If you tell a lie to someone you barely know, will you go to hell?

Question:

Well, I don't know why, but I said I hated the Bible. Right after I said that I got worried and started to say I didn't mean it! I feel so horrible and scared.

The second is that if I lied to someone I barely knew, will God forgive me? Can I move on and try my best not to lie again? Or is that not repenting? I'm confused. If I don't tell them the truth, will I be going to hell? Or does He mean to repent and not lie again?

Answer:

Repentance is realizing you have done wrong and changing to avoid doing it again and instead do what is right. "For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter" (II Corinthians 7:10-11).

Lying is a sin. There is no excuse for lying to anyone. "But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death" (Revelation 21:8). People who do not repent of their sins will end up in hell. "I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3).

Just as there is no excuse for committing sin, there is no excuse for staying in sin either. God offered a way out. See: What Must I Do to be Saved?

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