Question for "Christians" about lying...?

Question

In your own opinion...when it is perfectly ok to lie?...i am wondering because when you teach your kids about Santa, you are lying to them...when you tell the old lady in church that her really ugly hat is "just stunning" on her, you are lying. I could go on with a bigger list but I will let you think of your own.
so, again i ask..When is it OK to lie

Answer 1

Not lying, but sometimes you may have to deceive an enemy. Check out these articles (sorry for just pasting, I know many do not like it)

Watchtower, 1st Feb 1956

In the ancient Hebrew Scriptures we find many examples of where Jehovah’s servants used caution—among them Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, David and Jonathan. Did they disgrace themselves as liars in doing so? Let us examine the background of their actions.


"10 To escape a severe famine in Palestine Abraham did not return to Ur of the Chaldeans—he had left Ur forever at God’s command—but went down to Egypt. Abraham may have heard of the incident, now found recorded on a papyrus, of where an Egyptian Pharaoh, influenced by his princes, sent armed troops and took another man’s beautiful wife away for his own harem. Near Egypt Abraham told Sarai to hide the fact that she was his wife: “They will certainly kill me, but you they will preserve alive. Please say you are my sister, in order that it may go well with me on your account, and my soul will be certain to live due to you.” Pharaoh took Sarai to make her his wife, but Jehovah plagued Pharaoh and his house, calling to his notice that Sarai was Abraham’s wife. So Pharaoh returned her, but complained to Abraham for not having been told the full facts that might have prevented this.—Gen. 12:10-20, NW.

11 Years later Abraham was in Philistine country at Gerar. “And Abraham repeated concerning Sarah his wife: ‘She is my sister.’” Why? As Abraham later explained to Abimelech king of Gerar who had taken Sarah: “It was because I said to myself, ‘Doubtless there is no fear of God in this place and they will certainly kill me because of my wife.’ And, besides, she is truly my sister, the daughter of my father, only not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. And it came about that, when God caused me to wander from the house of my father, then I said to her: ‘This is your loving-kindness which you may exercise toward me: At every place where we shall come say of me, “He is my brother.”’” Very likely Sarah was pregnant with her only son Isaac at this time. Almighty God acted to prevent Abimelech from defiling Sarah by warning him in a dream, saying: “But now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will make supplication for you. So keep living.” When returning Sarah King Abimelech gave Abraham a thousand silver shekels and said to Sarah: “Here it is for you a covering of the eyes to all who are with you, and before everybody, and you are cleared of reproach.” At Abraham’s supplication God healed Abimelech and his wife and slave girls so that their wombs were opened again to bear children.—Gen. 20:1-18, NW.

12 If we call Abraham on the above two occasions a liar and prevaricator, we are obliged to ask, Did Jehovah God use a liar and a faithless coward to supplicate him to heal Abimelech who had acted in his innocence? To understand God’s action toward his prophet Abraham we should think not merely of God’s faithfulness to his covenant with Abraham but of the circumstances back there.

13 Whether in Egypt or in Palestine, Abraham was in enemy territory and needed to exercise caution. He wanted to live to carry out God’s purpose toward him. He saw good to use strategy toward those who might be provoked to injure or kill him in Jehovah’s service. He could have gone to war with them; with 318 of his household slaves he had once put to rout the armies of four kings from Mesopotamia who invaded Palestine and carried off his nephew Lot and his household. But Abraham chose to maintain peaceful relations with the inhabitants of lands where he sojourned. He was not disposed to go to war with them over his wife.

14 In those days before Jehovah made his law covenant with Abraham’s descendants through the mediator Moses, women were expendable. Remember how Lot offered to let the howling mob of Sodomites have his two marriageable or espoused daughters for their lust in order to protect the lives of the two men whom he had as guests in his house. (Gen. 19:1-8) Remember how the old man of Gibeah offered his virgin daughter and his guest’s concubine to a like mob of Benjaminites in order to protect the religious Levite whom he was entertaining. Finally the Levite himself took his concubine wife, whom he was taking back home, and put her outside the house at the mercy of the mob, to her death. (Judg. 19:1-3, 10-28) So Abraham represented Sarah as his sister to prevent violent controversy over his wife. Sarah recognized Abraham as her lord and agreed to the arrangement, willing to take the consequences of the arrangement. She was willing to do her part to preserve the life of Jehovah’s prophet, with whom He had made his covenant. Abraham looked upon this as an expression of her loving-kindness to him, and Sarah viewed it in the same way.—1 Pet. 3:5, 6.

