Telling lies

From the bible the biggest lie that was told is in Genesis 3:4 "You will not certainly die". Gen 2:17 clearly says "for when you eat from it you will certainly die".

Now what is a "lie"?  According to Cambridge English Dictionary, "something you said that you know is not true." In Gen 3:4, the serpent knows it and tried to deceive Eve, the woman that is created after Adam was told not to eat the fruit. The reason why the serpent lie to Eve is that she does not receive the command from God thus only knows the command second hand. This is not to say that woman is weaker than man just that the doubt is planted by the serpent on a person who does not receive the command directly. That person happened to be Eve. If it is Adam that defies God, directly mankind probably no longer exists.

The wider purpose of a lie is to gain something from a lie for personal benefit. The serpent lied so that it could destroy faith in God. For most people, it is just to benefit self.

When a person tells a lie that could prevent the lost of a life other than your own, is that still a lie? Literally it is still a lie but it is used for a different purpose. During WW2, Chiune Sugihara issued visas to Jews despite being told not to. He lied so that 6000 Jews could live. What does he gain? A dismissal from foreign office. He and his family felt no shame on it because it served a higher purpose.

We are just little people but often we have to tell lies just to avoid embarrassing the person we lied to. We gained little from telling the lie. It is wrong to tell lies to prevent embarrassing ourselves or cover our wrong doing.

Real lie is from people that tried to achieve gains from it. The lying person tell lies that could benefit from it or served his/her purpose. They tell lies to gain from others or prevent damage to themselves.

Lying is not just for monetary gains. It could be used to destroy faith in the person or state. For example, giving false statements. Singapore has a law against POFMA (Protection from Online Falsehood and Manipulation Act). Although it could be used to deter people from telling the truth, it generally prevents ill hearted people or group that tries to destroy others.