Rebecca, after overhearing Isaac telling Esau to go and catch a game, prepared a meal for Jacob so he could bless him. However, she advised Jacob to impersonate his brother to receive Esau's blessings instead. How does that not constitute the sin of lying through impersonation, which is deemed immoral and can lead to condemnation if a Christian unapologetically commits? (See story in Genesis 27.)

In light of the current media trend of reporting and resorting to fake news and gossiping, and some netizens are somehow careless in becoming an instruments to spread it. Some social media users already have a habit of not making a diligent effort to verify the truthfulness of the news, and a lot of people who post on comments even link the fake news and worst posted it on their channels, clearly either unaware or intentionally to malign the character of a person. The subject of fake news usually is a recipient of character assassination and maligning one's dignity. The common habits in social media is sharing or posting "Fake News" and gossiping "Fake News" both action will end up damaging the subject's/person's character. **Has the Catholic Church particularly cited or considered sharing "Fake News" and gossiping "Fake News" as a griveous/mortal offense to God commandments especially if this common thing/actions in the mainstream & social media becomes habitual?**

Lying is a sin. It is a violation of one of the Ten Commandments, and a disobeying of God. However, there are many instances in the Bible where someone may lie (usually to protect someone), and God does not punish it as he would a sin, thus meaning that the act was not a sin. When, if ever, is it morally acceptable to lie?

An [article in Slate](https://slate.com/technology/2021/07/noble-lies-covid-fauci-cdc-masks.html) describe "Noble Lies" as: > When experts or agencies deliver information to the public that they consider possibly or definitively false to further a larger, often well-meaning agenda, they are telling what is called a noble lie. This would seem to bad at odds with Catholic [moral principles against lying](https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09469a.htm) But I can't see which category of lie "noble lies" fall into. I'd assume a noble like is not a joke (even the president would tell you that), and it's not a white lie (it's a big lie, repeated ad nauseam), and it's definitely not funny. Neither is it an accidental falsehood, it's just a falsehood. It is incorrect and deliberate. But, if it were wrong and one worked for an administration that told these kinds of lies, what level of formal cooperation would one have with these lies? Should someone merely resign or be a whistleblower?

In [Exodus 1:15–16](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+1%3A15%E2%80%9316&version=ESV) , the king of Egypt orders the Hebrew midwives to kill the sons born to Hebrew women. However, they do not obey: >But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. ([Exodus 1:17](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus+1&version=ESV) , ESV) When the king questions them, they respond by saying: >“Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” ([Exodus 1:19](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus+1&version=ESV) , ESV) The following verses show God's response: >So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. ([Exodus 1:20–21](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus+1&version=ESV) , ESV) What is an overview of Catholic and Protestant understandings of the actions and words of the midwives, especially in light of other passages on civil authority? Were their actions and words sinful or not?

And how does this expand on our conception of what is sin? > (Exodus 3:18) ...and you shall say to him, ‘The Lord God of the > Hebrews has met with us; and now, please, let us go three days’ > journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our > God.’