15 But critics do not view it that way. They view Abraham wholly as a lying, prevaricating, weakling coward, and not a cautious strategist in an enemy land filled with wolves. Since God saw good to keep Abraham in his covenant and to protect Sarah undefiled for her husband, may we see in this line of strategy a picture? Abraham is elsewhere used to picture Jehovah God and Sarah is used to picture Jehovah’s heavenly womanly organization that produces the promised Seed the Christ. So we may see in Abraham’s conduct how, over the centuries, Jehovah has seemed to repudiate his organizational wife or hide her wifely relationship to him. He withheld from her the promised Seed so long and he also lets those on earth who are her spiritual children suffer at the hands of men and devils, seemingly without divine protection. All this has given the enemy the wrong impression and they have felt free to try to defile the representatives of Jehovah’s wifely organization. But in fulfillment of his covenant respecting Christ Jehovah has protected them amid their trying situation and has delivered them in their integrity.—Gal. 4:21-31; Isa. 54:5-8.

16 Following his father Abraham’s example, Isaac likewise spoke of his wife Rebekah as his sister to the men of the same city of Gerar. Her true connection with Isaac was discovered by King Abimelech, who then said to Isaac: “A little more and certainly one of the people would have cohabited with your wife and you would have brought guilt upon us!” King Abimelech should have added: “If Jehovah had permitted it!” Peaceable Isaac explained his strategy, saying: “I said it [that she is my sister] for fear I should die on her account.” After that brush with King Abimelech over Rebekah Jehovah continued to bless Isaac to the extent that the Philistines became envious of him.—Gen. 26:1-11, NW.

17 We may view Isaac’s handling of matters with his wife Rebekah from the same standpoint as that of Abraham with Sarah. Abraham and Isaac may have had a fear, but they did not in fear make an ungodly alliance with pagan kings for self-protection. Hence we may not apply to them the stinging rebuke of Isaiah 57:11-13 (RS): “Whom did you dread and fear, so that you lied [played the traitor, AT], and did not remember me, did not give me a thought? Have I not held my peace, even for a long time, and so you do not fear me? I will tell of your [self-] righteousness and your doings, but they will not help you. When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you!” Jehovah always delivered Abraham and Isaac because they shunned the world.

18 Rahab the harlot innkeeper of Jericho generally comes in for condemnation as a deceiver. She took the two spies from the nearby camp of Israel into her house, because she feared their God Jehovah. When the king of Jericho sent men and demanded that she bring out the two spies, should she have led the king’s officers up to the rooftop and brushed away the stalks of flax laid in rows over the men, thus exposing their concealment and thus handing them over to suffer the fate of spies? Would that have been trusting in their God to protect them? Would that have pleased Jehovah and shown she had faith in him and had adopted his cause? Did it not require strength of faith in Jehovah to refuse the king’s demand and to turn his officers away with a misdirection? She said: “Yes, the men did come to me and I did not know from where they were. And it came about at the closing of the gate by dark that the men went out. I just do not know where the men have gone. Chase after them quickly, for you will overtake them.” Was she immorally lying there?

19 Remember that there was war then. The enemies did not deserve to learn the truth to the hurt or endangerment of Jehovah’s servants. In wartime it is proper to misdirect the wolfish enemy. While the king’s misdirected men were gone in a vain pursuit, Rahab helped the two spies to escape over the city wall. God’s Word commends her action as the practical proof of her faith: “In the same manner was not also Rahab the harlot declared righteous by works, after she had received the messengers hospitably and sent them out by another way?” So the lives of Rahab and her relatives were spared when Jericho’s walls were tumbled down and all the other cityfolk were wiped out.—Josh. 2:1-24; 6:17-23 and Jas. 2:25, NW.

20 David, the killer of the Philistine giant Goliath, was cautious as a serpent toward the wolfish King Saul and others. David withdrew from the jealous, murder-minded King Saul in time of danger, never once trying to strike back to Saul’s injury. Seeing that Saul had declared war on innocent David, David’s friends used war strategy to protect him. Saul’s daughter Michal helped her husband David escape through a window. She held back Saul’s officers with the announcement, “He is sick.” She substituted an image for David in his bed and, when the bed with the image was carried to King Saul and Michal’s work for David’s escape was exposed, she said to her indignant father: “He himself said to me, ‘Send me away! Why should I put you to death?’” King Saul called it deceptive trickery. It was in effect war strategy for protecting the innocent. Michal’s brother Jonathan, who loved David, also used strategy to throw his insanely jealous father off David’s track.—1 Sam. 19:9-17; 20:17-42, NW.

