Odd Question.. Is Lying "always" Considered A Mortal Sin?

[White Knight]

I'm curious I know this sounds basic but I'm wondering, because I know committing mortal sins have to be of full consent and a serious grave matter and you have to know that it is a sin, now I know lying in general is a sin, and is wrong to do, however for example if someone tells a small lie to a child about say, the tooth fairy being real, as opposed to a person lying in court, clearly one is worse than the other.


Maybe I have answered my own question but, I basically lied out of anger and frustration today, and am not sure on how serious the matter was. I knew it was wrong, yet I did it anyway, I still need to go to Confession and will go ASAP, but Is this considered mortal or venial? ethier way its a sin I know for a fact, but is all lying considered mortal since its against Truth?

[withouthavingseen]

[quote name='White Knight' post='1430595' date='Dec 7 2007, 01:15 AM']I'm curious I know this sounds basic but I'm wondering, because I know committing mortal sins have to be of full consent and a serious grave matter and you have to know that it is a sin, now I know lying in general is a sin, and is wrong to do, however for example if someone tells a small lie to a child about say, the tooth fairy being real, as opposed to a person lying in court, clearly one is worse than the other.
Maybe I have answered my own question but, I basically lied out of anger and frustration today, and am not sure on how serious the matter was. I knew it was wrong, yet I did it anyway, I still need to go to Confession and will go ASAP, but Is this considered mortal or venial? ethier way its a sin I know for a fact, but is all lying considered mortal since its against Truth?[/quote]

While actively presenting as true what you believe not to be true (lying) is always a sin, it is not necessarily mortal. Some sins, such as lying, whose matter is possibly grave (grounds for mortal sin if the other conditions are met) admit of [i]parvity of matter[/i] or "littleness of matter". In these cases, the matter is not grave because it is "so small". For example, while stealing is sinful, there is a big difference between stealing $100, or stealing a widow's savings (on the one hand) and stealing (even deliberately) an M&M (on the other hand). Lying also has the possibility of this parvity, or smallness, which makes it not be grave matter, and thus no mortal sin.

Some sin categories don't ever have parvity. It is not possible to kill someone "a little". Nor is it possible to "kinda" commit adultery "a little". But there are lies that are genuinely trivial.

"Honey, do you like this dress?" While not encouraging lying, I am trying to emphasize that this is a far-cry from the person who lies under oath in court in order to send an innocent man to prison. It is off by several orders of magnitude.

Mostly, when we lie, it is (1) to get ourselves out of difficulties or trouble; or (2) to get someone else into them. One of the practical, moral reasons (as opposed to theological reasons, like "it is an attack on Truth Himself, Jesus Christ,") that lying is bad is that it weakens our character. We might get used to telling "little" lies in order to get out of uncomfortable situations (like a wife with an ugly dress asking our opinion), rather than saying something constructive and then dealing with the fallout like an adult. In this way, the lies might go from genuinely little to some not so little ones on a nice, slippery slope.

If the lie foreseeably could have caused harm in some way to someone else, it was almost certainly not trivial.

So, the lie is not a mortal sin if: (1) it is over something trivial; (2) it was not done freely and deliberately; or (3) it was done unknowingly.

[Norseman82]

Another thing to factor in is this: does the person being "lied to" have a right to the truth? Think of people who hid Jews from Nazis in World War 2 as an example.

[SJP]

[quote name='Norseman82' post='1431404' date='Dec 8 2007, 03:13 PM']Another thing to factor in is this: does the person being "lied to" have a right to the truth? Think of people who hid Jews from Nazis in World War 2 as an example.[/quote]

Excellent question!

[withouthavingseen]

[quote name='Norseman82' post='1431404' date='Dec 8 2007, 03:13 PM']Another thing to factor in is this: does the person being "lied to" have a right to the truth? Think of people who hid Jews from Nazis in World War 2 as an example.[/quote]

Yeah. Interestingly enough, lying is always a sin, because it is always a distortion of the truth, and thus of Jesus Christ. We can see what I mean by this example. The idea response would be, "Well, if I had any Jews I wouldn't tell you, because you are murderous and I, being a Christian, will actively oppose your purpose wherever I can, so you'ld best take me instead. Our Lord and Savior is a Jew! God save the Jews! God throw down this regime!..." and so on as you're being dragged off for your witness. Another point makes the case: we cannot imagine Jesus telling a lie, even a fairly slight one, to avoid trouble - even very serious trouble.

Of course, we are not mostly that courageous. To be able to act as Jesus did, or in the self-sacrificial way of the saints, like St. Max Kolbe, we must get SUPER holy, and we better start SUPER fast, because tough times are coming ahead.

When someone hasn't a right to the truth, and a lie will inflict no harm up them, then to lie to that person is probably a very small sin, the culpability of which is further mitigated by the intense fear that goes into saying to a stormtrooper, "Nope. No Jews here."

Key thing: our Father loves us. He doesn't want Jews getting murdered either. Yet, he does want to see us grow in the integrity of person, and relationship with Him, that will enable us to do amazing things. That needs lots of prayer and practice. He doesn't just want to see us individually transformed, but our whole culture, too - one person at a time.