To Lie, Lies, False Testimonies
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Lying is a sin against truth and against one's neighbor. It is never permitted to lie, even if a good would result. God is truth; He does not dwell in a soul accustomed to lying.
In "The Gospel as It Was Revealed to Me"
- The Demon is the father of lies and leads others down the path of lying.[1]
- Near the plant, Eve meets the Seductor. To her inexperience, to her naive inexperience as a virgin, to the weakness of her inexperience, he sings the song of lies.[2]
- The "half-lies" of Judas: "What do you mean? Why lie? I am the Truth, and I want no lies in Me or around Me."[3]
- "Do not bear false witness." Commandment commented on by Jesus.[4]
- The liar has given himself over to Lies and stupidly trusts in his protection. [...] The proximity of a sincere man brings security and comfort. The friendship of a man who is not truthful brings trouble and even his mere presence causes unease.[5]
- An oath is not necessary among honest people, and God, regarding Himself, has not taught you to swear; on the contrary, He has had you say: "Do not bear false witness."[6]
- One who sees lies or betrayal everywhere is a soul capable of such things because he judges according to his own model.[7]
- Man easily uses lies. And he does not know that by doing so, he sets himself on the path of evil. It takes only one first step, one step that can no longer be undone... It is glue... it is a labyrinth... it is a trap. A trap from which one does not come back up...[8]
- Satan knows many things. He is the one who speaks through the lips of the pythons by uttering lies mixed with truths. And those truths that he hates because he is Lies, he tells only—remember this well—to seduce you with the illusion that it is not Darkness speaking, but Light, Lamps.[9]
- Do you not know that lying is the first step towards theft and murder?[10]
- Saying one thing instead of another, with good intentions, is always reprehensible. [...] Lie no more, even for a good end. The soul becomes accustomed to imagining lies and the lips to uttering them.[11]
- The Son of Man must not lie, even if telling the truth is the cause of His death. For if the Son of Man lied, He would no longer be the Son of Truth, and Truth would cast Him far from Himself. I know God, both as God and as Man. And as God and as Man, I keep His words and I observe them.[12]
- But just as I never do useless things, so I never say false words.[13]
In foundational Christian texts
In the Bible
- You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.[14]-[15]
- Your father is the devil, and you want to carry out the desires of your father. From the beginning he set out to make man die; he did not stand in truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks lies, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of lies.[16]
- Therefore, put away lying: let each one speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.[17]
In the Catechism of the Catholic Church
- The beginning of sin and of the fall of man was a lie of the tempter that caused man to doubt God's word, His goodness, and His faithfulness.[18]
- The devil is the "father of lies".[19]
- In their religious behavior, men also show limits and errors that distort in them the image of God: Very often, deceived by the evil one, they have gone astray in their reasoning and have exchanged the truth of God for lies.[20]
- A good intention does not make a behavior that is in itself disordered (such as lying and detraction) good or just. The end does not justify the means.[21]
- Natural law expresses the original moral sense which enables man to discern by reason what is good and what is evil, truth and lies.[22]
- The condemnation of false oaths is a duty toward God.[23]
- "Having put away lying," the Disciples of Christ must "reject all malice and all guile, hypocrisy, envy, and slander."[24]
- Lying (because it is a violation of the virtue of truthfulness) is a veritable violence done to others.[25]