Is it ever ok to lie? Really? And just what kind of lies would we be talking about? Little white lies? Bold faced whoppers?
Whenever this topic comes up in Christian circles, the answer is usually the same – although maybe not to the same degree. For instance, everyone would agree that the answer is “no,” but when your wife asks you about her new hairdo, well, that’s less about lying and more about “building her up” (or protecting your hide, as the case may be). The true life example that seems to frequently pop up in these discussions is the World War II scenario. Was it wrong for Christians to lie to the Nazis and hide the Jews in their homes? I have heard more than a few respected people say “yes,” believe it or not. To their credit, its because they hold the Word of God above all else, and desire to uphold His commands – regardless of the consequences. Unfortunately, I believe their understanding of what the Bible says on this issue is wrong (Its a good thing Anne Frank didn’t come knocking on their door!).
So what are the parameters for lying? Where does the Bible draw the line in the sand? First of all, lets look at the various categories of lying. St. Augustine divided lying into three categories:Playful lies, which are told in jest or performed on stage by actors; Obliging lies, which are told to protect someone else; and the Destructive lie – this is the bad one, a violation of the ninth commandment. The Playful lie is not wrong because it is done in jest, and can even be enjoyable – as long as it is not mean-spirited and it is clear it is playful. The Obliging lie refers to the World War II scenario given above. I like what Luther has to say about it: “[the obliging lie] not only serves the advantage of someone else, who would otherwise suffer harm or violence, but also prevents a sin. Therefore it is not proper to call it a lie; for it is rather a virtue and outstanding prudence, by which both the fury of Satan is hindered, and the honor, life, and advantages of others are served. For this reason it can be called pious concern for the brethern, or, in Paul’s language, zeal for piety.” (This was taken from Luther’s Lectures on Genesis).
Luther touches on something here that I think is worth noting – he says that the obliging lie shouldn’t be called a lie at all. Ok, but its still not telling the truth, isn’t it? So maybe a distinction should be made here – there is a difference between lying and deception. But if quacks like a duck, and waddles like a duck…. it may just be a beautiful swan.
So what does the Bible say about lying? Thou Shalt Not Lie! Well, not exactly. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. The context: the covenant community. The command: Do not lie to your brother. I don’t want to get into a discussion here about who our neighbor is, because for all practical purposes, I believe this command – applied to believers today – extends beyond the scope of the covenant community. But I do want to point out who our neighbors aren’t – enemies of God, specifically Satan.
Satan is the Great Deceiver. With his sly tongue he tricked Eve into eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil - while Adam stood by and failed to protect her. Because of this, Adam, Eve and the serpent were cursed. The Lord God said to the serpent…..”I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” And thus began the greatest battle between good and evil.
What’s interesting to note is that both parties – the woman and the serpent – would have offspring. Clearly the ultimate fulfillment of the woman’s offspring is Jesus – who crushed the serpent’s head on the cross – but there are many minor fulfillments as well – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, etc. And the battles these godly men fought were covenant battles – Satan’s seed trying to destroy the woman’s seed by destroying the covenant. A good example of this is the story of Moses’ birth. The serpent (Pharaoh) tries to destroy the woman’s seed by killing all the male Hebrew babies. Naturally, he failed.
But how, exactly, did he fail? By the strength of an army? By the appeals of a great leader? No, by the deception of the Hebrew midwives. But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the male children live?” The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” (Liars!) And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. So, the midwives feared God, lied to protect the seed, and God blessed them. Later on in the same story, Moses’ mother and sister use deception and are blessed as well.
