Last week Sara challenged us to look into the Scriptures concerning lying and repercussions that are involved. Amazingly, I learned quite a few “new” things to meditate on and consider in my own life.
I could list the myriad of Scripture references here but that is easily done by Googleing or using a good concordance. But one that I will reference is that God hates lying. (Prov. 6:16).
I also studied what other noted Bible teachers preached about LYING and their interpretation of the Scriptures. The following observations are what I gleaned from the Scriptures and Bible teachers about LYING.
The definition of Lying is: a false statement deliberately presented as being true in order to deceive
or gain the advantage over another. To deceive or give an impression other than what is true or other than what the condition of a situation or a thing really is, or to mislead deliberately for selfish reasons, or to lead another into danger or a disadvantaged position or otherwise concealing the truth.
I learned that there one of the Catholic teachings list three categories: INJURIOUS: causing harm or injury. OFFICIOUS: little white lies to benefit self. JOCOSE: lies told for humor’s sake
Exclusive:
This was an interesting concept: Not everyone who speaks a false thing is a liar IF:
It is their honest opinion or belief…even if wrong…as they ignorantly or otherwise truly believe it to be true in their hearts. Though they are in error they have NOT deliberately lied to lead astray of deceive. They are sorely misinformed.
(Though God has overlooked those times of ignorance, He now commands everyone everywhere to repent,) ACTS 17:30
NOT KEEPING OUR WORD
If we pledge to do something but have no real intention of doing it, or knowing that there is no way to fulfill what we have said what we would do….then we LIE!
EXCLUSIVES:
If we utter a promise rashly or in a moment of zeal without putting thought to it and realize later that there is no way that we can to that, it is not a deliberate lie on our part but a foolish gesture.
The Lord says it is better not to vow at all than to rashly promise and not do it.
If some crisis arises in our lives and we are physically unable to keep our word
The intention of the heart is the plumb line that rules in the gray areas concerning lies.
A quote from SPECTACLE .ORG was very enlightening:
“When you lie to someone you know YOUR position but you give false data to the other person(s) and that obscures their position.
Before we declare a person a liar we need to make sure and judge by the Spirit that we can prove malice or intent to deceive. If not we will become deceived by suspicion and become liars, ourselves.
thedailylily.com 
Not sure that malice or intent to deceive have to be operational for someone to be declared a liar. Maybe pathological liars are not even aware they are deceiving…it has just become a way of life.
Also, I was reading in I John about lying and it said in I John 2:4 that you are a liar if you don’t keep God’s commandments. That doesn’t sound like you have to be malicious or deceptive (??)…just plain disobedient to what God says to do.
“He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”
Debi summed it all up with this scripture. I just reread it from the message…
1 John 2:4-6 (The Message) If someone claims, “I know him well!” but doesn’t keep his commandments, he’s obviously a liar. His life doesn’t match his words. But the one who keeps God’s word is the person in whom we see God’s mature love. This is the only way to be sure we’re in God. Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived.
Revelation 21:8 has a message for all liars….
Greg Laurie, a Bible teacher writes, “In order to bear false witness, that is to lie, it must be established that you know or understand what the truth is but you deliberately and/or maliciously HOLD IT FROM VIEW for self-serving purposes.”
A white Lie is lying to save face in a certain situation. It is still a lie. For example, we say, “I forgot” when we really didn’t but just didn’t get to it. That is a lie. We say, “I love your outfit” when we really have reservations about what we really think of it. That is a lie. We say, “I will pray for you (it)”, when you know you have just said that off the top of your head and not given it another thought. That is a lie. To tell the children or a family member to say to an unwanted phone call or visitor…”tell them I am not here”. That is a lie.
Gossiping about people behind their backs and sharing private information about others, either publicly or without their permission on the pretext of requesting prayer or praying for them; OR…sharing with just one other person in the pretext that it will go no further OR reporting half-facts and passing them off as creditable information….these are all forms of LYING.
Another tool of lying is FLATTERY. We compliment a person to gain an advantage whether the compliment is true or not. It is the intention of the heart to take advantage or gain advantage of that person. Or to look good in the eyes of the person we are complimenting. Some make ritual of complimenting certain people of leadership in their lives, almost inadvertently,
thus establishing trust in their opinion…when it is actually a deceptive practice for self-serving reasons.
___to be contd.
The above lie examples, MG, seem to me to be signs or manifestations of a deeper problem. Even if we ‘clean’ these up the root may still be there and the weed will grow again and maybe look a little different. I was reading in Romans 1:25 about lying and it said when we serve what God created (ourselves, other things, other priorities, etc.) rather than God himself we just made an exchange…we decide we want a lie rather than the truth. (that makes sense to me because Jesus said He was the Truth). When we do this according to Romans 1:18 we actually suppress the truth. Eventually this leads to a debased mind (vs 28).
