Is it ethical to lie in this situation?

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anon7734

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I have to take a math quiz online, I’m not very well prepared. We have to sign a thing saying we didn’t cheat. I think most people in my class will cheat, because it’s so easy to and that this makes the signing of the form is a social formality. Is it okay if I cheat and then say I didn’t, because it’s expected that most people will and that this is just a formality?
 
Is this even a serious question? It’s pretty obvious that the answer is no, it’s not okay.
Can’t imagine why you’d even think it was.
 
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anon7734 said:
I think most people in my class will cheat, because it’s so easy to and that this makes the signing of the form is a social formality. Is it okay if I cheat and then say I didn’t, because it’s expected that most people will and that this is just a formality?
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Does God ask you to be formally honest, or actually honest?
 
Of course it’s not okay, or even remotely ethical.

Do badly this time and remain honest. Next time, prepare for your test.
 
Checkout This Catechism
PART THREE
LIFE IN CHRIST

SECTION TWO
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

CHAPTER TWO
“YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF”

ARTICLE 8
THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.253

It was said to the men of old, "You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn."254

2464 The eighth commandment forbids misrepresenting the truth in our relations with others. This moral prescription flows from the vocation of the holy people to bear witness to their God who is the truth and wills the truth. Offenses against the truth express by word or deed a refusal to commit oneself to moral uprightness: they are fundamental infidelities to God and, in this sense, they undermine the foundations of the covenant.
 
[2466](javascript:openWindow(‘cr/2466.htm’)😉 In Jesus Christ, the whole of God’s truth has been made manifest. “Full of grace and truth,” he came as the “light of the world,” he is the Truth .257 "Whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness."258 The disciple of Jesus continues in his word so as to know “the truth [that] will make you free” and that sanctifies.259 To follow Jesus is to live in “the Spirit of truth,” whom the Father sends in his name and who leads "into all the truth."260 To his disciples Jesus teaches the unconditional love of truth: "Let what you say be simply ‘Yes or No.’"261

[2467](javascript:openWindow(‘cr/2467.htm’)😉 Man tends by nature toward the truth. He is obliged to honor and bear witness to it: "It is in accordance with their dignity that all men, because they are persons . . . are both impelled by their nature and bound by a moral obligation to seek the truth, especially religious truth. They are also bound to adhere to the truth once they come to know it and direct their whole lives in accordance with the demands of truth."262

[2468](javascript:openWindow(‘cr/2468.htm’)😉 Truth as uprightness in human action and speech is called truthfulness , sincerity, or candor. Truth or truthfulness is the virtue which consists in showing oneself true in deeds and truthful in words, and in guarding against duplicity, dissimulation, and hypocrisy.

[2469](javascript:openWindow(‘cr/2469.htm’)😉 "Men could not live with one another if there were not mutual confidence that they were being truthful to one another."263 The virtue of truth gives another his just due. Truthfulness keeps to the just mean between what ought to be expressed and what ought to be kept secret: it entails honesty and discretion. In justice, "as a matter of honor, one man owes it to another to manifest the truth."264

2470 The disciple of Christ consents to “live in the truth,” that is, in the simplicity of a life in conformity with the Lord’s example, abiding in his truth. "If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth."265
 
It’s a class where no one really cares, including the teacher. I was wondering if it’s okay to say what’s technically false but socially acceptable
 
I wouldn’t say one way or the other if I did what you are suggesting. Then you won’t lie. If you have to perjure yourself you could spend some time studying instead of asking if it’s ok to lie. lol Good luck.

CCC 2470 above puts it most succintly.
 
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anon7734 said:
I was wondering if it’s okay to say what’s technically false but socially acceptable
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Do you think Jesus cares about what the world holds to be acceptable when it is opposed to what He says is acceptable? Why should what the world says is okay trump what He says is not okay?

The opinion of the world is worthless, fickle, and self-serving.
 
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Both lying AND cheating are not only unethical, but, sinful.
 
OP, please don’t come on here and seek justifications for you to commit clearly wrong and sinful acts. I could go out and pick up some single man at the bar tonight and have sexual relations with him too, nobody really cares since it’s not illegal to do that and I’m not married and don’t have any family who’d be bothered by it. But it would still be a sin.
 
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Oh stop trying to justify your bad behavior.
Did you really think anyone here is going to say “yeah, go ahead because no one cares?”
 
You don’t even have to use ethics here, just common sense. Would you rather have the surgeon who is about to operate on you be one that passed ALL their exams because they actually KNEW the material, or because of not being prepared, cheated on their tests?? Would you rather drive across a bridge that the engineer who designed it be one that passed ALL their exams because they actually KNEW the material, or because they weren’t prepared, cheated on their tests?? How about if you are a passenger on an airplane, and your landing gear won’t go down and your pilots need to make an emergency landing. Do you want your life in the hands of pilots who actually passed ALL their exams and experience because they actually KNEW the material, or because of not being prepared, cheated on their tests?? Sometimes the very information you need is some little piece of info you learned that at the time, seemed unimportant. You get the idea…
 
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anon7734 said:
I was wondering if it’s okay to say what’s technically false but socially acceptable
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No, it’s not. Not only because of what it does to others, even if you manage to rationalise that away, but also because of what it does to yourself. The choices you make impact who you are. Don’t let these choices be sin.
 
anon7734 said:
I have to take a math quiz online, I’m not very well prepared. We have to sign a thing saying we didn’t cheat. I think most people in my class will cheat, because it’s so easy to and that this makes the signing of the form is a social formality. Is it okay if I cheat and then say I didn’t, because it’s expected that most people will and that this is just a formality?
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If you cheat, you need to confess that sin.
If you cheat and lie about it by signing the form, you need to confess that as a 2nd sin.

What you describe will always be a sin. NOW - it may not send you to hell, but it’s still AT LEAST a venial sin.
 
Willy1 said:
You signed a oath syaing you would not do it. That is perjury.
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To be fair, the OP didn’t say he/she signed an oath. It may have been just a statement.

Sinful regardless, but I think it’s different than lying while taking an oath.
 
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While in may not be a oath you signed something you said you would not do. You put your name to it. So it is perjury.
 
anon7734 said:
I have to take a math quiz online, I’m not very well prepared. We have to sign a thing saying we didn’t cheat. I think most people in my class will cheat, because it’s so easy to and that this makes the signing of the form is a social formality. Is it okay if I cheat and then say I didn’t, because it’s expected that most people will and that this is just a formality?
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NO.

Don’t cheat, do your best on the test, and sign the form.

If you fail or get a low grade on the test, that will just have to be the way it is.

I have to think that the massive student loans many students are having to take out, establish a horrible temptation to lie or cheat in one’s studies — if you fail, you won’t get credit for the class, and you might even not be able to get your degree. Students are gambling that they will be able to get a high-paying job right out of college, or some short time afterward, and be able to pay that loan back — but what happens if they can’t? They are also having to find fields where they can “max out” their degrees and “get the most bang for their buck”, sometimes without regard to whether they will actually be happy with this line of work, or whether they will be good at it or not — finding their calling, so to speak. And sadly, using the college years to find one’s way in life, or to study the things that will build your character and intellect, and make you a better person, is fast becoming an outdated concept. It’s hard to justify investing four years in self-actualization and enhancement of one’s intellect and virtue, when that comes with a six-figure price tag. That is very sad. Traditionally, that was precisely the role college played in life.
 
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