Featured Telling the truth in a misleading way

Well, here's another of my pet topics for this forum. I'm sure every reader here has been impatiently awaiting it.

While there should be no question at all that lying is a sin, suppose then people-- certainly myself; likely some of you reading this-- have a conviction against lying. What will they/you/I do? Always tell the truth to admit all the embarrassing details? Say almost nothing about anything? Even in the latter, there are going to be times when refusing to say anything will cost you-- maybe not just a job or relationship, but fines and jail or prison time.

So, there is that thing about telling the truth in a misleading way. Probably all of us have seen movies or read stories where a person said he or she "calmed him/her down to where (s)he no longer cares," when they actually mean they murdered that person. More reasonably within our domains [I hope], I know I have shared my little story about the man who didn't want to go to work one day... so he asked his wife to bring him a frozen dinner while he was still lying in bed; she brought it, he tossed it up then caught it, and got on the phone and said, "I'm not coming in today; I'm down flat on my back and I just threw up my dinner." What he said is true, unless that particular frozen dinner does not belong to him. And then there are little episodes,like where you may tell a hostess you 'don't care for onion dip,' as she has offered you some you presume is her recipe and you have tried it before and you detested it. And, of course, there is the double entendre, when, as in The Brady Bunch, you don't want to do something at a particular time with a particular someone, so you say "Something suddenly came up." Well, at just about any given time something somewhere is coming up-- the stock market, the water in any sea, the level of the baptistry being filled,... or in one those later BB movies when it had a different meaning still.

The reason this is on my mind is because of the social media, and when you reveal to your "Friends" [a limited list of them] something that just might work against you when all your Friends, then Friend of Friends, and so on, know it. So I thought about replying to this Friend's reply with doubletalk. But I decided to take the chance, slim as I think it is, that his revealing something that I preferred not to be revealed, was 'published' for his own Friends to see. It's ultimately my fault anyway, for letting anyone know something I didn't way just anybody to know.

But what is "telling the truth in a misleading way?" A lie just the same? Hypocrisy? Contrived dishonesty? A device to lessen the bluntness? ... And justified or not? Sin or not?

 

No, just starting a discussion that was on my mind. And, I didn't think the one I mentioned couldn't be trusted, but since I did say it was only a certain few on my list that I was sharing this info with, I didn't think any of them would post anything about it that could a lso be seen by Friends, Friends of Friends, et al.

BTW this thread was not meant to be about whether lying can be justified to eliminate a greater evil [i.e., Rahab], but more often it would be about our clever ways to cover our own laziness, weakness, or embarrassment.

 

Okay, now that I got home a little past midnight, I'll be more specific. I was staying in Taos for a few days, and, among other things, I finally got to go on a sleigh ride; something I have wanted to do for many years. I broke my own rule and posted some pics to that select few on my Friends list, I suppose, because it felt like a real goal achieved, which is something those in that select group have also shared with me. But one of them took the info that I was away from home and put that into his birthday card for me ["I see you're having fun in the snow on your birthday..."]. That card could be seen and shared by anyone on my list and his, and I strongly prefer that it not be known to just anyone that I am away from home. So I thought about responding: "Thanks, but it's good to be home"..."Thanks but I do like this computer I use at home"..."Yes, the fun was over too soon" -- statements that are true, but may have given the impression that I was back home by then. So, would that have been deception? dishonesty? double talk?

 

There are a lot of things animals do by instinct that, if done by humans, would be sin, according to scripture. Beating up one of their own kind to take his food or his female... eating blood... being uncharitable....

 

Then how about a cop who is working 'undercover,' who gives a false name and false occupation in order to catch a drug pusher?