Is there ever a time that lying is acceptable?

I would say that I have told little white lies to keep me out of trouble BUT I do tend to come clean as I feel guilty and lying eats me up inside, whether they are white or otherwise! I once lied in an email to an employment agency, telling them that I hadn't rung in because I was at my parents' house as my Dad was ill and Mum couldn't cope (they live 100 miles away) and I'd emailed the agency on a laptop at my parents' house. This was a complete fabrication. In fact, the email was sent from my home address, not 100 miles away..all I had to do was ring up and say I didn't like the job and could they find me another one! Why I did all that I don't know but it was a "spur of the moment" decision and once I was in the lie I couldn't wriggle out of it. I confessed to my partner as well..eventually! From experience I would say that it's a whole lot easier to tell the truth than to lie! Also, if someone lies a lot, eventually they do get found out. I once lived with someone who lied continuously..even to his own family and they weren't impressed when they discovered the extent to which he would lie. Nasty piece of work he was!

I don't think lying is acceptable but I have found two sides to this. My boyfriend tells little white lies, for example, one night he was coming to my house and said he would be there at 5pm. He called me at 5.15 and said he was having problems with his shower and would be at mine around 5.30 (his shower was actually playing up at the time so that was completely believable for me). When he arrived at 5.30 he gave me an outfit he had bought for me and actually admitted that he had been at the shop buying the outfit for me, not in his shower. I think why lie about this. I don't need to know where he is 24/7 so all he needed to say was "I'm running late I'll explain when I get there". The other side is, I was shopping with my sister one day. She tried on a skirt that she really liked. She asked me to look at it and give my opinion. The minute I saw it I didn't like it. My sister is a UK size 8 (US size 4) but the skirt made her legs look enormous. I told her I really didn't like the skirt to save her feelings but actually, I did quite like the skirt, it just looked terrible on her. I couldn't possibly have told her her legs looked fat in it, that would have been cruel. She ended up not buying it as I went on about how much I hated it. She still doesn't know to this day and probably wouldn't even remember the skirt in question (it was about 7 years ago). Because I don't like lies and lying, I will always remember that. However, I don't think I made the wrong decision in my lie.

I guess one good reason that lie is acceptable is if it will save someone's life. That would a selfless reason. :)

Personally, I've never found a reason to lie, except when I was a kid. (I didn't do it!)

I think white lies are acceptable. If someone says to you "did you get me _____ for Christmas?" Wouldn't it kind of ruin the surprise if you told them the truth? I think lying is acceptable in some cases. Sometimes it's just not a good idea to voice your opinion about something.

If you are lying that means that you are not telling the truth. Therefore,whether it is a white lies or not still it is a lie because you are not telling the truth. As a human being some people say white lies are acceptable because its purpose is reasonable and unintentional. But for me it is still a sin because you are not telling the truth.

If I have the choice between telling a little white lie and hurting someone's feelings over something minor, I will lie. Usually these lies involve opinions and mine isn't going to change anything anyway.

Lying, regardless whatever which be the purpose to do it, remain became a lie that would eventually lead frustrating for the people who lied. But sometimes a lie must to be done and can be accepted by the crowd if the benefits lie far greater than its ugliness

There should never be a time for lying to be acceptable. Lying is breaking trust. When we are dishonest, how can we have healthy relationships. We shouldn;t just accept a lie and say that it is all right because that would n't be the truth.

If you are a devout Catholic, there's no way that lying can be acceptable. But for others lying can be acceptable if the outcome will be positive.

Hello! In my own opinion, I think there are lies that are acceptable, we are just humans, not perfect so we are prone to mistakes and I believe this includes lying, and white lies although not really good is justifiable. Let me give you an example of a white lie, you lie to someone just to make sure that she/he will not get hurt, this is a lie that protects the other person, right? So, I agree that some lies are acceptable. :-)