Lying and Deceit: What Does the Bible Teach?

For now, I am posting this excellent Bible teaching on Lying & Deceit. It's been a year since I've posted any article. I will post the rest over the course of the week... (This article is being posted in general & not with malice):

What are some ways people may be guilty of lying and deceiving others? What causes people to tell lies or deceive, and what consequences can result? What must we do to overcome dishonesty and learn to be honest and truthful? What does the Bible teach about the dangers of falsehood?

Introduction
Our son Tim's company gave him two free tickets to a Cubs game, so he and I went. A professional photographer asked if we would like to have our picture taken for free. When we agreed, he gave us a card telling us how to access our picture online. But the site required us to pay $20 to get any useable picture. He "took the picture" for free, but he knew people would think they would get a picture for free. He deceived us.
Proverbs 6:16-19 lists seven things that are an abomination to God, and two of them involve lying: "a lying tongue," and "a false witness that tells lies." God hates a lying tongue!
Definitions of lying and deceit

1 John 2:21 - No lie is of the truth.
By its very nature, a lie is untrue. It is a falsehood.
"Lie" - "...a false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive..." - Random House College Dictionary.
"Deceit" - "act or practice ... intended to ... mislead by a false appearance or statement" - Random House College Dictionary.
The difference is that a lie is generally spoken; but deceit includes anything, whether words or deeds, that are intended to lead people to believe what is not true.
Note that not everything that is untrue is necessarily a lie or deceit.
Lying generally involves deliberate falsehood, told with the intent of misleading or causing someone to believe error.
Note Isaiah 59:13 - Conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
Acts 5:1-9 - Ananias and Sapphira sold property and gave part of the price to the church, but they told others that they gave the whole price. Peter asked, "How is it you have conceived this thing in your heart." They had lied to God.
We will notice several verses later that show that lies come from the heart. [Acts 5:1-9]
If someone asks me the ages of my grandchildren, if I tell what I believe is the truth, but it turns out to be a mistake, I have not lied. But if I know the truth and knowingly tell what is wrong, I have lied.
In this lesson, we want to study the twin problems of lying and deceit.

What are some ways people may be guilty of lying and deceit? Why do people practice them? What are the consequences? As we study we need to each ask ourselves whether we have been guilty.
Consider the Bible teaching about lying and deceit:

Part II of this Article:

I. Specific Kinds of Lies and Deceit
A. Outright Falsehoods

These are "bold-faced lies" - the one who tells them is well aware that he has told an outright falsehood. He may consider it a "big black lie" (one with serious consequences) or a "little white lie" (one he thinks will not have serious consequences), but he knows it he has told a lie.
Many passages rebuke the general concept of lying.
Proverbs 6:16-19 - God hates a lying tongue and a false witness who speaks lies.
Exodus 20:16 - You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Ephesians 4:25 - Putting away lying, let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor.
1 Timothy 1:10 - Liars are listed among other sins that are contrary to sound doctrine.
These are direct prohibitions against lying. Most people know that lying is morally wrong. Interestingly, people who often tell lies to others (like politicians) will often become very upset when other people lie to them and are often the quickest to accuse others of lying!
Other kinds of lies and deceit may be less obvious: people may not consider these acts to be lies or deceptions when they do it. Yet they often recognize such acts to be lying when other people do it to them!
[Other verses note especially Matthew 15:19; Leviticus 19:11,12; Colossians 3:9; see also Psalms 7:14; 32:2; 58:3; 59:12; Proverbs 4:24; 24:28; Isaiah 59:3,13; Hosea 4:2; Micah 6:12; Nahum 3:1; Romans 13:9; 1 Peter 2:1; 3:10; John 1:47]
B. False Promises