Reading *The Sayings of the Desert Fathers*, I came across at least two accounts of the Fathers lying to or deceiving people >10 . Once a provincial judge heard of Abba Moses and went to Scete to see > him. They told the old man that he was on his way, and he rose up to > flee into a marsh. The judge and his train met him, and asked: "Tell > me, old man, where is the cell of Abba Moses?" And the old man said: > "Why do you want to see him? He is a fool and a heretic." > The judge came to the church, and said to the clergy: "I heard of > Abba Moses and came to see him- But an old man on his way to Egypt > met me, and I asked him where was the cell of Abba Moses. And he > said: 'Why are you looking for him? He is a fool and a heretic.* " > And the clergy were distressed and said: "What sort of person was > your old man who told you this about the holy man?" And they said: > "He was an old man, tall and dark, wearing the oldest possible > clothes.'* And the clergy said: "That was Abba Moses. And he told you > this about him- self because he did not want you to see him." And the > judge went away much edified. > >17 . A magistrate came to see Abba Simon one day. When he heard of it, he > put on his apron and went out to attend to a palm-tree. When the > visitors arrived they called out to him, 'Old man, where is the > anchorite?' He replied, 'There is no anchorite here.' Hearing these > words, they went away again. Source: *THE SAYINGS OF THE FATHERS, PART VIII in "The Library Of Christian Classics Volume XII. Western Asceticism" by Owen Chadwick, 1958* Having read many other anecdotes about the Desert Fathers and knowing how much they valued eremitic lifestyle and detachment from the world I take the behavior of these two abbas as an attempt to avoid being bothered by unexpected and random visitors lest they disturb their seclusion and peace of mind. Abba Moses (the protagonist of the first anecdote above) is recorded as saying > 10 . "A man who avoids men is like a ripe grape. A man who companies with men is like a sour grape" Source: *ibid, Part II* Various sources, for example gotquestions.org , assert that lying is regarded as a sinful act. So I would guess that by being deliberately untruthful these Fathers not only acted presumably unethically and sinfully, they also acted against the ethos of Jesus's teachings expressed in such saying as > If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to > the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to > borrow from you. Mt 5:41-42 In the quoted stories the visitors were going to ask for advice and borrow some wisdom, which they were denied under false pretenses, although in the first case the visitor is said to have still derived benefit from witnessing the abba's humbleness, which nevertheless could have been a byproduct and not the original intent. **My question thus is whether and how these Fathers' deceptive behavior could be justified from the Christian doctrine point of view, either Catholic or Greek Orthodox denomination?** - Obviously the purpose of these anecdotes was and is to serve as examples of good Christian ascetic conduct and so recording these two particular ones their authors must've not viewed the conduct of the abbas as either deceitful or as a morally reproachable deceit (if deceit can be morally neutral or even positive) possibly knowing a good excuse for it.

In [Joshua 2](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=joshua+2&version=ESV) we have a classic case of civil disobedience: >3 Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land.” 4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, “True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. 5 And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.” 6 But she had brought them up to the roof and hid them with the stalks of flax that she had laid in order on the roof. (ESV) What is an overview of how Catholics and Protestants (including Church fathers), have judged Rahab's actions? Did she sin by hiding the spies? Did she sin by lying? Related: https://christianity.stackexchange.com/q/41650/21576

As recorded in Genesis 12 & 20: Abraham was afraid that Abimelech would kill him and take his Sarah from him if the king knew that they were married, so he said she was his *sister* instead. How did presenting her as his sibling rather than wife protect her from that? Couldn't the king still have killed him and taken her?

[John 7:8–10](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+7:8-10&version=ESV) reads: > 8 “You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.” 9 After saying this, he remained in Galilee. 10 But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private. [ESV] A [related question](https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/2579/how-is-jesus-not-lying-in-john-7/2590#2590) deals with the possibility of Jesus lying in this passage. A comment suggests that he changed his mind, and I'd like to know if that's the case. Did Jesus change his mind in this passage, or did he intentionally misled his brothers? The question: How is Jesus not lying in John 7? is not the same question as mine. I'm asking a different question: Did Jesus change his mind?

> [1 Corinthians 6:9–10](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+corinthians+6%3A9-10&version=KJV) (KJV)
9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. I realize that the word unrighteous (NIV – "wrongdoers") would include murderers implicitly, but it seems like it would have been an easy and obvious thing to have included murderers in the list. And what about liars? Why are liars not included?

Is there any instance in the Bible in which: 1. Parents lied to children, and 2. God approved of it? There is an instance in 1 Kings 22:22 in which the Lord is said to put a lying spirit in the mouths of the prophets, but that appears to be God -> spirit -> deceive a king, which seems different from parent/child relationships.

According to Catholic Teaching, does the eighth commandment > You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. obligate us to always tell the truth? Are there times when we are under no obligation to speak the truth? Can one withhold the truth without violating the commandment?

I am looking for a certain verse or passage. The one I'm looking for contains statements about there being no such thing as a "small" lie or "big" lie and that lies are all the same in God's kingdom.