:
"There are six things which the Lord hates,
Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him:
17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
And hands that shed innocent blood,
18 A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that run rapidly to evil,
19 A false witness who utters lies,
And one who spreads strife among brothers."
I hate lies. I am not in favor of cruel bluntness which completely disregards people's feelings, but I believe we should always tell the truth in love. This is not to say we need to tell everyone everything which goes through our minds, i.e. there is a difference between exercising wisdom in knowing when to speak and when to keep silent and just outright lying to people. For instance, if I think you look horrible in pink, I am not lying to you if I don't tell you what is going through my mind. Nevertheless, withholding the truth from those with whom we should share certain things is the same as lying. Yet, a person may feel that as long as he or she is not questioned directly as to certain activities that he or she is not responsible to volunteer the information.
For example, if a man or a woman cheats on his or her spouse, withholding that information is the same as a lie, especially if he or she then proclaims to his or her spouse how much he or she loves them, i.e. they are living a lie. Viewing pornography is committing adultery, so if a person views pornography and keeps this from his or her spouse, not only is he or she guilty of adultery, but he or she is also guilty of lying, i.e. of withholding information that is critical to their marriage relationship, i.e. a confession of sin of adultery so that the marriage relationship can be restored and healing begun, and steps taken to rectify the situation so that it does not repeat itself, or in the hopes that it would not keep repeating itself.
The same may apply if a spouse is getting too chummy with someone with whom he or she works, and the spouse ends up getting emotionally close to another other than his or her spouse to where the spouse shares more intimate thoughts and feelings with someone he or she is not married to while withholding affection and/or withholding the sharing of heart and emotion with his or her spouse. This is emotional adultery. Or, it could be that the spouse reconnected with an old classmate via social media, and has kept this relationship a secret from his or her spouse. Hiding things from our spouses, keeping things from them because we don't want them to know what we are doing is lying. When we marry, we become one flesh. We should not have secrets or hidden things which we keep from each other that we would not want our spouse to know about.
Yet, lies are so commonplace today, even within the church and among those who call themselves believers in Jesus Christ. So many, many Christians watch so much TV and movies which glorify sin - lying, stealing, cheating, adultery, fornication, etc. What we take into our minds influences how we think, what we value and how we behave. Many who call themselves Christians lie as a normal part of every day life as though it is an acceptable practice to engage in. They lie and they cheat and don't even feel a nudge of conscience in many cases. It has become so acceptable. But, God hates lies. Satan is the father of lies. One of his biggest weapons against us is his lies to us in order to attempt to deceive us and to try to trick us into doubting God and into disobeying our Lord and in order to try to convince us it is ok to cheat on and lie to our spouses. And, this is the downfall of many marriages.
To me, lies hurt so much more than the truth.
