Is there such thing as a "white lie?"
You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. John 8:44
If a person sins and commits a trespass against the Lord by lying to his neighbor...
Leviticus 6:2
Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? Hebrews 10:29
But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? Acts 5:3
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate. Proverbs 8:13
I wrote a letter on Ananias and Sapphira a couple months ago, but God has put it on my mind to do another one more specifically on lies. You can see from the verses above how serious an offense against God it is when we lie to Him or to others.
The principles of this lesson apply not only to telling lies, but many kinds of sin. Any sin generally seen by mortals as trivial, can be much more serious in God’s eyes, because of the different light in which he views things.
Often people use the term “white lie” when referring to a “small, unimportant” lie. Is this really the case though? Is there even such thing as a “small” lie?
Here is the definition of a lie from Wikipedia. To lie is to deliver a false statement to another person which the speaking person knows is not the whole truth, intentionally. I'm not sure I agree with the last part, but at least you get an idea of what lying “technically” is.
Mankind may not see the harm in a "little white lie", but the One "who inhabits eternity" knows that truth and life are inextricably linked. When falsehood enters in, so do defilement and ultimately death.
Humanity may not be aware of the harm caused by coveting but the One "who knows the end from the beginning" and who created the human intellect and human heart, knows that sin begins in the heart. The best way to stop sin at its source is to help mankind to guard his heart, before any sin can be produced.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Exodus 20:16
Italicized excerpts taken from simplybible.com