I’ve already noted that the offspring of the woman would be engaged in battle with the offspring of Satan. But where, exactly, is this offspring coming from? The godly seed is the easy one – through the covenant. God called Abraham to be the father of many nations and the line of David (and ultimately Jesus) can be traced back to Abraham (Matthew 1). But what about the seed of Satan? Well, I think in one sense the curse in Genesis 3 refers to the fact that wicked people would also come from the woman. This is clear right from the get-go, when righteous Able is killed by wicked Cain. And obviously the trend continues with the stories of wicked offspring throughout the book of Genesis (Ham, Esau, etc.). I think there is another sense as well, though. Throughout these Old Testament stories Satan tries to cut off the offspring of the woman, and he uses his wicked offspring to do it. In fact, over and over again we see the woman being attacked by the serpent, and her husband must defend her. He must become a new Adam – one that pictures the Second Adam (Christ), not the first one. But its interesting how the husband defends his wife in these stories. God uses godly men to defeat Satan at his own game – through deception and lies. Abraham is first. He protects Sarah twice by lying about her being his wife – first to Pharaoh, then also to Abimelech. Had Abraham not lied, he most likely would have been killed, Sarah would have been taken, and ungodly offspring would have been produced – the line would have been cutoff. Instead, Abraham deceived the rulers by making them believe Sarah was only his sister – which is only a partial truth. Abraham was blessed because of this – in each incident he grew more prosperous and powerful. The same goes for his son Isaac, who protected his wife Rebekah from a new serpent, when he lied to another Abimelech and said Rebekah was his sister. Again, the one who preserved the covenant was blessed and made mighty.
Perhaps the greatest example of righteous deception, though, is that of Jacob and his mother, Rebekah. In his later years, Isaac grew wicked and became serpent-like. He knew Jacob was to inherent the covenant. He also knew that Esau had despised his birthrite and had legally signed it over to Jacob. But it didn’t matter. Isaac loved the beastial Esau more than the righteous Jacob and decided to go against God’s command. The covenant was in danger of being broken and the godly seed cut off. But through the shrewd deception of his godly mother, Jacob was able to thwart Satan’s plan. And just like with the pagan king Abimelech, God used this deception to cause Isaac to repent of his sins. And of course, Rebekah and Isaac were blessed. I highly recommend Jim Jordan’s book, Primeval Saints, for an excellent treatment of this story and righteous lying.
It’s a shame that the actions of these godly people have been judged unfavorably through the years. The common sentiment is that God made things right despite their sins – but this is not how the Bible describes their actions. And these are not isolated incidents either. The Bible is full of them. In the Old Testament we can point to Jael’s deception on the battlefield, Joseph’s deception of his brothers in Egypt, Nathan’s deceptive story in order to bring David to repentance, as well as the wise woman of Tekoa’s deceptive story in 2 Samuel 14. The Bible is not primarily a moral code book, full of shall and shall nots. The Bible is primarily a story, a story of God’s people and their redemption through covenant – fulfilled in Christ Jesus. The story doesn’t make sense when we pick and choose parts to apply to our lives, and as the case with lying, we can completely lose the context and miss the point. Of course, in many cases, lying is wrong, but it’s not always wrong…. it’s sometimes righteous.
A friend and I went to a premiere of Adam Sandler’s new flick, Reign Over Me. There has recently been a lot of advertising for it, so many of you are probably familiar with it. Here’s the gist: A man (Sandler) who lost his family in the September 11 attack on New York City runs into his old college roommate (Don Cheadle). Rekindling the friendship is the one thing that appears able to help the man recover from his grief.
Many of you live in Florida, so you don’t get to experience these beautiful trees, but they’re pretty common throughout the rest of the U.S. (excluding other really hot/humid climates). What I find interesting about these trees is that they only bloom for a few weeks. It seems like overnight they go from being completely bare, to completely pure white – they look like they’ve had a full snow cover them. But if you blink, you’ll miss ‘em. They’re already turning green. Right now they’re a perfect balance of green and white, which makes them seem a little blurry during the dusk and dawn hours. Soon they will be completely green and stay that way until fall, when they will turn a beautiful deep red before the leaves fall off. The pears that these blooms produce are only about an inch in diameter, which is why it is less a fruit tree than an ornamental tree.
Last night’s episode was excellent. Claire’s backstory was good – especially the revelation that Jack’s father was also hers – and I like that Desmond told her about the visions he was having of Charlie’s death. I especially liked, though, the other story involving the rescue party. Locke has turned into a pretty brutal dude! The ending killed me, though. Jack playing football with the Others! I’m beginning to run some possible scenarios through my head – nothing with any weight to them, but I’m thinking cloning might be an issue – what with the children being kidnapped, the Others being medically gifted – especially Juliet’s ability to make her barren sister pregnant (!) – Jack acting like he was having fun (was it the same Jack??), plus the flashbacks, which might be the clones remembering/downloading the real human’s memories.
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