Lying....

A lie is a statement not in accordance with the mind of the speaker, made with the intention of deceiving. In the OT the practice of lying is denounced as an attribute of sinners (Lev. 19:11, Ps. 5:6, Prov. 6:17), though it is sometimes recorded of otherwise righteous people, e.g. of *Abraham (Gen. 20:2), *Jacob (Gen. 27:32), and *David (1 Sam. 21:2). These lies, however, are usually regarded as excusable because they were told in cases of necessity without the intention to hurt. In the NT the standard is higher, and lying is so abhorrent that for the disciple a simple affirmation of the truth is to take the place of an oath (Mt. 5:37). St *Paul, too, exhorts Christians to put away falsehood (Col. 3:9; cf. Eph. 4:25), and in the Bk. of Rev. the virgins who follow the Lamb are praised because ‘in their mouth was found no lie’ (14:5). The NT teaching is followed by the Fathers, though with slight divergences. Some of them, e.g. *Origen, St *Hilary of Poitiers, St*Jerome, and St *Chrysostom, held that a lie may be lawful, e.g. in order to save an innocent man from death. St *Augustine, however, and following him St*Thomas Aquinas, hold that lying is always sinful, because it perverts the nature of human speech, which is meant to express man’s thought, not to disguise it. Acc. to St Thomas lies are never lawful, and even ‘officious’ lies, i.e. those told for the benefit of someone without the intention of deceiving, and ‘jocose’ lies, told for amusement, are reprehensible. St Thomas admits, however, that in certain cases it may be prudent to hide the truth under some ‘dissimulation’. In modern times the problem of the lawfulness of lying in these cases, when, e.g., human life would be endangered or a secret violated not only by speaking the truth but also by preserving silence, has given rise to several theories attempting a solution. They either permit *mental reservation (q.v.) or assert that not everyone has the right to the truth (so, e.g., H. *Grotius and S. *Pufendorf), or, what seems most in agreement with common sense, that there may arise conflicts of duty in which the choice of a lie is a lesser evil. These, however, are exceptional cases which do not prejudice the general obligation of speaking the truth, without which an ordered human society which is built on mutual trust would become impossible.^[1]

Do not tell lie, until you divide the Bible-Presbyterian Church in Singapore....

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q.v. quod vide (Lat., which see).

^[1] F. L. Cross and Elizabeth A. Livingstone, The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford;  New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 1017–1018.