When is it ok to tell the truth?

[kurdtnirvana_94]

Telling the truth depends on certain circumstances. What situations would be good and which ones wouldn't?

[emi2975]

Its good to tell the truth in all circumstances, even if its hard.

[kurdtnirvana_94]

I'll get started off. If your best friend is being cheated on then I think you have a right as a friend to tell them. Thats just being a good friend. But what if your little brother or sister comes up to you with a drawing they did and it's really horrible. I would tell them that they did a good job and maybe give them a couple suggestions. I wouldn't say "oh thats crap try better next time."

[SaintJoe69]

I'll get started off. If your best friend is being cheated on then I think you have a right as a friend to tell them. Thats just being a good friend. But what if your little brother or sister comes up to you with a drawing they did and it's really horrible. I would tell them that they did a good job and maybe give them a couple suggestions. I wouldn't say "oh thats crap try better next time."
You are referring to relative truth and absolute truth. It wouldn't have mattered if you told them that it looked like crap, or whether you told them it was the best thing you ever saw. That would be relative to your own opinion, and not necessarily considered truth in it's true essence. Very few people understand the real concept of truth, and tend to believe that most truths are based upon their own opinions. :tut:

[kurdtnirvana_94]

So what is the real concept of truth? Badgering another person because its truth in it's true essence?

[SaintJoe69]

So what is the real concept of truth? Badgering another person because its truth in it's true essence?
Who mentioned anything about badgering anyone? I didn't say anyone was on trial here. :scractch: It is mere observation that the majority of people believe the truth to be their own opinions... otherwise, they normally would not state it as being such. :rolleyes:

[Pull and Twist]

What SaintJoe said, couldn't have put it better myself.

[kurdtnirvana_94]

I know what your trying to say by your mere "observations" that the majority of truth is from people's opinions. But you have to consider the whole complex of human emotions. You can't just walk up to anyone and say "Hey you look like crap today", or "Wow! you won't ever amount to anything in life." You can't have absolute truth, to a certain extent relative truth must be brought in. Absolute truth can't be written it can't even be thought, relative truth is the only truth we can talk about.

[sweetroses]

hmmm. telling the truth. its important to tell the truth all the time of course. easier said then done. there is so many situations in life and we are put through this choice all the time. its constant. sometimes the situation needs to be dealt with right away and sometimes we have a long time to decide what to do. i mean, if you really think about it, everything you do in life is a choice. literally, EVERYTHING is a choice. well that's not what this tread is about but im just putting that in because people dont realize that sometimes. even as people read that comment they will disagree. but if you think about it literally it's true. anyways, as saintjoe stated above that "the majority of people believe the truth to be their own opinions" which is true. i dont think adrian was trying to refer to that idea and he used an example which wasn't all that relative in that sense. but i do agree with adrian that in a certain extent relative truth must be brought in even in those "truth opinionated situations". but back to what i wanted to say that there are times when telling someone the truth could hurt that person so bad that they would even take their own life. what are you to do in these circumstances? well anyways, sorry if this is all choppy. my mind likes to jump around alot to different things.

[SaintJoe69]

I know what your trying to say by your mere "observations" that the majority of truth is from people's opinions. But you have to consider the whole complex of human emotions. You can't just walk up to anyone and say "Hey you look like crap today", or "Wow! you won't ever amount to anything in life." You can't have absolute truth, to a certain extent relative truth must be brought in. Absolute truth can't be written it can't even be thought, relative truth is the only truth we can talk about.
You are mistaken. That is similar to thinking that there is only fiction, and not facts. There are plenty of absolute truths that are not based upon simple individual opinions. There are certain things that can be considered absolute truth. There are things that could be considered absolute truth, but then are really relative truths. If I tell you that it is day time, and you are standing next to me at 12 noon, then that could be considered absolute truth; however, if you were on the other side of the world, and I made the same statement, you could say that it is only day time relative to my location. There are things that are considered absolute truths in this world, but then some of them would be relative to the particular situations. Absolute truth does not depend upon one's emotions, but may be relative to one's situation and surroundings. Gravity could be considered absolute truth, but relative to one's situation, it could be altered. Going back to the example I gave earlier... if we were both in the same plane, and you jumped out, you would fall. If you were on a plane on the opposite side of the world, and you jumped out, you would still fall. That is absolute. It doesn't matter if you had a parachute on, you would still fall, but your fall would be slowed down by the parachute. Does your fall depend upon your human emotions? No. Gravity will affect you whether you are happy or sad when you jumped.