And reading the verse that Sara posted above , that we…”ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived” is in stark contrast to where suppressing the truth leads us (and there are lots of examples in Romans vs 29-31). Lying is a big serious thing.
This subject is a mountain that divides families, friends and nations….Might be easier to climb Mt. Everest than to deal with lies. Just this am in the news I read about Arnold Schwarzenegger fathering a child with his housekeeper ten years ago. Stories like this goes on and on. In the news and out of the news. I guess we could say if the family(ies) are Christians than the whole Body of Christ is affected..Families in our prayer groups, churches, friends and our own families seemly leaves us blank at times with their action. Or out actions as a burden to the Body of Christ.
All I can say and think right now is lies are larger than Mt. Everest…
Well, yes, Debi…..the deeper problem is the the LIE itself. Satan is a liar and the father of lies so you can’t get any deeper than that. Any deliberate, intentional suppression of the truth is a lie, no matter what reasoning behind it. And usually the reasoning behind it is SELFISH. Even if one says they did not want to hurt or upset someone. That usually means the one who lies either didn’t want to deal or handle the upset one, or didn’t know how to handle the truth so they lie. Sophocles wrote…” A lie never lives to be old”. I take that to mean it renews and embellishes itself as it moves from one “teller” to the next. It eventually becomes that “MOUNTAIN” that Sara writes of above….bigger than Mt. Everest.
Wonder if truth is like taking one step at a time, one day at a time? One truth at a time?
I do believe, Sara, that you are on to something…. that anyone who wants to be freed from the burden of the sin of telling little lies for convenience sake, or big lies for convenience sake (their own, not another’s) must begin to face the pattern in their lives and call themselves on it. And start, as you remarked, one day at a time, marking the white lies, the exaggerations, the innuendos, the gossip, the misinformation…just for that day, and to regard the truth of each of those situations and to speak that….just for that day. Then the next day…etc. To check up on “self” and determine in one’s heart that this will be the first day of self-control over mouth, tongue, lips and attitude of heart. One day at a time…to tell the truth while it is TODAY!
I agree MG. Today is the day to begin the walk of truth….
In the 5″L’s” posted in another section of thedailylily.org, the 5th “L” is “LIVE IT “as in…… “live it out.” John says, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. ” I believe that beginning to walk in the truth, every day, one day at a time, is one approach to LIVING THE WORD.(3Jn. 1:4)
I agree…truthfulness sure goes beyond just our words that come from our mouths.
“Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.” I John 3:18 NLT
Q. Who can stand in God’s Holy Place?
A. Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never tell lies. Psalm 24:4 NLT
Is a lie worth being out of touch with God?
In a testimony I heard today the person said that he had lived in denial of what he was doing. In other words he had lied to himself…I suppose to excuse his actions and deeds. He said if he denied the truth to himself, then it didn’t count, or words to that effect.
Denial of something obvious to God and man with intent to excuse is LYING.. And Silence, not speaking up for the truth….. when we keep silence…when we should be exposing the truth is lying. If we hear a claim that we know is UNTRUE then we need to speak up and set the record straight..SLANDER BY SILENCE (Greg Laurie)
I came across a quote by Thomas Jefferson in a date planner I use that seems relevant to this blog: “Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.”
I would take Jefferson’s quote to mean no truth no wisdom!
That’s how I interpreted it also.
Yes and I believe that Truth is indicative of godly wisdom rather than worldly wisdom.
‘For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say, “He traps the wise in the snare of their own cleverness.” (1Corinthians 3:19)
Sara,
Just to quote Revelation 21:8, that you referred to: “But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars..their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
Needles, second death is HELL! Right? Look at those words, they look like daily devotions for some of us. Practice disobedience is like unto witchcraft! I Samuel 15:23, says,” … rebellion [is as] the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness [is as] iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from [being] king.” Idol worshipers, just might be an addiction to someone or something. Addiction: “a slavish addiction to fashion: devotion to, dedication to, obsession with, infatuation with, passion for, love of, mania for, enslavement to.”
And, we are talking in this particular blog about “all liars”. It seems to be if we have an addiction we most likely are liars. It takes work of the tongue and constant mind twisting to enjoy the addiction and find the next fix and cover our tracts. “…O wretched one that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” Romans 7:24 This is far out!
Oh, well, should we dare take these verses literally?