White lie for free tickets a sin?

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trobinson017

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We have a big auto race event in our city every year that I’ve been going to the past 3 years. This year I received a free ticket offer in the mail by a cigarette company. All I had to do was call a toll-free number and answer some questions to get the free ticket. The rub: you have to be a smoker to get the ticket and when they asked I told them I was…but I’m not. I do smoke cigars once in awhile but not cigarettes. So I have the free ticket and now wondering if I need to confess this or maybe give the ticket to someone else and pay for my own ticket ($40). I don’t really feel guilty (should I?) and I’m certainly not hurting anyone that I can tell. I can also rationalize that smoking a cigar once in a while makes me a “smoke”, per se.

Just curious what you folks think.

trob
 
I think that if you really thought that your “white lie” was OK, you wouldn’t be questioning it here.
 
I think it’s obvious you are rationalizing your way out of a lie, ie. sin. You were asked a question and you lied to get what you wanted. You are indeed hurting someone–the smoker (it’s legal) who would have received the ticket.
 
Go talk to your priest. You would not have posted the question if you weren’t already feeling guilty about having told a fib to get the ticket.

You know that what they meant by ‘smoker’. You knew you were not one. And, as to “not hurting anyone”… well, who do you think paid for the ticket? And, a sin doesn’t have to “hurt” someone to be a sin.

Quit rationalizing.
 
yea, it was a lie, which means it was wrong. But I hardly think that this constitutes a grave matter.
 
Hi,

I agree with all the posters here.

I recently told a white lie. I just scheduled a trip to Disneyworld. The cut off age for kids pricing is 9. My son is 9 right now but will be 10 when we go. I told the agent he was 9. I knew exactly what I was doing. I wanted to save a couple of hundred bucks.:o I mean he would have only been 10 a couple of months–right:shrug: I did think about it but didnt feel too guilty either.

Well-- a couple of days later I was telling my son that he would be 9 when we go to disney. He thought for a few seconds and said no I will be 10. I told him that it would save us money. He paused for a few seconds and said “So your a liar!”:eek:

I didnt say a word the rest of the way home because he was right!
I confessed my sin to a fellow christian the next day and then called the travel agent and admitted what I had done and had them put on the ticket he was 10.
My son called me out and the Holy Spirit convicted me to do the right thing.
You are confessing here–so we are calling you out and I hope the Holy Spirit convicts you to do the right thing.😃

Will you enjoy yourself if you go with the free ticket? If no then Im sure you know what you need to do.😉
 
I think it depends on the question. If the question was “Are you a smoker?”, based on what you have said the correct answer is yes. And, the sort of guilty feeling may be more from trying to lie to yourself about smoking. If they asked if you smoked cigarettes, that is different.
 
trobinson017 said:
We have a big auto race event in our city every year that I’ve been going to the past 3 years. This year I received a free ticket offer in the mail by a cigarette company. All I had to do was call a toll-free number and answer some questions to get the free ticket. The rub: you have to be a smoker to get the ticket and when they asked I told them I was…but I’m not. I do smoke cigars once in awhile but not cigarettes. So I have the free ticket and now wondering if I need to confess this or maybe give the ticket to someone else and pay for my own ticket ($40). I don’t really feel guilty (should I?) and I’m certainly not hurting anyone that I can tell. I can also rationalize that smoking a cigar once in a while makes me a “smoke”, per se.

Just curious what you folks think.

trob
Click to expand...
Confess the sin, give $40 to your Church, enjoy the race.
 
. . .you smoke cigars . . .

did they specifically ask if you smoked cigarettes and asked if you smoked their brand? because if they asked if you smoked, or if you ever smoke and you answered truthfully then IMO your fine. cause you were telling the truth, even though you were not being in a state of truth. I think its up to your own conscience to decide this issue, though I echo someone else who mentioned that you must have an inklin considering you have posted here.

My question is “Are those companies not breaking the law?”
Here in Ireland it is illegal for tobacco companies to do any advertisements or promotions! Big furor a while back cause they were sponsoring a car at a rally!
Plus is it not discrimination against non-smokers?
 
If you smoke cigars occasionally, you’re a smoker. Not a lie, in that case. They didn’t ask if you were a cigaratte smoker.

You also may have kept a smoker from getting free samples, thereby helping his or her health. 🤷 😉

Anyway, if it bothers you, do as suggested and give $40 to charity.
 
Maynoothman said:
My question is “Are those companies not breaking the law?”
Here in Ireland it is illegal for tobacco companies to do any advertisements or promotions! Big furor a while back cause they were sponsoring a car at a rally!
Plus is it not discrimination against non-smokers?
Click to expand...
The only prohibition against tobacco companies here is TV and radio advertising as far as I know.
 
Well, after scouring my memory for the exact conversation over the phone they did ask if I smoked cigarettes and what brand. So, I knowingly lied. I will confess the sin and then figure out how to remediate it, either by adding the $40 to my tithe or donate the ticket to someone else. I still have to be the one to pick up the tickets so there’s a potential for them to ask again if I smoke cigarettes. If so, I hope I’m strong enough to say “no” and let them disqualify me. It will be embarrassing as I’m sure there will be lots of other people around. I may fail to be honest just to save face. Oh what a dilemma and fine example of the havoc a “little white lie” can cause!!

Thanks for all the (name removed by moderator)ut. You all have certainly gotten me to think more about those little white LIES.

trob
 
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