Lying, yay or nay? You Tell me!! - November 19, 2008

Just some thoughts. 

Today in my Interpersonal Speech class we discussed the topic of lying and when it is acceptable. And maybe this note is pointless and this is somewhat of a dumb topic, seeing as we SHOULD know the answer. I know it is hard to not lie sometimes, but is it EVER acceptable? Even to save, or not save, somebody’s life? This is a question that is asked and as our assignment we are to come up with an answer. Obviously, or at least to me, it is something that is NEVER acceptable, although I catch myself a lot of times as soon as I respond with a lie such as “I’m doing good” or “Everything is great”. Most of the time, those of you who know me well can see right through me, causing me to fess up almost immediately.

BUT is it acceptable? As one of the students in class commented on “Is lying worse than stealing” lying is stealing. You are stealing the truth from another person when you lie.

SO being me, I did some searching for verses in the Bible that talked about lying or bearing false witness and googled “lying in the Bible”. The first link came up with a little over 100 verses/passages listed in the Bible that discuss the sin of lying. Now obviously, I haven’t had time to read them all. I looked through few in Job, Psalms and Proverbs. Just one that I would like to share is Psalm 52.



Psalm 52

1 Why do you boast of evil, you mighty man?
Why do you boast all day long,
you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God?

2 Your tongue plots destruction;
it is like a sharpened razor,
you who practice deceit.

3 You love evil rather than good,
falsehood rather than speaking the truth.
Selah

4 You love every harmful word,
O you deceitful tongue!

5 Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin:
He will snatch you up and tear you from your tent;
he will uproot you from the land of the living.
Selah

6 The righteous will see and fear;
they will laugh at him, saying,

7 "Here now is the man
who did not make God his stronghold
but trusted in his great wealth
and grew strong by destroying others!"

8 But I am like an olive tree
flourishing in the house of God;
I trust in God's unfailing love
for ever and ever.

9 I will praise you forever for what you have done;
in your name I will hope, for your name is good.
I will praise you in the presence of your saints.


What stuck out to me is verse 2: our tongues are like sharpened razors? This also made me think of James 3:1-12 where it says our tongues are the spark to start a fire; it is restless evil full of deadly poison. Ouch. If anybody wants the references I found online, all of the verses and such let me know and I will email them to you. As for now, how do you answer the question “When is lying acceptable?” Shouldn’t the question be “Is lying EVER acceptable?” According the Bible, no. So why do we do it? I know if I lie the guilt kills me and I eventually end up coming clean, whether it is a small lie like “I’m doing well” or a big lie like _________ (you fill in the blank). How come lying is so easy for some people?

Sorry for so many notes in so few days and how long the notes generally are, but I want feedback. Should we even be ASKING questions like this? Isn’t it somewhat apparent that lying is bad? The curve ball was “would you lie to save somebody’s life OR to NOT save somebody’s life?” Tough questions I hate to answer because in the spur of the moment, most of us probably would lie if it involved somebody’s life. I know I probably would.

Final question: Is sarcasm a lie? If so/not how come? Does it depend on the circumstances? (I’m kind of scared to hear the answer to this, seeing as I’m possibly one of the most sarcastic people I know)

Let me know what you think. Sorry if it seems like I’m ranting. I don’t mean for it to come off as that. I hope you are having a great week thus far friends!!!!

Love you all!!!!

(Is saying “I love you” out of habit a bad thing? Sorry I’ll stop now, I really DO love you all though =P)

Psalm 63:11 “But the king will rejoice in God; all who swear by God's name will praise him, while the mouths of liars will be silenced.”