Does One Always Posses the Moral Obligation to Be Honest?

[Lloyd Danforth]

Mike runs into the room and says; "Joe is trying to kill me". Then he hides in the closet.

Joe runs in a minute later with a pistol his hand and says; "Where did that f____r Mike go".

Are you gonna tell him the truth?

"What's wrong, Joe? Why are you looking for Mike?"

Redirection is not a lie.

Irrelevant. The question is, would you consider a lie here to be immoral? Do you have an obligation to tell Joe the truth in this instance?

Depends on how I feel about Mike.

[Moebius Tripp]

Yes, we have no Jews in Sweden.

[KBCraig]

It occurs to me that it's a great testimony to the honest of liberty lovers that this question even gets asked. Honest people feel compelled to not only answer truthfully, but completely: "the whole truth, and nothing but the truth".

Our daughter is 19, and a jewel. She is moral and honestly forthright, sometimes to a fault. Because Mary works her own schedule at home and I work shifts, we sometimes nap in the afternoon to make up for staying up to spend time together. It took some time to convince Sarah that when she answers the business phone, it's perfectly okay to say, "I'm sorry, she's not available right now. May I take a message or schedule an appointment for you?"

As opposed to, "She's asleep." 

Both are true statements. The impression they give is quite different.

As a Christian, I believe that Jesus told no lies. But I certainly admire His ability to ignore dishonest questions and answer something else entirely.

[Pat K]

Um Fuck NO!

[Lloyd Danforth]

Hell! I have a hard time telling Kevin the truth!