Your posting is a good example of relative truth. Based upon your opinion, you believe it to be true that we may only discuss relative truth, when in fact, that is not the absolute truth. :rolleyes:

[Oana]

always tell the truth in LOVE!!!

[grace]

so I have a question now... cause I am kinda confused myself. so lets say that your brother did something bad and you try to cover them. would you tell ur parents the truth or would you "lie" to them? when I say "lie" to them I mean go around the truth. which one would you do considering that your brother might get in big trouble and maybe dislike you after that?

[y e s k a]

so I have a question now... cause I am kinda confused myself. so lets say that your brother did something bad and you try to cover them. would you tell ur parents the truth or would you "lie" to them? when I say "lie" to them I mean go around the truth. which one would you do considering that your brother might get in big trouble and maybe dislike you after that?

Well I say you should always tell the truth....even in this case, he may not like you but its better to let your parents know the truth, and if he would be a good brother Im pretty sure he would eventually forgive you.

[V!p3r21]

Well I say you should always tell the truth....even in this case, he may not like you but its better to let your parents know the truth, and if he would be a good brother Im pretty sure he would eventually forgive you.

well ,,, actually Grace ... has 3 options here ...

1. Tell the truth (seems like the best)

2. Try to act like nothing has happened, or keep away from people that will ask you about it ... (i don't think it's too relevant)

3. Right in the face lie. (well... i'll never agree or advise anyone to do it this way ...)

i really think Jess had a point ... you can win back a relationship with your bother... but i don't know how you would feel with saying a lie...

[slcdme6]

Honestly you should always tell the truth no matter what.
GOD LOVES US WHEN WE TELL THE TRUTH

IF WE LIE WE GET PULLED AWAY FROM GOD AND THAT IS NOT GOOD

[y e s k a]

Honestly you should always tell the truth no matter what.
GOD LOVES US WHEN WE TELL THE TRUTH

IF WE LIE WE GET PULLED AWAY FROM GOD AND THAT IS NOT GOOD


And if you lie....you have to continue lieing to cover up the lie you first said and then it just gets into a whole big mess...and eventually, the truth ALWAYS comes out..so better be truthful from the beginning ;)

[SuperWoman]

i always try to tell the truth

[kurdtnirvana_94]

so I have a question now... cause I am kinda confused myself. so lets say that your brother did something bad and you try to cover them. would you tell ur parents the truth or would you "lie" to them? when I say "lie" to them I mean go around the truth. which one would you do considering that your brother might get in big trouble and maybe dislike you after that?
Grace you bring up a good point. Let me start off and say everybody gave some very interesting points. Most people said that the brother should tell the truth but there are some other ways of looking at this. What if the older brother told on his little bro and the parents decided that was enough and kicked him out of the house. Not only would this cause turmoil between the kid and his parents but he would learn to dislike his brother. Had the older brother had lied to his parents this would save alot of hardship and troubles for the family. Im not saying lies are the best choice but sometimes you have to take them into consideration.

[musicaled03]

Grace you bring up a good point. Let me start off and say everybody gave some very interesting points. Most people said that the brother should tell the truth but there are some other ways of looking at this. What if the older brother told on his little bro and the parents decided that was enough and kicked him out of the house. Not only would this cause turmoil between the kid and his parents but he would learn to dislike his brother. Had the older brother had lied to his parents this would save alot of hardship and troubles for the family. Im not saying lies are the best choice but sometimes you have to take them into consideration.


Why would the older brother need to 'tell' on his younger one? One situation that i could come up with would be if the parents approached the older one asking "Hey did little bro do this or that" Anyways, in these types of situations i've learned from experience that as being the 'third party' it's better to not be involved at all. But if the situation is drastic (somebody got hurt, stole, killed, etc) probably just say what you know as fact but don't add ur personal special touch. (ie adding to the 'truth') just say it from an unbiased POV.


oh and btw
i guess since lying is a sin, you're on the safe side telling the truth all the time, nu?
also think of the reverse of the title of this forum: When is it ok to NOT tell the truth? answer= never

[yacko]

Since people seem to dance around relative truths, let me give you a hypothetical situation:

Suppose that a soldier is taken prisoner by his enemies. He is forced to divulge information thet will help his enemies and inflict serious casualties on his fellow soldiers. Should he

1. tell the truth, because lying is a sin, even though his words will kill his fellow comrades
2. lie and deceive his enemies, by giving them false information, as to help his side. He is technically committing a sin, but he will be saving his friends lives, while putting his enemies in jeopardy.