21 David, in flight, came to the high priest Ahimelech at Nob. When asked why he came alone, David concealed his movements, saying: “The king himself commanded me as to a matter, and he went on to say to me, ‘Let no one know anything at all of the matter concerning which I am sending you and concerning which I have commanded you.’” (1 Sam. 21:1, 2, NW) This protected the high priest from feeling under any pressure to betray David’s whereabouts to King Saul. Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s chief shepherd, was there at the time. When he reported it to Saul, Doeg was rewarded by Saul with the order to kill the high priest and eighty-four of his underpriests. God rewarded Doeg differently. He inspired David to compose Psalm 52 against the malicious Edomite informer, as the psalm’s superscription shows.—1 Sam. 21:1-7; 22:6-19, NW.

22 David took refuge in the land of Philistia with Achish the king of Gath. When the Philistines discovered who he was and suggested to the king that David was a security risk, David became afraid of wolves. “So he disguised his sanity under their eyes and began acting insane in their hand and kept making cross marks on the doors of the gate and let his saliva run down upon his beard.” King Achish refused to have him around and let him go with his life like a harmless idiot. Thus David was able to get out alive and to the cave of Adullam. However much his pretended insanity before King Achish worked toward his escape, yet David was inspired to write Psalm 34 and thank Jehovah for blessing his strategy and giving him deliverance from King Achish. In verses 12, 13 David says: “What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.” Thus Psalm 34 expresses no sense of sin and wrongdoing by David for having given King Achish the wrong impression in order to effect his escape. (1 Sam. 21:8 to 22:1, NW) Later David returned under different conditions and was assigned by King Achish to live at Ziklag. Again David used war strategy toward this enemy of David’s people Israel and concealed his true movements from him. So Achish did not molest David and his men.—1 Sam. 27:2 to 28:2; 29:3-11.

23 In time David became king over Israel at Jerusalem. When his son Absalom conspired against him to seize the throne, David’s most trusted counselor Ahithophel turned traitor against him and joined the conspiracy. While in flight from Jerusalem David learned of Ahithophel’s traitorousness. “At this David said: ‘Turn, please, the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness, O Jehovah!’” How did David act in harmony with this prayer? When Hushai the Archite wanted to join him in his flight, David sent him back to Jerusalem, saying: “If you return to the city and you actually say to Absalom, ‘I am your servant, O King. I used to prove myself the servant of your father, even I at that time, but now even I am your servant,’ then you will certainly frustrate the counsel of Ahithophel for me.” Was David teaching Hushai to lie? Hushai returned and professed to become the servant of Absalom. In a choice between Ahithophel’s counsel and Hushai’s Absalom and his men preferred Hushai’s. Frustrated, Ahithophel went home and strangled himself, Judaslike. Hushai’s counsel allowed for David to escape to safety and to prepare for the battle to regain his throne. Jehovah blessed Hushai’s strategy according to David’s own instructions and frustrated Ahithophel’s counsel in answer to David’s prayer.

24 When two men were detected bearing word from Hushai to David in the wilderness, a woman like Rahab proved at hand. The two men hid in the courtyard well of her husband. The woman spread a covering over the well top and heaped up cracked grain upon it. When Absalom’s servants came and asked about the two message bearers, “the woman said to them: ‘They passed on from here to the waters.’” After Absalom’s servants were off on a vain hunt, the two men came out of the well and made their way to David. All this war strategy baffled the enemy, but it worked toward David’s success in battle against Absalom and for his restoration to Israel’s throne.—2 Sam. 15:31-34; 16:16-19; 17:18-23, NW.

Insight on the Scriptures, Vol. 2 "LIES"

While malicious lying is definitely condemned in the Bible, this does not mean that a person is under obligation to divulge truthful information to people who are not entitled to it. Jesus Christ counseled: “Do not give what is holy to dogs, neither throw your pearls before swine, that they may never trample them under their feet and turn around and rip you open.” (Mt 7:6) That is why Jesus on certain occasions refrained from giving full information or direct answers to certain questions when doing so could have brought unnecessary harm. (Mt 15:1-6; 21:23-27; Joh 7:3-10) Evidently the course of Abraham, Isaac, Rahab, and Elisha in misdirecting or in withholding full facts from nonworshipers of Jehovah must be viewed in the same light.—Ge 12:10-19; chap 20; 26:1-10; Jos 2:1-6; Jas 2:25; 2Ki 6:11-23.

