Can someone lie and not know they are lying?

Originally Posted by mizpeh

If someone teaches heresy but believes they are teaching the truth are they liars or heretics or both?

They are heretics, not liars.

[rgcraig]

Originally Posted by Chewy

I have found that preachers lie and don't even realize it.

I was just listening to a CD by Larry Booker and he said, "I would like to speak for the next few moments on (the sermon title)."

He preached for an hour and in my estimation an hour is more than a few minutes.

!!!!!

Whoa, there are going to be a lot in trouble now!

[HeavenlyOne]

Originally Posted by RevDWW

Years ago I had lunch with an HR person, that had hired me into a firm, after my first couple of weeks of work. It was the weirdest lunch I've pretty much ever had. Everything I brought up in conversation she had some kind of link to it. I mentioned my church, she said her and her husband had gotten married there (they had not), I mentioned a day care my son was attending and she knew the second grade teacher, named her, but she was not there.
She seemed sincere and would have been believable if I didn't really know it. I think she was just trying to find common ground, by was just making things up to get there. Weird I tell yeah!

Can people lie without even knowing they are lying?

Sounds to me that she'd know if she was lying or not.

I don't believe it's possible to lie without knowing it. One might be mistaken (for instance, I might tell someone that IAM is from Canada because of something he wrote that led me to believe that, or something I'd heard from someone else), but one can only lie if they have intent. Lying is bearing false witness...meaning one has to know (witness) that what they are saying isn't true (false).

[RevDWW]

Originally Posted by HeavenlyOne

Sounds to me that she'd know if she was lying or not.

I don't believe it's possible to lie without knowing it. One might be mistaken (for instance, I might tell someone that IAM is from Canada because of something he wrote that led me to believe that, or something I'd heard from someone else), but one can only lie if they have intent. Lying is bearing false witness...meaning one has to know (witness) that what they are saying isn't true (false).

Can you lie so much that you wouldn't know the truth if it bit you own the nose?

Is it ever ok to use deceit? King David did to escape his enemy, by pretending he was crazy.

[HeavenlyOne]

Originally Posted by RevDWW

Can you lie so much that you wouldn't know the truth if it bit you own the nose?

Is it ever ok to use deceit? King David did to escape his enemy, by pretending he was crazy.

I know people who don't recall the truth, and I'm not sure if they just don't remember or if something is wrong in the brain department, but two people I've known all my life come to mind, and I'm puzzled by the things they recall that never happened, and they can't even tell the same story twice.

As for using deceit, it's always been my opinion that *intent* is what matters in telling an untruth.