And the serpent was cunning above every animal of the field which Yahweh Elohim had made. And he said to the woman, Is it true that Elohim has said, You shall not eat from any tree of the garden?
 And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden,
 but of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, Elohim has said, You shall not eat of it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.
 And the serpent said to the woman, Dying you shall not die,
 for Elohim knows that in the day you eat of it, even your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as Elohim, knowing good and evil. Genesis 3:1-5

You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn't stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it. John 8:44

Why is it, that people can tell falsehoods so effortlessly?  Whatever happened to honesty?  Has the world lost all desire for absolute truth?  So many Chr--tians profess to "knowing Him", do they really? 

 And by this we know that we have known Him, if we keep His commands.
 The one saying, I have known Him, and not keeping His commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that one.  1 John 2:3-4

If they truly knew Him they would never tell a lie! 

 Do not lie to one another, having put off the old man with his practices... Colossians 3:9

Just what is a lie?  Can "little white lies" be told?  Is it ok to tell harmless lies as long as no one is hurt?

Lie
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


A lie is a statement made by someone who believes or suspects it to be false, in the expectation that the hearers may believe it. Thus a true statement may be a lie if the speaker thinks it is false. Fictions, though false, are not necessarily lies. Inasmuch as lying involves pretended truth, the truth pretended is an imaginary antecedent. Depending on definitions, a lie can be a genuine falsehood or a selective truth, a lie by omission, or even the truth if the intention is to deceive or to cause an action not in the listener's interests. To lie is to tell a lie. A person who tells a lie, and especially a person who habitually tells lies, is a liar. To lie involves intentional deception.

Intentional lying... Meaning anyone who knows what they are about to say or is already saying is a lie, can be construed as being a liar.  This is premeditated lying!  In a court of law, AKA Perjury.

Morality of Lying

[Ibid]
Lying is against the moral standards of many people and is specifically prohibited as a sin in many religions. Ethical traditions and philosophers are divided over whether a lie is ever allowable but are generally opposed—Plato said yes, whereas Aristotle, Saint Augustine and Kant said no.

In many countries affected by World War II, it is understood that lying to protect people from an immoral oppressor is generally permissible.

Lying in a way that escalates rather than de-escalates a conflict is usually considered the worst sin.

A liar is a person who is known to have a tendency to tell lies. People's tolerance for liars is generally very small, and it is often only necessary to be caught lying once to be labeled as a liar and not trusted again. This is of course moderated by the importance of the matter being lied about.

 The righteous hates lying, but the wicked is odious and acts shamefully.  Proverbs 13:5  [Emphasis Mine]

Jocular lying, more commonly known as kidding around, deceit for the purpose of humor, when the falsehood is generally understood, is often regarded as not immoral and is widely practiced by humorists and comedians.

 On whom are you making sport? On whom do you make a wide mouth and draw out the tongue? Are you not children of transgression, a lying seed, Isaiah 57:4  [Emphasis Mine]

The philosopher Leo Strauss stressed the necessity of lying in order to conceal a strategic position, or to aid diplomacy. So did earlier figures in political philosophy from Niccolò Machiavelli to Plato's "noble lie".

It seems extremely unlikely that lies will ever be entirely eliminated from politics, law or diplomacy, just as they cannot be removed from the warfare that these activities are, ultimately, supposed to help pre-empt.  [Ibid]

Lies, or so it seems, will always be with the earth's inhabitants until the father of lies is removed! 

The following are some lies being told on a daily basis.  Perhaps you have heard some of them before? 

Quite a list?  There are literally hundreds of prevarications being told on a daily basis. From Politicians to Ministers, lies flow effortlessly from their lips!  Should Politicians always tell the truth?  What about Ministers who preach from the Bible?  Should they always be truthful?  Yes on both accords!  Truth should always be on the lips of all people. 

What about saving people from panic situations?  Should the public be informed about food shortages?  Water shortages?  Total destruction from a star crashing into planet earth?  Can the general public handle the bad news along with the good? 

The general public has been deceived for so long, the lines between truth and lies has become obfuscated.  Afraid of creating panic on a large scale, government leadership is less than willing to be truthful.  What if they find out the real truth behind these problems?  What will they do when they find out all of their money is gone?  What will they do when they find out the situation is far worse than anyone ever thought it would be?   What about their retirement money?  What will they do when they find out there is nothing left for them to retire on?  And?  This is a real world situation!

Lying in America - Fundamental to the Human Condition
By Don Price

What has happened? Have we succumbed to habitual self deceit and deceit with others out of self preservation, fear, lack of confidence or ego? And if so, what damage do we incur in our personal life and business?

Are we truly living in a world that evolves around deceit? It would appear the answer is a resounding yes. Without question it would be extremely difficult to find anyone who has not lied, to themselves or others, almost every day of their life.
 

Political Lies:

Did President Bush deceive the world and the American people with his reasons for invading Iraq? How about John Kerry who also supported the invasion of Iraq – was he lying to the American public too? It appears that they both mistakenly believe that they were telling the truth base on the anecdotal evidence provided them.

In contrast: After the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke President Clinton was ardent in his lying - saying that he never had sex with that women.

Did the epidemic of political prevarications begin with Bill Clinton?  It would appear that he had something to do with it!  He made oral sex fashionable by insinuating that oral sex was not really sex at all?  He seemingly got away with lying under oath, (perjury) while trying to save his own hide from being impeached for improper conduct.  So!  Others see this evil example, and believe they too can get away with lying!  The trend is set for lying under any condition, and for practicing oral sex, and excusing this aberrant behavior as acceptable and normal!