Some people make promises they have no intention of keeping or know they cannot keep. This is a form of deliberately misleading people.
Genesis 29:18,25 - Many stories about Jacob involve deceit. He bargained with his uncle Laban to serve seven years for Rachel. Laban agreed, but at the wedding he gave Jacob Leah instead. Jacob said Laban beguiled or deceived him.
Exodus 8:28,29 - Pharaoh deceived Moses by promising to let Israel go if the plagues were removed. When that was done, he did not keep his promise.
Numbers 23:19 - God is not a man, that He should lie ... Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? The implication is that, if God did not keep His promises, He would be guilty of lying.
As humans, there may be circumstances beyond our control when we simply cannot keep a promise we really intended to keep. But when we knowingly make a promise we never intend to keep, or when we could keep it but we deliberately choose not to, that is deceit. How many of us are guilty?
[Jeremiah 5:2; Exodus 21:8; Psalms 24:4; Malachi 1:14; Matthew 21:30; Acts 24:25; Genesis 3:4,5]
C. Flattery

Often people want to make a favorable impression on others, so they say nice things that they don't really mean or don't really believe to be true. This may seem kind, but it is a form of deliberately deceiving others.
Psalms 62:4 - They delight in lies; they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. When we don't mean the nice things we say, we are lying.
Psalms 78:36,37 - Nevertheless they flattered Him with their mouth, and they lied to Him with their tongue. Here the people flattered God by professing that they would serve Him but did not really mean it in their hearts. This is both a form of flattery and failure to keep promises. The passage says they lied.
Jude 16 - False teachers often walk according to their lusts, speaking smooth words, flattering people to gain advantage. This is deception because they say nice things about others, professing to care about them, but really they just seek their own advantage (money, a following, etc.).
This may remind us of politicians trying to get votes. They pretend to think highly of you, but they really want something from you.
Sometimes we really hold an unfavorable view of someone, but we don't want to insult them, so it is easy to say what we don't mean. Perhaps it isn't even proper for us to be thinking those negative thoughts about others. But if our thoughts are valid, then we need to either speak the truth or find something we can honestly say or just change the subject. But lying should not be an option.
Are we guilty?
[Romans 16:17,18; Proverbs 26:24,25,28; 27:6; Jeremiah 9:8; Psalms 12:2]
D. False Doctrine

When religious teaching is presented as truth even though it cannot be proved by the Bible, deceit is always involved.
Genesis 3:4 - Satan told Eve she would not die if she ate of the forbidden fruit. Yet God had said she would die (2:17). After Eve sinned, she said the serpent had beguiled her (3:13). [1 Timothy 2:14; 2 Corinthians 11:3]
Jeremiah 14:14 - Prophets prophesied lies in God's name. He had not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them, but they prophesied a false vision and the deceit of their heart.
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 - "False apostles" are called "deceitful workers," because they pretend to be servants of Christ, angels of light, and ministers of righteousness. Many teachers present themselves as men of God teaching His word, yet they teach things they cannot find in the Bible.
Acts 13:6,10 - Elymas the sorcerer tried to prevent Sergius Paulus from accepting the gospel. Paul accused him of being full of deceit and fraud.
Note that false teaching is sinful for a number of reasons. But one reason is that it always involves deceit. Many religious leaders are deceitful because they claim a teaching is from God when they know they don't have the proof. But sometimes a teacher is sincerely in error - he really believes he is teaching truth; in that case, he has been deceived by someone else. All false teaching is ultimately a lie in that it all originates with Satan, who knows it is a lie.
So false teaching is wrong for many reasons. But one reason is that it always involves deceit. Let us make sure we are not guilty!
[Note especially Ezekiel 13:6-9,19,22; 1 Thessalonians 2:3,4; 1 Timothy 4:2; Revelation 12:9. See also 2 Corinthians 4:2; Revelation 2:2; 3:14; 20:3,10; Isaiah 30:10; 9:15; Romans 16:18; Jeremiah 48:10; 5:31; 6:13; 20:6; 23:14,25,26,32; 27:10,14-16; 29:8,21-31; 1 John 4:1; Titus 1:10; Ezekiel 21:29; 22:28; Daniel 2:9; Zech. 10:2; 13:3; Matthew 24:24; Romans 1:25; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11; 1 Kings 22:22,23; 2 John 7; Deuteronomy 11:16; Ephesians 4:14; Colossians 2:4,8]

Part III of the article (This article is being posted in general & not with malice):

