The question as posed too vernacular for its metaphysical purport. I'd rather pose the question as 'are absolute truth and absolute goodness the same?' . Goodness and truth as we know them are not absolute ; lying is human and unknown in metaphysical terms.

An example from real life is art itself. If an artefact tells a lie which is to say it is deliberately or naively false is fails the truth test and is not a work of art. The work of art is also beautiful but beauty is the sensual evidence of truth.

However minds are changed or maintained by hormonal and brain chemical reactions as well as by reason. The only steadfast thing is the search for goodness and truth and to engage in this search we need to be armed with mental lie detectors. One of those lie detectors is knowledge from responsible sources. Another is sound judgement. Another lie detector is compassion.

Absolute truth and absolute goodness are perhaps absolutely identical. However we humans don't live in a world of absolutes, unfortunately for us. Our truths and our goodnesses are relative truths and goodnesses. Therefore sometimes a lie may be more good than telling the truth. Circumstance alter cases.

Yes, I believe that circumstances alter cases. However a lie which is aimed at helping others or one other is better than a lie which hurts others but helps oneself only. A deliberate untruth is bad when it misleads another so that she goes off and does something harmful. Lies are sometimes passive as when someone is too lazy, or too callous to communicate something the other person should know about.

A Poison Tree



I was angry with my friend:

I told my wrath, my wrath did end.

I was angry with my foe:

I told it not, my wrath did grow.





And I watered it in fears,

Night and morning with my tears; And I sunned it with smiles,

And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,

Till it bore an apple bright.





And my foe beheld it shine.

And he knew that it was mine,

And into my garden stole

When the night had veiled the pole;

In the morning glad I see

My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

William Blake

This poem says it all. Thank you, Bermudj, for printing it.The thing needed is that the people in the village need to know that they have evil possibilities and evil actualities, and deal with their evil from then on. This is what a more practical import of The Lord's Prayer is, that 'deliver us from evil' is not a request for magic help from above, but a looking inward into our own souls and our own possibilities for future actions.

Bermudj wrote:

Misty wrote:.... Each person's heart is a mixed bag of the propensity for good and evil. Some learn to acknowledge the good and some learn to acknowledge the evil. Lies begin in the desires of the heart moving to thought then the lips and into action. Lies, betrayal, deceit is usually seen as an evil, but can be used against evil as well. Intention of the heart determines which is being used.

Evil does not seem to me to be the worst obstacle, it is the defence of evil which perpetuates it.

I agree with Bermudj. I think that we are all inevitably, without exception, imbued with the potential to do evil deeds and unless we recognise this possibility we cannot move to try to control our own badness and that of others. I would prefer to describe what determines whether good or evil is being used as reason plus compassion, rather than 'intention of the heart' which sounds like compassion which is not illuminated by reason and can be interpreted as unthinking, reactive response.

Bermudj wrote:

Tyler Durden wrote:I don't believe in a thing such as evil , it's a relative, flexible, indefinite statement that somebody or something is "evil" or "good" and most of all quite arrogant to judge somebody or something as good or evil considering the insignificance of either of them as a decision and it's consequence as it's follow up.

Is rigging interest rates in the banks not evil? I bet you what happened there began with a lie.

Rigging interest rates besides being illegal is also immoral because to the very best of knowledge, experience and feelings the general moral principle is that it is wrong to abuse the trust of others who are not as able in the specified area as we are. This applies to teachers/students, adults/children, financiers/ non-financiers, humans/animals, doctors/patients, employers/employees, scientists/non-scientists, priests/believers, seeing people/blind people, therapist/client. And so on.

So I agree with Bermudj.There are moral principles.I'd add that certain moral principles apply to everyman of every culture , and interpersonal trust applies to every culture of every society.

I agree with Recoil. Naziism is a bigger lie and has worse effects.

If you stole to feed your family and then lied about it, your lie would be a lesser evil than if you owned up to the theft and as a result your family starved the next time. The greater evil in the latter case would be, has been, and is, the evil of an improvident world.

I am glad that Bermudj told that story, because now I feel more prepared to assist the pedestrian.Shame the devil!

I feel that the best anyone can hope for is that reason will intervene to control our bears, wolves and even our thieving little foxes.