is it punished? Yes, everytime! Is punishment always immediate? Of course not!
The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23). There's no way around it either, it's written in marble. Every sin leads to death. I'm talking about eating things forbidden to eat; things that seem trivial.
Lying to a soldier looking to kill little children because of their ethnic identity is anything but trivial. It's the difference in life and death in the physical world. It doesn't cause anything to change in the spiritual realm. To tell the soldiers the truth and cause the death of the children wouldn't reverse a thing in the spirit realm.
Satan lied to Adam and Eve. Why didn't he just shoot them in the back of the head? Strangle them? They'd still be dead!
Because he wanted us too!
Danny Hickman
So which would have been worse; for satan to murder Adam and Eve or to lie to them about the forbidden tree? Which is more sinful, murder or lying?
When put that way we see that the strategy of the perpetrator matters greatly. What was in his heart is what is of major importance. Satan used a lie to change the history of the existence of mankind. Murdering the first people would have paled in comparison.
God told them what would happen if they didn't obey His instructions. Eve was deceived by Satan's lie; (1 Tim 2:14, 2 Cor 11:3) (in other words, she believed it, but Adam knew it was a lie. He sinned outright)!!
This question isn't that clear cut.
Is lying ever the RIGHT thing to do?
The only way to resolve this is to look up the definition of "right."
Right ~ In accordance with what is good, proper, or just; in conformity with fact, reason, truth, or some standard or principle; correct in judgment, opinion, or action; fitting; appropriate; suitable;
(here it comes, straight from the dictionary we subscribe to): most convenient, desirable, or favorable.
I don't see anything there that would make it NOT RIGHT to tell a person bent on doing evil something that wasn't true, to prevent them from doing evil.
Does God have a different opinion of what is proper, fitting, appropriate, just, correct in judgment, desirable and favorable when evil is designed against us, than we have?
I think He's quicker to compromise than we are! He forgives sin; we don't...