We often cloud the meaning of lying by using synonyms like prevaricate, mendacious, dissemble, equivocate, and obfuscate, or softer terms such as fibs, white lies, evasions, and less-than-truthful statements. Why do we attempt to obscure the act of lying? We know it is wrong, yet by calling it something else, something less overt, we question if it becomes less wrong. Our daily interactions are filled with phrases seeking affirmation of truth, like "You don't say!" or "Really?" We start sentences with "Honestly," or respond with "I hear you" and "You know what I mean?" We have grown so accustomed to lying or being lied to that we constantly seek reassurance that words, whether ours or others', hold truth.

The world suffers greatly because it lacks the truth, or more completely, because even though the truth is available, most will not accept it. Many times, the entire truth never comes out as we desire to appear good, making truthful statements that do not reveal the whole truth. This trait of evading the full truth traces back to our earliest ancestors. Adam told God, "This woman You gave me made me eat the forbidden fruit," yet the deeper truth was that he knew better but chose to please his wife. Similarly, Eve said to God, "It wasn't my fault. That tricky serpent deceived me into eating it," while the real truth was her desire to be made wise and have her mind opened, leading her to take what she wanted. Avoiding the whole truth can have far-reaching consequences, as partial truths often obscure the penalties and harm that follow actions, leaving out the full impact of choices made.

Truth is evaded whenever we shade it, obscure it, or leave out what should be told in order to create a false impression, and God's people must never take such evasion lightly. Evasion is rooted in Satan, the father of lies, who introduced deceit where only honesty and purity had existed. Anyone who lies, even in small ways, imitates him (John 8:44). We are most tempted when we want an advantage, when pride is at stake, when we want to appear better than we are, or when we want to cover a defect in ourselves or our merchandise. The world treats deceit as a normal way of life, and its ubiquity makes it easy to slip into it unconsciously. Examples include people asking to be paid under the table and a doctor offering to tell an insurer a patient was bleeding. Isaiah says that in the end time truth fails (Isaiah 59:3-4, 15). Scripture condemns lying in the Ten Commandments, ranks liars among the worst of men (I Timothy 1:9-10), and lists a lying tongue and a false witness among the things God hates (Proverbs 6:17-19). Paul commands us to put away lying and speak truth with our neighbor (Ephesians 4:25). Truthfulness does not demand answering every question or telling all we know. Some matters are private, and sometimes no answer or a simple answer is right. The test is motive: whether withholding comes from a selfish desire to deceive or to exalt ourselves. Liars will not enter the Kingdom (Revelation 22:14-15), so God's children must pause before speaking, repudiate Satan's way, and bear God's image.

Those who live in spiritual darkness evade truth because they have no relationship to it. Jesus told the Jews who opposed Him that they did not hear His words because their father was the Devil, who does not stand in the truth, is a liar, and is the father of lies. Having left the light, they lived in a world of lies, distortion, and falseness, so that truth was a foreign language to them and lies were their native tongue. Pilate, enmeshed in politics, no longer knew what truth was. The same darkness has fallen over present society, where most people speak the language of lies and deceit. Politicians, lawyers, salespeople, advertisers, scientists, doctors, and teachers are known for distorting truth, which was not so decades ago. Isaiah 5:20 pronounces woe on those who call evil good and good evil, putting darkness for light. Satan shines a false light on the pleasures of sin and uses false enlightenment to draw people into deeper darkness. Sinners fear the light, and those who rebel against it do not know its ways. Having only a form of knowledge and truth, as the Jews did in the law, produces an appearance of godliness that may deceive people but cannot escape God's heart-searching eye. The one who does the truth comes to the light, so that his deeds may be seen to have been done in God.