Posted on 08/18/2018 10:09:46 AM PDT by Salvation
The Bible and the Church never praise lying, even when there are good intentions behind the act Msgr. Charles Pope
Is lying always wrong?
Question: We are told not to lie, but the Bible says Rahab the prostitute lied to protect the Jewish spies. The Bible later praises her as being justified for doing this. Does Scripture praise lying, which is a sin? — Tamarah E. Jones, La Plata, Maryland
Answer: No. We should be careful to recall that the Bible records many things that are not praiseworthy. There are murders, rapes, theft, polygamy, adultery and the like. The mere reporting of these behaviors is not approval of them. In many cases, such behavior becomes an object lesson to illustrate what happens when such bad behavior ensues. In other cases, the sinful behavior simply goes unremarked. But silence is not the same as approval.
It is true that Rahab lied. Here is the account of it: “So the king of Jericho sent Rahab the order, ‘Bring out the men who have come to you and entered your house, for they have come to spy out the entire land.’ The woman had taken the two men and hidden them, so she said, ‘True, the men you speak of came to me, but I did not know where they came from. At dark, when it was time to close the gate, they left, and I do not know where they went’” (Jos 2:3-5).
The incident is simply recorded. And while the two Hebrew spies benefit from her lie and even promise her reward for her protection, there is no explicit praise in the text for the lie itself.
Later in the Scriptures there is praise of Rahab, but there is no mention of her lie, only her act of receiving the spies and sending them out by a protected way. Here are those texts: “By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish with the disobedient, for she had received the spies in peace” (Heb 11:31). “And in the same way was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by a different route?” (Jas 2:25).
Hence we should be careful not to say that the Scriptures affirm lying in this matter. There is a care in the sacred text to focus the praise on her overall benevolence, not the lie. St. Augustine affirms this stance: “That therefore which was rewarded in them was, not [her] deceit, but [her] benevolence; benignity of mind, not iniquity of lying” (“To Consentius, Against Lying,” 32).
Same here. I used to drink “wine coolers,” back in the mid-80s, and then, due to licensing laws in the South, they changed most of them to beer derivatives. I could smell it the minute I opened the bottle.
Answer: "No, dear."
Which is completely truthful......it's not the dress' fault she's fat.
As my lawyer once advised me,
“If you tell the truth, you’re going to jail.”
Best lawyer I ever had.
Thank you very much. God bless.
Hardly. Do you even know what the term "mortal sin" means?
Not lying doesn't mean you're obliged to tell anyone information that they don't have a right to know.
Not lying doesn't mean you have to be an evildoer's accomplice..
By which I mean "Baloney Sandwich."
Baloney sandwich plus pickle.
"On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog."
Tagline
The words often translated, “Thou shalt not kill,” are generally understood to mean, in the original Hebrew, “Do not commit murder,” and the distinctions between “killing” in general - including killing animals - homicide, and murder are broken out in the laws of every culture.
Bearing false witness “against” your neighbor implies an intent to do harm to the neighbor. Telling your neighbor a “fish story” is not going to harm him. We do have to watch in distinguishing between a “neighbor” and an “enemy,” because Jesus overturned the common understanding of those categories. However, if you consider that the Nazi officer is your “neighbor,” you are doing him good, not harm, by not giving him information that might lead to his harming an innocent person.
We often view “doing good” for a person as “letting him (or helping him) do what he wants,” but that is a very simplistic viewpoint. Your child wants to eat dog poop. Do you let him?
I know it’s true: I read it on Free Republic!
Kids want to eat candy all the time. Letting them would be no different than letting them eat dog poop if that’s what they want. We often confuse right and wrong for what feels good and what doesn’t. That’s the deception that allows evil to exist in goodly form. You just have to look a little below the surface. Very often wrong things feels good. Those are the paving stones along the broad road that leads to destruction.
Hardly. Do you even know what the term "mortal sin" means?
Yes I do....and it meets the definition as outlined by Roman Catholicism.
And I know the concept is a man-made contrivance of Roman Catholicism.....it is not a Scriptural concept.
Just this one discussion of lying shows just how often people sin.
I tell ya.....if I were Roman Catholic and not a Christian I wouldn't let the priest out of my sight I'd be so scared I'd done something wrong and have lost Heaven.
Fortunately, Christianity offers a better plan.
My point exactly. Looking at the bigger picture, as Jesus did, “Love your neighbor as yourself, and ‘your neighbor’ includes the person you least want to include,” we can reach a conclusion that it cannot be a moral obligation to help or to allow a person to do something that is wrong - because sinning hurts that person’s soul and is probably stupid, too - or pragmatically damaging.
We may not be able, realistically, to stop a person from doing something wrong or inadvisable, but we cannot have a moral obligation to facilitate his actions.
Yeeeeaaaahhhhh.....riiiiiiight.
You really think you're fooling anyone with that??
I hope you're heading to your priest tonight for confession.
Well put.
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