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Lying / Lying Spirit

Faith Q&A › Metropolitan Youssef › Spiritual Life › Lying / Lying Spirit

The question

In the Bible, we see that Joseph falsely accused his brothers of being spies even though he knew full well that they weren't spies. He did it only as an excuse for them to bring Benjamin to Egypt. Is not that deceit or lying? Is it justified?

The answer

In the case of Joseph and his brothers, he was not intentionally lying to deceive for personal gain, nor to fabricate a truth, nor to mislead anyone, nor to cause harm to anyone, rather Joseph wisely concealed a specific truth for a certain purpose of more importance with the goal of revealing the whole truth completely in due time.

Answered by His Eminence Metropolitan Youssef (opens in a new tab)

Related questions

Questions answered by His Eminence Metropolitan Youssef (opens in a new tab) of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. Question 1725 on the Diocese’s Q&A site. Questions and answers © Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. All rights reserved.