Jehovah God allows “an operation of error” to go to persons who prefer falsehood “that they may get to believing the lie” rather than the good news about Jesus Christ. (2Th 2:9-12) This principle is illustrated by what happened centuries earlier in the case of Israelite King Ahab. Lying prophets assured Ahab of success in war against Ramoth-gilead, while Jehovah’s prophet Micaiah foretold disaster. As revealed in vision to Micaiah, Jehovah allowed a spirit creature to become “a deceptive spirit” in the mouth of Ahab’s prophets. That is to say, this spirit creature exercised his power upon them so that they spoke, not truth, but what they themselves wanted to say and what Ahab wanted to hear from them. Though forewarned, Ahab preferred to be fooled by their lies and paid for it with his life.—1Ki 22:1-38; 2Ch 18.

Answer 2

I'm not a Christian, but I'll try to answer anyway. When telling a truth or a lie, one must consider not only the logical and moral implications, but the emotional ones as well. Telling a lady in church her hat is ugly is not going to make her happy, and I couldn't picture God in heaven looking down and smiling at you telling the truth to upset her. I also can't picture God being upset when children are excited that a big fat man wearing red is going to bring them the things they want, when in reality it's just their parents. I think if you want to know whether it is acceptable to lie, picture God in your mind and imagine the face he would make at the results of either telling the truth or a lie. Use your own moral compass!

Answer 3

It is never OK to lie..but it is not good to use honesty as an excuse to be mean..Like " Gee. those jeans make your bottom look like a hippo!" You can tell the lady at church. something like " I am sure glad you are here today!" As for Santa..MANY Christians do not teach their children about Santa. Who was St. Nicholas actually.
I think the most important part is Christians like all people are NOT perfect.. WE sin..we are all sinners.

Answer 4

You can choose not to disclose things, and that is reasonable in many cases. There is a kind of social lying built into behaviour to avoid hurting people's feelings - I expect virtually everyone does that.

Its a difficult issue as on occasion lying can be necessary: I think we'd nearly all approve of Oscar Schindler lying to Nazi officials so he could save more Jews from the gas chambers.

Answer 5

I will tell a lie to help someone feel better.
If a friend asks me if her new outfit makes her look fat, I will say no, whether it does or not.
I will tell a lie to keep peace among co-workers.

Do you lie even when it would really hurt someone? Would you tell me I looked like a freak when you knew how much it would hurt me?

Would you tell your daughter that you REALLY loved your other daughter better because she was smarter or prettier?
Would you?

Have you ever lied in your life? Have you been 100% honest since the day you were born? Have you ever called in sick when you weren't?

Are you a hypocrite?

Answer 6

When the lie will save someone from perishing or a worse fate. As far as kids go, we are teaching them, teaching goes in stages. Kids not believing in Santa Claus is just crazy. My opinion. Provided that they know who Jesus is too.
judge righteous judgment -John 7:24.

Answer 7

It is not ok to lie, and that is exactly why I did NOT teach my kid to believe in Santa or the Easter bunny...

Regarding the lady's hat, I would just remain silent.

We don't always have to comment on everything!

Answer 8

god is love and loving is part of god... therefore if you are lying a small white lie like honey you look nice even tho shes not that pretty but shes happy then i believe god isn't going to punish you for LOVING AND CARING!

i feel its not OK to lie when a life hangs in the balance (like lying you saw a man kill but you didn't you just wanted this man dead kinda thing) or you are covering for a person when you clearly know its wrong.

Answer 9

It's never acceptable to lie. The Santa Claus story is what it is, story for children. As is the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy....all of which I grew up with in a Christian home. As my imagination diminished, and I began to question how Santa actually got around the world in a night, my parents explained the real story behind St. Nick, but we always ahered to Jesus is the reason for the season, Santa just added to it. Childhood is imagination, once a child outgrows this, and question, now is the time to inform. I don't perceive enjoying childhood with characters embellished by society is lying.

Answer 10

A farmer is making his way across the valley near his fields after a hard day at work. He looks and sees that the downstairs of his home is on fire, and his children are playing upstairs. With his knowledge of his children, he has reason to believe that they will freak out if he yells "fire", and most likely not make it out of the burning building. He yells "I have toys", and his children run to him unharmed.

Answer 11

Surely those aren't the only examples you could think of. Christians lie about evolution, they lie about atheists and about Muslims, and about other sects of Christianity besides their own. They lie about global warming and abortion and about homosexuals and liberals. They lie about politicians and about medical practices and they tell whoppers about having experienced various miracles and about "talking with God". They tell people that they have a "personal relationship with God", and they claim that their words are coming from God.

Those are the biggies, but obviously I could go on. Now, not all Christians tell those lies, but most of them are considered quite mainstream in Christianity, and perfectly justified. Whatever strengths Christianity has, honesty isn't among them.

Christians will tell you that it's wrong to lie - but then turn right around and tell you that you should "tell others the Good News", and repeat the whole Jesus story.

You can't have it both ways, folks.