Etiquette of Lying

(From Wikipedia)

Etiquette is largely concerned with questions of lying, blaming and hypocrisy - things often decried in ethics but of great utility in society:

The moral reasons to tolerate lies have mostly to do with avoiding conflict. An ethical code will often specify when the truth is required, and when not. In courtrooms, for instance, the adversarial process and standard of evidence that applies restricts questions so that the need for a witness to lie is reduced - thus the truth on the matter at hand is supposed to be more easily revealed.

The need to sometimes lie is recognized in the term white lie or officious lie, where the lie is harmless, and there are circumstances where there is an expectation to be less than totally honest through necessity or pragmatism. Lies can be divided into classes - injurious or malicious, officious, and jocose, of which only the first class is serious (Catholicism classes the first as a mortal sin but also condemns the others as venial).

There are some types of lie that are considered acceptable, desirable, or even mandatory, due to social convention. Types of conventional lie include:

1. Excuses to avoid or terminate an undesired social encounter;
2. Assurance that a social encounter is desired or has been pleasurable;
3. Telling a dying person whatever they want to hear;
4. Concealment of a breach of taboo.

Most people engage in such conventional lying, and do not apply the usual moral disapproval of lying to such situations. Conventional lies are viewed as a lesser category of lie, similar to white lies. However, a minority of people view them as malicious lies.
 

Are we of that particular minority?  Those who will not tell lies? 

Lies During Childhood

Lying begins at an early age. Young children learn from experience that stating an untruth can avoid punishment for misdeeds, before they develop the theory of mind necessary to understand why it works. In this stage of development, children will sometimes tell fantastic and unbelievable lies, resembling the lie of Koko the Gorilla discussed above, because they lack the conceptual framework to judge whether a statement is believable or even to understand the concept of believability.

When children first learn how lying works, naturally they lack the moral understanding to refrain from doing it. It takes years of watching people lie and the results of lies to develop a proper understanding. Propensity to lie varies greatly between children, some doing so habitually and others being habitually honest. Habits in this regard are likely to change into early adulthood.

Some view children as on the whole more prone to lie than adults. Others argue that the amount of lying stays the same, but adults lie about different things. Certainly adult lying tends to be more sophisticated. A lot of this judgment depends on whether one counts tactful untruths, social insincerity, political rhetoric, and other standard adult behaviors as lying. [Ibid]

Lying is a learned behavior that begins in childhood by early observation.  A child watches their parents or other siblings to learn.  What they are taught will also be reflected in their children.  If they are taught to lie, their children will also be taught the same improper conduct.  This vicious lying cycle continues unabated if not corrected by truthful behavior.  When the parents teach their children to never tell a lie under any conditions, the same honest behavior pattern will continue into the next generation.
 

O Yahweh, my strength and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the nations shall come to You from the ends of the earth and say, Our fathers have inherited only lies, vanity, and there is no profit in them.  Jeremiah 16:19

As our forefathers were taught lies concerning Biblical doctrines, so have their descendants continued in the same.  The fathers and mothers continue to pass along these falsehoods from generation to generation.  Separating truth from error requires much study and understanding.

 But the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, cleaving to deceiving spirits and teachings of demons,
 in lying speakers in hypocrisy, being seared in their own conscience...  1 Timothy 4:1-2

Liars develop their skills so they can be perceived as truthful relevant individuals.  One evil liar honed this skill and brought prevarication to new level.  He made lying into an Art form.  The scripture plainly states that evil men will wax/become worse and worse.  They go on their pernicious ways until they are caught and placed on trial for their inhumanities toward their fellow man.  Such is the case with despot dictators.  They rule with evil desires and evil actions, and when they are caught, they want humane treatment from their captors.  Really? Or?  They take their own lives to avoid the humiliation and embarrassment of being found out!  The following depicts such a one!

Big Lie
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The phrase Big Lie refers to a propaganda technique which originated with Adolf Hitler's 1925 autobiography Mein Kampf. In that book Hitler wrote that people came to believe that Germany lost World War I in the field due to a propaganda technique used by Jews who were influential in the German press. This technique, he believed, consisted of telling a lie so "colossal" that no one would believe anyone "could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously". The first documented use of the phrase "big lie" is in the corresponding passage: "in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility".

Later, Joseph Goebbels put forth a slightly different theory which has come to be more commonly associated with the phrase big lie. In this theory, the English are attributed with using a propaganda technique where in they had the mendacity to "lie big" and "stick to it".

There is an uncited rumor to the effect that Goebbels also offered up his version of the big lie technique without attributing it to either Jewish or Allied propaganda. That uncited quote is the most wide-spread attribution of the big lie and it is usually given in a context where the implication is that the propaganda technique was invented by Goebbels, who was the propaganda minister for the Third Reich.

The phrase was also used (on page 51) in a report prepared during the war by the Unites States Office of Strategic Services in describing Hitler's psychological profile

His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it. - OSS report page 51

Mein Kampf extract
Hitler wrote in his 1925 autobiography Mein Kampf (James Murphy translation, page 134):

All this was inspired by the principle - which is quite true in itself - that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying. These people know only too well how to use falsehood for the basest purposes. ...

See Propaganda article this website.

The Art/Skill of lying was developed by many evil despots over time.  These all have something in common.  The same father, Satan.

 Even he, whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
 and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
 And for this cause Yahweh sends them a working of error, that they should believe a lie:  2 Thessalonians 2:9-11

If you wonder why lies are so effective, you have but to read the preceding passage again!  As Almighty Yahweh sends the working of error, the effects of this is believing in something other than truth.  Many will not accept the evil liars, but will only follow truth.

 The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth; and not I only, but also all they that know the truth;
 for the truth's sake which abides in us, and it shall be with us for ever  2 John 1:1-2

 I have not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth.   1 John 2:21

Yours in Yahshua, Hawk

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