Indirect Lying

Bearing false witness does not necessarily mean that one must overtly tell a lie in order to commit such a sin. In fact, many violations to the 9th commandment involve indirect lies through the use of statements that are intended to mislead other people. Although the words themselves do not sound like clear-cut lies, the deliberate attempt to lead another to believe something that is false is already a lie in itself. For example, a teenage girl wishes to attend a house party with her classmates. However, she has many exams to study for, which is why she believes that if she asks her parents for permission to attend the party, they will forbid it. Because of this, she crafts misleading statements for the purpose of tricking her parents into allowing her to the party. She tells her parents, “I have a meeting with my classmates at a friend’s house.” Saying that the girl has a meeting with classmates at a friend’s house is not technically untrue. She is in fact, going to be meeting with her classmates. They will be at a house. However, the statement is intended to mislead the parents into thinking that this meeting is school-related, when in fact, it is not. The girl wants to trick per parents into giving their permission, without taking full responsibility for her lie.