To Lie Or Not To Lie.....That Is The Question

Socrates exposes very well the conflicting moral issues with telling the truth or not. For the sake of argument, we will claim that lying is evil and therefore immoral.

At this point, suppose a sane man lends a gun to a friend. Over time, the sane man becomes mad, ever impulsive and violent. He then inquires his friend as to the whereabouts of his gun. The friend has a choice to make. He can produce the gun and give it back knowing full well the likelihood something terrible will happen as a result. Or he can simply lie to him and say the gun is lost.

We might say by giving the gun back, he promotes morality by not lying. On the other hand, if he lies, he promotes peace insofar as the mad man not being able to do anything violent with the gun. Which choice is “right”?

If he gives the gun back knowing full well the likelihood that harm will be done, how will he sleep at night? On the other hand, if he lies to avoid complicity in a future crime, then it is not imperative to tell the truth. In other words, immorality seems to be called for. But then how must we distinguish “right” lying from “wrong” lying?

How can it be anything but arbitrary based on a single perspective which can not in itself point to anything absolutely true? At this point, we have established that it is not wrong to lie. Or we could just as well say it is not imperative to promote peace if one feels compelled to avoid lying at any cost. What do you think? What might God think?

Must God always be honest or are there reasonable exceptions for Him? If one declares God to be free from these kinds of dilemmas more commonly associated with us mere mortals, how then does one discern God would want him to respond?


The following example clearly illustrates where right and wrong/good and bad seem to conflict with honesty:

Assume the following unattractive girl will not suspect being patronized in the least. Telling this ugly girl she is pretty when she clearly is not might seem to be wrong (because it is a lie) but good, as it will likely make her feel good or at least better about herself. Conversely, not telling this ugly girl she is pretty might seem to be right (because at least it is not a lie) but bad, as she will not be made to feel good or at least better about herself. Does not either response seem fraught with dilemma?

Why should she be made to feel good or better about her appearance if she really is ugly? On the other hand, perhaps we should inspire her with confidence by lying or at least exaggerating about her appearance? In any case, there is something unsettling about this to me.

Maybe we should not lie to her by telling her she is pretty when she is not but rather find a compliment that is true, perhaps her superlative loyalty, something or other? Which response is right? Once again, what would God do or at least what would God want you to do in this situation?

There does not seem to be an absolutely “right” answer! For that matter, neither does there appear to be an absolutely “wrong” answer! Might any answer be right? Or perhaps wrong? To lie or not to lie.....that is the question.

The Ugly Side Of Caring

Could it be construed as meaningless to not care? I think so. But what if only by not caring can one be at peace, at least in some situations? This then seems to suggest peace itself can be meaningless. Which further suggests that if you care as an ideal, you will be precluded from upholding peace as an ideal.*

This seems to make sense looking around the world. It is only by caring so deeply that people routinely become slaves to madness. For instance, overly convicted people willing to commit unspeakable horrors only because they care so much about upholding their absolute view of truth. Peace in this case must fall by the wayside because it is in the way of their ultimate aim: to further their view of truth.

Many will say that without “caring” the world would systematically degenerate into a cold, cruel place only because there was no caring in the world. But alas, the world is already a cold, cruel place only because people care so much. There is both good and bad in caring and not caring. Lest we forget, everything is a trade-off!


An example of this "caring/peace" conflict follows:

Many might readily admit they are more inclined to care as an ideal thereby consigning peace to a subordinate position in cases where the 2 conflict. But at this point, what basis does anybody have to claim the things he cares about are the very things everybody else must or at least should care about? What happens when somebody else cares as an ideal but has different cares? Conflict will ensue, be it through thought or action. 

There will be judgment, fighting, arguing, name calling, feelings of arrogant self-righteousness, gnashing of teeth, etc. It need not be an “in-your-face” assault. A more subtle, seemingly peaceful response to this “conflict of cares” is passive aggressiveness. Pretending not to be bothered but being immensely so internally. Claiming to respect one's opinions but “secretly” thinking this person's opinions to be “dead wrong”, perhaps even evil. This has a very insidious effect on the state of things when all such feelings are taken into account. 

In contrast, if one's ultimate aim is peace, in situations where it requires not caring, conflict is thereby avoided. But alas, human beings have a seemingly unconscious, insatiable appetite for conflict masked only by their belief that they are upholding truth and righteousness, the most sacred of all virtues! It is only through conflict that the ego becomes fully empowered.

It seems those that embrace peace as an ideal appear weak because it limits or even “castrates” their ego as it were. Or perhaps those that do not embrace peace as an ideal simply overpower those that do making peace appear inherently impotent. Does this make it inferior?

I think of how Jesus might respond to this, with a question no doubt. Are you more interested in winning the argument or the person? Sometimes winning the person requires us to put aside our “cares”. Why do so few people seem to heed this wisdom? One word: EGO! 



*It is important to point out why I used the imperative will as opposed to might. Remember, an ideal is only so if always followed. Why is this? Without it being imperative, who is to say when it must or must not be followed? In this case, I am reasoning that there are at least some instances where not caring is the only path to peace. Therefore, one can not care as an ideal without contradicting peace as an ideal. So caring and peace must be mutually exclusive, at least sometimes. You can aim for one or the other but you can not uphold both ideals. So it is not the case that one might be precluded from upholding peace but rather one will be precluded from doing so if caring is embraced as an ideal. The converse is of course true as well. One will be precluded from caring as an ideal if peace is embraced as an ideal.

A "Godly" Moral Paradox

Many of the devoutly religious seem apt to believe that being 100% certain they are right is somehow a virtue God respects above all else. I believe St. Paul, among others, encouraged this “Godly” stance. However, a “moral” contradiction arises.

If one is absolutely certain he is worshiping the one and only true God, where is the humility? Which stance might God honor more? Being absolutely certain or humbly conceding the fact that as much as one might really believe or at least really want to believe he is right, he could just as easily be wrong?

However unconscious it may be, I think many are reluctant to adopt this less than certain stance because they fear they would be “letting God down”. But without humility, what does this type of thinking systematically foster? Self-righteous superiority. This need not be blatant and obnoxious. I remember a “strong” Christian girl (please forgive me but this notion plasters on my mind a girl bench-pressing 350 lbs.) at a party causally and without any doubt asserting how others of different faiths were “buying into a lie”.

It seemed so innocuous, as she was a very amiable girl whose only “problem” was that she was absolutely certain she was right. Nothing overly harmful about said comment. But ultimately it projected self-righteous superiority. Once again, where is the humility?

Not All Freethought Is Free

Open-mindedness, to the ideologically certain, is a virtue until it strays from an already presupposed picture of what freethought can or must entail. Of course at this point it is not "freethought" because it does not allow thought to roam freely.