E. Hypocrisy
A hypocrite is a deceiver because he pretends to be something he knows he is not. He tries to give other people the impression he is more righteous than he really is.
1 Timothy 4:2 - Those who depart from the truth speak lies in hypocrisy. Note that their hypocrisy is associated with lying.
1 Peter 2:1 - Lay aside guile (deceit), hypocrisy, and evil speaking. Again, hypocrisy is associated with deceit. Hypocrisy is deceit because the hypocrite puts on a false front. He pretends to be better than he is.
Malachi 1:14 - When one pretends to offer a sacrifice to God but refuses to give what He knows God wants, he is a deceiver accursed of God.
Many people, even in the church, profess to serve God faithfully. But are we really doing what we know we should, or are we just deceiving others and maybe ourselves? Are we giving what we know God wants, or is it just a pretense?
[Psalms 78:35-37; Galatians 2:14; Acts 5:1-9; Jeremiah 7:4-11; 3:10; Acts 5:5]
F. Half Truths

Some think they are innocent as long as they say what is technically true, even though they intend to mislead others to believe what is not true. It is possible to tell things that are technically true, yet we leave out pertinent facts or otherwise so speak that we lead others to believe untruths.
Bible examples

Genesis 37:28,31-33 - Joseph's brothers sold him to the Midianites, dipped his coat in blood, brought it to Jacob and said, "We found this coat. Does it look like your son's or not?" This was technically true, but they omitted pertinent facts so they could lead Jacob to believe a wild animal had killed Joseph.
Exodus 32:4,24 - When confronted by Moses regarding the golden calf, Aaron said he threw in the gold and out came the calf. But he neglected to say that he had fashioned the calf with an engraving tool!
Matthew 26:60,61; 27:40 - One of the accusations made against Jesus at His trials was that he claimed He would destroy the temple and built it again in three days. But those who said this were "false witnesses." It was technically true that Jesus had said He would build the temple in three days. But He was referring to His body, meaning that He would rise from the dead three days after they killed Him (John 2:19-21).
Modern examples

Many salesmen are experts at half-truths. This is the method the photographer at the Cubs game was using.
Modern entertainment is often filled with this. Even Disney movies, "I Love Lucy," "Andy Griffith," and other supposedly good programs often justify deceit.
A popular song entitled "Sad Movies Always Make Me Cry" tells of a girl who goes home crying because she saw her boyfriend at a movie with another girl. When her mother asks her what's wrong, she says "to keep from telling her a lie, I just said, 'Sad movies always make me cry.'" It was technically true, but deceitful.
Most false teaching involves half-truths. What the teacher says may be technically true, but he leaves out essential facts or twists the truth to lead people to believe something different from what God intended.
I emphasize: we are not required to tell people everything we know. Some things are confidential or there may be no good reason why some particular person should be told what we know. Keeping a matter secret or confidential is not necessarily wrong. But if you are keeping a matter to yourself, don't lead others to think things that are untrue or that you have told them the whole matter when you have not.
I suspect that every accountable person has violated these principles, most of us many times. But have we repented of it, or do we continue to justify such practices?
[Proverbs 30:8; Acts 23:27; Genesis 3:4,5; Ezra 4:1,2,11-16]
G. Self-Deception

One of the saddest forms of deceit is self-deception. People who don't want to face reality can sometimes convince themselves to believe things that they really know are not true.
Bible teaching

Many passages warn about self-deception.
1 Corinthians 3:18 - Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. People often think they are so smart that they fool themselves into believing error.
A man in the movie "Princess Bride" thought he could out-smart anyone. He tried to fool another man to get him to drink poison, but then ended up drinking it himself. That is the way people are who think they are so smart but end up fooling themselves.
Galatians 6:3 - If anyone thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Sometimes people do not want to admit what they are really like, so they deceive themselves into thinking they are better than they are.
This especially happens in religion.
James 1:22,26 - But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless.
People deceive themselves, because they are in many ways religious. So they think they are acceptable, but God is still not pleased because of sins in other areas of their lives.
1 John 1:8 - If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
2 Timothy 4:3,4 - Some will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
Note that these people end up believing error, because they do not like the truth. They prefer teachers who "tickle their ears" - tell them what they want to hear. So they may end up believing they are acceptable to God, but they deceived themselves.

There's something about this thread that says it won't go well. It was started immediately after a disagreement with another member.

*sigh*

Closing for the sake of peace.