How would you choose, and how will you justify your decision as a christian. I can refer you to many examples in the bible where God used deception, or allowed his servats to benefit from deception. Is trickery a form of lying?

[musicaled03]

no, if he's a soldier, he should die with his mouth shut and with honor.

[SaintJoe69]

Since people seem to dance around relative truths, let me give you a hypothetical situation:

Suppose that a soldier is taken prisoner by his enemies. He is forced to divulge information thet will help his enemies and inflict serious casualties on his fellow soldiers. Should he

1. tell the truth, because lying is a sin, even though his words will kill his fellow comrades
2. lie and deceive his enemies, by giving them false information, as to help his side. He is technically committing a sin, but he will be saving his friends lives, while putting his enemies in jeopardy.

How would you choose, and how will you justify your decision as a christian. I can refer you to many examples in the bible where God used deception, or allowed his servats to benefit from deception. Is trickery a form of lying?
Ahhh... relative truth for a soldier. :D

We know that there are many "sins" involved in a soldier's job, and if we can accept the fact that soldiers are trained to kill for a living to protect our freedom, then I would imagine that having a soldier lie to protect our freedom (or the information of comrades) would also be acceptable. ;)

[mrunown]

hmm... i have a question

Lets say a little guy is having finacial difficulties. Now a big guy who knows the little guy's problems wants to help him secretly so he puts some money in the little guy's coat when noone's looking. when the little guy finds the money he asks the big guy if he knows who put the money there. the big guy says he has no idea.

did the big guy commit a sin by lying :scratch:

[kurdtnirvana_94]

I dont think the big guy commited a sin because he was just trying to help the little guy out. It probably would have been a bigger sin had he had not helped out the little guy.

[xXRoMoCaNaDiAnX]

yes lieing is a sin but ya u can't really tell the person that they look bad cuz they'll feel bad lol....so maybe u should just keep the comment to urself :bsmile:

and what mrunown said..yes i think the big guy commited a sin...but it's good that he helped out the little guy :rolleyes:

[Oana]

so we all have to go back to the bible that says not to lie to one another but in love to tell each other the truth...no matter the circumstances,you have to tell the truth...there should not be options on how to deal with the situations...just tell the truth..if someone lies FOR you that person will lie TO you..and what goes around comes around...do unto man whatever you will like them to do to you!!
JESUS IS THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE!!!

[Debbie_A]

i agree with saintjoe 100%..... there is no good lie.... trust me i kno.... always try to tell the truth... no one is perfect

[mrunown]

always tell the truth eh...
how about this scenerio in Josua chapter 2:
2 israelite spies go to jericho to check out the place. They stay at a womans house and when the jericho gaurds find out about them, the woman hides them and tells the guards that they were there but they left already. ...

by lieing and telling the guards that the israelite spies left already she saved the lives of the 2 spies and she ended up saving her family as well.

what most of you people are saying is that she should of told the truth and the 2 spies would get kiilled.

About the previous scenerio i made up (with the big and little guy):
i think the big guy didn't commit a sin by lieing

xXRoMoCaNaDiAnX: "yes i think the big guy commited a sin...but it's good that he helped out the little guy"
... so you think the big guy commited a sin but its good that he commited this sin :nono:
sins are a nono

all4mysav: "no matter the circumstances,you have to tell the truth..."
can u apply that to the scenerio in Josua chapter 2?

"there should not be options on how to deal with the situations...just tell the truth..if someone lies FOR you that person will lie TO you.."
if its a life death situation and someone lies FOR you to save u from getting killed... i don't think the person will be likely to lie TO you later on.

"and what goes around comes around...do unto man whatever you will like them to do to you!"
i agree

a lie can be told with different intentions:
most of the time people tell lies to temporarly benefit themselves

sometimes some people tell a lie out of love to help someone else, without caring to much about the benefits or harm that they themselves will get.
or sometimes people would lie to benefit themselves and others (like in Josua chapter 2: the woman saved her life, her families life and the 2 spies lives by lieing)
would these last 2 types of lies also be considered sins?

please correct me if im wrong

:)

[*~elistan~*]

if the soldier says nothing the enemy can either:
1. let him go because he is no use to them
2. kill him because he is no use to them

i think #2 is more likely, but at least he doesnt betray his country :)