Never live by rules that involve the words "always" or "never." Life just isn't that simple. (Nor should it be!)
A lie is a statement made with the intention of deceiving another person. But there are three categories of lies: lies that cause injury to a person, thing, or idea; what St. Augustine called "honest, charitable, well-meant lies," lies that seek to AVOID injury; and jokes.
If you commit yourself to ALWAYS telling the truth, that means you may never again tell a joke or laugh when a joke is told to you, since laughing would mean you approve of someone else's lies. Good luck with that!
Lies that seek to AVOID injury are called "white lies." White lies are almost always told to avoid hurting someone's feelings ("No, that dress doesn't make you look fat"); to avoid giving offense ("Some of my best friends are [out-group]"); or to avert injury to a third party ("You're planning on beating up your wife? No, I have no idea where she fled to" or "No, Ann Frank is NOT hiding from you Nazis in my attic").
White lies are those that harm no one but that result in a positive outcome for at least one of the people involved. Lies to children are usually considered white lies — for example, "The stork brought you" or "Santa wants you to do your chores without grumbling."
The Bible is full of warnings against lying, and it even prohibits perjury, one form of lying. But the Bible is not TOTALLY against lying. For example:
* In the book of Genesis, Abram instructs Sarah to tell the kings of Egypt and Gerar that she is his sister rather than his wife, and Isaac tells the king of Gerar that Rebecca is his sister rather than his wife. All three lies are said to have been told because the man is afraid he will be killed and his wife enslaved. In each case, THE LORD — that is, Yahweh — approved of the lie, rewarding the liar and going so far as to punish the Egyptians for believing Abram's lie. (Gen. 12:9-13:2, 20, 26:1-11)
* Shiphrah and Puah, Hebrew slaves in Egypt, risked their lives and disobeyed the king's order to kill all Hebrew boy-babies the moment they were born. When the king asked them why they disobeyed his order, they told him it was because Hebrew women were so strong they didn't NEED midwives. "So God dealt well with the midwives." (Ex. 1:15-22)
* Rahab, the madam of a brothel around 1400 BCE, risked her life and lied to the king of Jericho about where two of her customers were, saving Joshua's spies from death. In reward for Rahab's lie, Yahweh saved not just Rahab from death, but also Rahab's entire family AND slaves AND prized family possessions. (Joshua 2, 6:22-25. And just what were Joshua's spies doing in a bawdy house, anyway? Hmmmmm?)
* Yahweh instructs Samuel to risk his life in the search for a new king for Israel to replace Saul, who had had the nerve to disobey Yahweh and save his best friend's life. Samuel asks how he could possibly succeed, and Yahweh tells Samuel to tell Saul a lie by omission — Samuel isn't looking for David, he's just getting ready to make a sacrifice to THE LORD. "Ain't nobody here but us heifers." (1 Samuel 16:1-5)
In all these cases, the liar is afraid of death or enslavement, for self or another, and in all these cases, God approves of the lie and rewards it. If "false witness" covered ALL lying, Yahweh ought to have sent his lightning bolts against Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Shiphrah, Puah, Rahab, Samuel, and a number of others.
The kind of lie the Ninth Commandment prohibits is "false witness," or perjury. For example, it has been confirmed that George W. Bush instructed Dick Cheney to reveal the identity of an undercover CIA agent during a time of war — a FELONY — in order to discredit the testimony of the CIA agent's husband that it was NOT necessary to go to war in Iraq. When the plot was discovered, Dick Cheney's second-in-command, Scooter Libby, told a court of law, under penalty of oath, that no one had done any such thing. Telling that lie is why Libby deserved the prison term he never had to serve.
For the ancient Hebrews, anyone who was caught lying to a judge was subject to the same penalty as the accused — including death. Three thousand years ago, there was no official prosecutor, like today's district attorney; any man could come forward and "bear witness" of a crime to a judge. In today's world, "false witness" might be ten-year-old Susie going to Mom and complaining that nine-year-old Tyrone had stolen her lunch money, when in fact Susie was just mad at Tyrone and wanted to get him into trouble. Or "false witness" might be telling the police you have NO IDEA who put that dent into your neighbor's car.
What is wrong about most lies is the damage they do, either outright or, over the long term, to the liar's soul. But if you commit yourself to ALWAYS tell the truth, you're in for all sorts of problems. Not only are you now forbidden to tell or laugh at jokes, but much more:
* You may not bluff when you're playing cards.
* You may never be sarcastic or ironic.
* You may never tell a "tall tale" or a folk tale.
* You may never exaggerate.
* You must always hurt someone's feelings when they ask you approval.
* You must endanger someone's life rather than mislead a criminal.
* If a small child asks you where babies come from, you must explain in full, using graphic language.
* If your life is in danger, you must die.
Imagine yourself in that last situation. A Stalinist dictatorship has overthrown the government of the U.S., and the police are going door to door looking for liberals, or rather "terrorists," to throw into a "free-speech zone" and torture. Is it wiser to say "I support the troops," or to die in a government "black site" while the government denies it even knows you exist?
It's never wise ALWAYS to tell the truth. It IS always wise to speak with kindness, compassion, and love, to save and celebrate lives, and to protect the innocent. Even when you have to "stretch the truth" a little.