As I was watching TV today, I noticed several commercials which featured "the little white lie". It got me to thinking...how does one define a lie these days?

If your best friend comes to you, fresh from the beauty parlor, and her hair looks worse than it did when she went in...do you lie and tell her it looks great? Or do you tell her how awful it looks?

You're at a friend's house...the phone rings...she asks you to answer it and say she's not home. Do you agree to tell the lie? Do you refuse to answer the phone?

When you file your income taxes, do you take deductions you know you're not really entitled to?

You get the drift...when is a lie a lie? Is it more important to spare a friend's feelings, or to tell the absolute truth?

Does one lie lead to another?

Would the world be a better place if everyone spoke nothing but the truth?

Just curious.