The eighth commandment, in Exodus 20, 16, is “You shall not bear false testimony against your neighbor,” from which it has been extended to the generic prohibition of lying.
It looks as if, by giving false testimony against our neighbor, or when we lie “for our benefit,” we only harm him; actually, we harm ourselves.
Lying is one of the actions that most enslaves human beings. Am I exaggerating? Take the test. Make up a lie today, absurd, silly, unimportant, and try to maintain it for the next 24 hours. You will see how difficult it is for you to be consistent; and how you must create new lies to validate the previous one. That’s why lying is a serious sin. Some even think that lying is not a sin, since we all do it.
Sometimes, to commit another sin, it is necessary to resort to lying. How can you steal from an unsuspecting person, if you don’t lie to him first? How can you have an immoral relationship, without saying that you are attracted to that person? Thus, the damage from the other sins is so great, that the lie is diluted, as if it were unimportant.
Lying involves hiding who you are. People who are “pathological liars” show many problems with self-acceptance and self-esteem.
There are indeed ideologies and religions that consider that lying is not bad, as long as it is used for proselytizing; they are enslaving ideologies. We must remember that the Prince of the world is also the Prince of lies. Opening the door to lies is giving him power over us.
When we lie and are caught, we usually do it again – this is how this enslaving ritual is created: we say that it was “a white lie”, or we justify it as if there were sufficient reasons to excuse our behavior, or we maintain the lie despite everything.
We often meet lying children, who can maintain their lies, despite having all the evidence against them, or children who establish their relationships with others based on fantasies.
Why are parents so worried about their children lying? They know that if their son lies, he will do a lot of harm to himself, and to those close to him. He will be someone who is easily rejected by others and by himself.
Lying harms us, and prevents us from leading a full life. Not in vain did Jesus say explicitly, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (Jn, 8, 32), therefore, since freedom is indispensable, and lying enslaves us, lying attacks our being children of God.
Excerpts from Nacho Calderón Castro in Exaudi
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