Lies for Social situations

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I was wondering what people thought about lieing to avoid certain social situations. The social situations are not sinful they are things such as going out in groups. The lie is told because you don’t want to hurt the people’s feelings who invited you. Do you feel this is a sin?
 
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CCC

1753 A good intention (for example, that of helping one’s neighbor) does not make behavior that is intrinsically disordered, such as lying and calumny, good or just. The end does not justify the means.

1761 There are concrete acts that it is always wrong to choose, because their choice entails a disorder of the will, i.e., a moral evil. One may not do evil so that good may result from it.
 
Why bother lying? If someone can’t handle a simple “hey man, not tonight” then they are a psycho and you need to stay away from them.
 
Thank you for the reply. Would you say it is better to simply say no thank you then even if you hurt their feelings?
 
I would be sure to include a “Thanks for asking” in my refusal, to help bolster their feelings. Maybe their feelings are really not that fragile after all. Perhaps you just assume they are, which is kind but not necessarily accurate. Anyway, if they persist in trying to cajole you into going, remember there is no need to feel bad or guilty over being firm in your resolve. Show you care by giving a polite refusal, and in most cases they’ll soon get over the disappointment. But as others have said, there’s no need to lie about it.
 
I have a few thoughts on this.

First, I wonder why you would think there would be a problem if you decline an invitation from your friends/family/coworkers/acquaintances/etc without giving a reason. And secondly, I wonder why you think there would be a problem if you do give the true reason for declining. But those are are things to ponder which really don’t address the immediate topic.

One of the reasons people have difficulty with declining invitations is because our society has grown to believe that it deserves an overwhelming, emotion-altering reason to accept a no answer. There are really not that many situations where we would owe someone an explanation for our absence. A polite refusal should be enough. Reasons are intellectual property and we are not obligated to share our property with everyone who asks for it.

The more someone badgers you for a reason why you are declining an invitation, it’s generally all the more reason not to give a reason.

I also think that such situations give us an opportunity to think about the right of others to decline invitations from us without us perceiving the response as a deliberate slight.
 
Lying is wrong. It’s always best to tell the truth. That way, you don’t have to keep up with who you’ve told what because you will have told everyone the same thing.
 
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