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Why Do We Lie? I Can Think of 6 Reasons

4. Malicious slander.

When I am sinned against I can be tempted to slander.

I can be responsible for telling a lie or spreading a lie about someone that I do not like. I do this for revenge sometimes, but sometimes I do it to make myself look better, to build a falsely close relationship with someone else or just because it seems fun.

5. Denial.

If lies continue to go unchecked, eventually they spiral down into a calloused denial.

It gets so bad that I really do not even know that I am lying. I even believe my own lie. I think it’s truth, but it’s not. So, I live in flat out denial.

6. Callous habits.

Eventually, I develop the habit of lying rather than the habit of telling the truth. It’s usually not those big lies, but those little white lies. Those lies that are just cutting the corner and only leaving out a few details.  We get into patterns of surface relationships, surface conversations, and before we know it, a good portion of our world is revolving around a lie.

At root in our lying hearts is idolatry. Lying is an attempt to change reality.

How much more idolatrous can you can get than to stare reality in the face and attempt to reconstruct a reality of our own making?

I also believe that John Piper is correct when he says,

“ … when Paul says that the old nature is corrupt, he means (among other things) that the old nature is a liar. And this means, then, that the corruption of lying comes from the desires of deceit. Very simply, this means that the reason we lie is because we have desires that we shouldn’t have, and the reason we have them is because we are deceived about what is truly desirable.”

In other words, the way to fight lying is to be satisfied in reality as God has created it. If we truly find Him and His ways desirable then we won’t be so tempted to construct false reality of our own.