Is It Wrong To Tell Some – One Your Parents Are Home When They’re Not?
Answer: Telling someone that your parents are home when they aren’t is a lie, and God tells us not to lie. If we tell this kind of lie, we will find it easier to lie about other things.
But that doesn’t mean you have to answer every question that a stranger on the phone asks you.
If you are home alone, you probably shouldn’t tell people on the phone that your parents aren’t home.
Instead, you could say something like: “They can’t come to the phone right now,” or, “They are not available,” or, “Please let me take a message, and they will get right back to you.”
Talk with your mom or dad about what you can say without lying.
Key verse: A good person is known by his truthfulness. A false person is known by his cheating and lies. (Proverbs 12:17)
Related verses: Proverbs 14:15; Ephesians 5:6-10
Related question:Would it be wrong to lie to someone to protect your parents’ belongings?
Note to parents: Telling the truth doesn’t mean telling everything you know about something.
Telling everything you know may be more than the person could understand or may simply not be appropriate.
Help your child under- stand that you can withhold information without lying. You can say, “I can’t tell you,” or, “I’m not going to tell you,” or, “I can’t explain it right now.”
Just because you want them to withhold certain facts doesn’t mean they have to say something false. Help kids learn the difference between handling information wisely and lying.
Is It Ok To Lie, Knowing You Will Tell The Truth Later?
Answer: One of the most common excuses for lying is, “I was going to tell the truth later.” That may sound all right, but usually it is just another lie.
This often happens when people are joking around. They make up a story for the sake of making people laugh.
It’s OK to joke and to kid around, but it’s not OK to lie. Be careful not to make an excuse for lying by saying, “It was just a joke,” or, “I was going to tell the truth later.”
If you do, after a while people won’t know when you’re telling the truth and when you’re not, and they might stop trusting you.
The second most important thing in life is our relationships with others, and one of the most important parts of a good relationship is trust. No joke is more important than that.
Key verses: A person might be caught lying to his neighbor. And he might say, “I was just fooling.” But if he does this, he is like a madman throwing around firebrands, arrows, and death! (Proverbs 26:18-19)
Related verse: Ephesians 4:25
Related question: Is it wrong to pull pranks?
Note to parents: Parents tend to justify lies by saying, “This person can’t handle the truth.” If you want to keep some truths or pieces of the truth from kids, then say the parts that you can tell, or say nothing.
Sometimes parents make up lies to motivate kids to do certain undesirable things (“Eat your bread crusts because they’ll make your hair curly”).
Think of good ways to motivate without resorting to lies.
Is It Ok To Lie, To Keep A Friend From Getting Hurt?
Answer: We don’t have to lie to keep our friends from getting hurt. We can think of better ways.
For example, depending on the situation, we can get the help of an adult who knows the friend and cares about him or her, or we can say to the friend, “I’m not going to tell you because I don’t want you to get hurt.” There are many other ways to help a friend besides lying.
God loves you and wants you to be truthful. So he won’t force you to lie or put you in a situation where you have to lie. Look for other ways to respond.
Remember that God’s way is always the best. You may think that lying will keep someone from getting hurt, but actually it will just make the situation worse.
Key verse: Remember, the wrong desires in your life aren’t anything new. Many others have faced the same problems before you.
You can trust God. He won’t let you be carried away by sin. He will show you how to escape. You will survive the test. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
Related verse: Ephesians 4:25
Related questions: Is it OK to lie if you’re going to get hurt? What if a friend has threatened to hurt me if I tell on him, but I know that he is doing something wrong?
If you lie for a friend’s sake, would it be wrong? Is it wrong not to speak up when someone is being blamed for something he didn’t do?
Note to parents: Beware of talking about hypothetical situations. If your child asks you this kind of question, try to determine what real situation is behind it.
Then, together, you can think of a way to help the friend and your child stay out of trouble.