Lying about lying

We not only lie, we even manage to "lie" about lying.

In Churchill's phrase, lies become terminological inexactitudes.

As Alan Clark put it, lying becomes being "economical with the actualité".

Lies

Mistakes, jokes, fictional stories, parables, hyperbole, social conventions, and conjouring tricks are not lies. Deception is often part of sports or games and that’s fine. It’s not a sin to throw a dummy pass in rugby! Special effects in films or dramatic illusions in literature are fine even though you might say they intend to deceive.

In Luke 24:28 Jesus acted as if he were going further even though he knew the disciples would ask him to stay and he would. Jesus’ misdirection was a blessing that stirred up holy desire.

Euphemisms, exaggerations, half-truths, spin, stretched excuses, baseless flattery, posing, phoniness, telling looks and misleading silences can be effectively lies.

Some favourite lies include:

Little white lies
Lying about our age
“I was sick”
“I’m not here” – when the phone goes
“I’ve already done it”
“I have it right here”
“It’s in the post”
“I’ll call you”
“I was just about to call you”
“I’ve been meaning to call you”
“It would be great to see you. You must come round sometime. We must do lunch”
“It’ll only take 2 minutes”
“Congratulations! You’ve won a prize in our £1 million draw!”
“I’m fine, yeah, great. How are you?”

We can bear false witness by our actions as well as by our words.

"Does my bum look big in this?"

"Does my bum look big in this?"

How should one answer?

I think it depends what the person is really asking.

They are unlikely to what a precise analysis of the proportions of their posterior, although I suppose just perhaps they might want some friendly fashion advice.

If what they want is a bit of appreciation and encouragement, then I don’t think it’s a wicked sin to affirm that they look lovely, even if their bum is big, and it's not your duty to tell them that last bit!

Godly deceit

Prof John Frame gives 16 examples of Bible passages in which someone decieves an enemy without incurring any condemnation, and sometimes even being commended:

Ex 1:15-21
Joshua 2:4-6; 6:17, 25; Heb 11:31; James 2:25
Joshua 8:3-8
Judges 4:18-21; 5:24-27
1 Samuel 16:1-5
1 Samuel 19:12-17
1 Samuel 20:6
1 Samuel 21:13
1 Samuel 27:10
2 Samuel 5:22-25
2 Samuel 15:34
2 Samuel 17:19-20
1 Kings 22:19-23
2 Kings 6:14-20
Jeremiah 38:24-28
2 Thess 2:11

The Doctrine of the Christian Life (P&R) p836

Frame adds: “It does appear that the Bible passages listed above, which justify deception in certain cases, all have to do with the promotion of justice against the wicked, especially when they seek innocent life.” (p839)