[Seisyvose]

Why do so-called Christians Lie?
Please refer to Genesis 18:15. It reads something like this: But Sarah denied, saying, I did not laugh; for she was afraid. He said, No, but you did laugh.

Sarah lied to the Lord. Children and the immature lie to avoid an anticipated penalty, perhaps a spanking or going without a meal. But adult believers also lie in matters of no apparent consequence - where there seeming will be no penalty.

What is at work here? Is it their pride, that they are imperfect? Do they anticipate another penalty for being imperfect? Something seems to be operating, behind the scene, in the mind of the liar. What psychological elements could be operating here?

I can`t recall that the Scriptures address this a a specifc way. They seem to cover it in general ways only, say perhaps, under the name of sin or the fallen nature of man.

Thanks for your attention,
Norm Turner, Toronto

[GaxyGroordrep]

What, exactly, do you consider a lie? Really? If we bear false witness against our neighbor, we sin, one of the ten biggies. Consequences were rather dire for Ananias and Sapphira when they lied about the money they made from selling land (Acts 5). If we tell someone they look pretty when we think they don't, is that the same thing? Some might say yes, I have to disagree. If I tell a falsehood to save a person's life, that may not be the "truth" but it is a lie? If a person pretends to be someone else and is executed in their place, is this a lie? We call such people saints.

So, looking at the facts in the matter, the why seems at least, as important, if not more important than the what. Why is this person not telling the truth? Fear, to protect themselves? Or out of love, to protect others? The "why" seems to matter, based on what I have seen and read, but I admit to be a bear of little brain.

Herman the Pooh and that's the truth!

[Vmysobfi]

In confession when someone says that they have lied, I generally ask what caused them to lie? Did they lie to get out of trouble, to get someone else into trouble, to avoid work, just for the fun of it. Usually that covers the field but occasionally I'll get other reasons as well. When we follow the evil one, we lie, for he is a liar and the father of lies - but when we follow Christ we tell the truth for He is Truth.

Lieing is a sin - its as simple as that. Why do we sin - because we are weak and inclined to sin. When we sin what do we do - we confess our sins and repent (that is turn away from the former behavior and strive to leave it behind). What if we sin again? then we go back to confessing and repenting.

Fr David Moser

[ñàéäèíã]

Father, your blessing:

To borrow a hypothetical introduced in response to Emmanuel Kant's contention that truth-telling was a categorical imperative of morality, admitting of no exceptions-- if someone were to show up at my door with an ax and ask if a member of my family was home, I have a hard time accepting the proposition that I should say "yes," even if they were. I think very highly of those who misled the Nazis as to the locations of Jews during the Holocaust. Would not the greater sin be to tell the "truth" in such cases?

Looking to Scriptural examples, let's consider Judith, who delivered her people by means of a string of lies (and two well-placed sword strikes). From the sacred text, it certainly doesn't appear that God disapproved of anything that she did. Of course, her behavior is in many ways "exceptional," but I am interested here in the exceptional case-- I think we all acknowledge that lying for the usual selfish reasons is sinful.

St. Ambrose, on the wily matron:

Judith presents herself to thee as worthy of admiration. She approaches Holophernes, a man feared by the people, and surrounded by the victorious troops of the Assyrians. At first she makes an impression on him by the grace of her form and the beauty of her countenance. Then she entraps him by the refinement of her speech. Her first triumph was that she returned from the tent of the enemy with her purity unspotted. Her second, that she gained a victory over a man, and put to flight the people by her counsel.

From "De Officiis," Book II, Chapter XIII.

In Christ,
Evan

[Buyemae]

In my experience also I have found that those who habitually lie also have no qualms in petty stealing. I think lying and stealing are linked in some way. That is only my personal opinion. As with most sins it belies the fact that the said person's moral compass is off.

[nithhysfusy]

Why do people close their eyes when they sneeze?

[9enackivegliva]

Why do people close their eyes when they sneeze?

Why do people pick their nose?
Why do people lie?

Because they think they can get away with it. Sometimes its fun. Some people just can't help themselves. Everybody leads double lives (to some extent). We are a sinful creature. Look at St. Paul's do do verse. I can't find it quickly, but basically, I do what I don't want to do and I don't do what I should do.

Paul

[MYMcvBgl]

A quote I ran across yesterday while reading Steps of Transformation by Fr Meletios Webber that seems to address the original question:

"...it has always been easier (to tell a lie rather than the truth). To tell a lie is to create one's own reality .... To tell the truth means accepting the real reality (that is the one created by God - Fr David)" Fr David Moser

[Binuilienzync]

All addicts are expert liars. It is difficult to live rigourously honestly all the time. Telling a lie (even a little white one) after not for so long actually gives the feeling of relief to the compulsive liar. Its hard work to tell the truth. Sometimes the compulsive liar needs a, break.

Great book BTW

Paul

[SHUSIATULSE]

I reckon that lie is crime against truth.
One can speak about not real things but it is not lie.
On the other hand one can speak truth that destroys goodness.
Lie depends on your heart and deals but does not what you tell about.

There was a hospital room for infirmity. One day a man was went in just nearby the door. He couldn't move and he saw only a gray wall in front. It was a very sad and real man because he knew it was his last place, perhaps. There was another man which was lying nearby the window. He spoke about unhappy neighbors what were going out the hospital room. “Looks”, spoke fanny patient, “a boy go for walk with a pat at the edge of a brook. It is not very big brook but there is a lot of fish in it”. A sad man desired badly to look into the window but nobody could help him. The fanny patient was attacked by an acute fit of disease at night. A sad man was not sleeping that night. But he did not call a nurse for help. Next day a sad man asked to put him nearby the window because a place had been freed. He looked outside through the window. There was only a gray brick wall in front.
May one ask who was a liar?

In Christ,
Igor V., Russia

[tpJKhY8Z]

Adam and Eve both lied to God, but it was after they had both been disobedient and eaten of the fruit of the knowledge of Good and Evil. i.e. they both thought it was OK to be gods themselves, that they knew better, and this thought was planted in their minds by Satan. So the lies were the result of a corruption that had already occurred in their nature. The Bible says that all men are liars. We fundamentally lie about who and what we are. We deny the obvious, that we are created by God. We insist that we are in control of who and what we are, and that we are in control of our own destinies. That, I think, is the underlying problem: control. The idea of a human controller is a lie. Satan dupes us into thinking that we either are are should be and will soon be in control. This leads to a tapestry of lies.

[Hujkmlopes]

Certainly, lie is a sin against God. But there are a number of other sins which are started from pride. There are not men all over the world that were living without sins. You could control lie or not it does not matter. Christianity declares war on our sins. It learns to put energy in the future instead of rabbiting about closed paradise and lost impeccability. Christian Faith is the ideal weapon for that.

In Christ,
Igor V.

[Gastonleruanich]

Why do "so-called" anybodies do anything? Even St. Paul opined: For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. (Romans 7:19)

Could you possibly re-state the question?

Herman the so-called Pooh

[mxzjxluwst]

St Irenaeus says that the reason man first lied is because he was lied to, by the serpent. In his immaturity, man accepted that lie, and it fostered his own. Since then, such sin has spread out over the earth (another image used by the saint), and in our day the situation is much as people have described above.