AMBIGUITIES ABOUT THE SIN OF LYING
A couple of more quotes from Smede’s excellent book, Mere Morality, here referring to the ninth commandment. The commandment sends us into all human relationships with a bias toward truthfulness. If the tender lies that keep communications smooth are morally right, they must be justified against the sweeping commandment that requires truthfulness in an unqualified way. Liars always have the burden of proof. An avalanche of qualifications falls over the commandment at the start. Surely, we wonder, the moral law does not rule out a good joke, the high art of fantasy, or the low art of the tall tale. Does it rule out the acting profession? What about bargaining at a bazaar, where the rules of the game call for suspension of truthfulness? Could poker survive if candor were an absolute moral law? Must every wife tell a boring husband that he is a clod? Ought a parishioner, on leaving the Sunday service, tell the pastor his…
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