Can Christian lie for a "good cause"?

[eh7]

Can Christian lie to protect ourselves? We can't just be too honest otherwise we will be taken advantage of or even being set-up or being look down on or be at a disadvantage of or things like that. Some Christians may not be have the skills to divert the topics away or strategy to avoid telling the true answer. I for one am one but I always in a struggle whether to say the true answer or not, or just to lie for some convenient sake. If I am very honest with my answer, I may be taken advantage of, be at a disadvantage or be in a unfavorable situation. How should Christian like us deal with such a situation? To lie, not to lie, tell half truth, be honest?

 

[explodingboy]

Not to claim to be an expert here.. but I'd guess lying for the benefit of oneself is probably not a good cause.. or if we take .. Peter as an example very encouraged.

Also the whole standing strong in your faith and being a beacon would suggest to me that your probably not recomended to lie about your faith.

As to what to do in situations.. I'm pretty sure have faith, trust Jesus would be the typical response.

 

[Lord Herdsetk]

I think there was a story in the Bible about this prostitute who lied to some soldiers to keep some people who believed in Jesus safe. They were hiding out at her house and she lied to spare their lives.

If we look at the Ten Commandments, it says "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighboor."

I guess as long as the lie isn't hurting anyone or deceiving anyone to the point where it could harm them later down the road or immediately, it isn't too bad. Is that to say we should lie all the time? No because others will grow to distrust us. I'm just saying lying to protect someone or something from someone who is trying to do harm isn't bad.

 

[Ryu2000]

I'd only lie in the case of something urgent/irreversible like saving a life. To do otherwise would be to love myself more than my neighbor. I don't usually like hypotheticals, but we can all imagine situations involving crazy criminals or evil regimes of the mid-Twentieth century...a lie that would save lives (and prevent the bad guys from committing further evils such as the murder of those whom we protect) would surely be acceptable.

I hope I'm never put in a situation that demands such a decision. I certainly don't believe in the "lesser of two evils," because evil is evil. But when it all comes down to it, a lie can be corrected (like Peter's denials of Christ). Some extreme acts cannot be corrected, and I'd lie to prevent them.

 

[lou81]

The story of the prostitute (Rahab) is found in Joshua 2.

First of all, Rahab was gentile, thus she didn't know God's law.
Just because she did lie doesn't me we can do it.

Let's think about it. What if the soldiers didn't care about what she said and came inside and checked? You see, the problem is we do not know what's going to happen whether we lie or not. When we lie, we are trusting ourselves rather than trusting God.


We must realize that THE BATTLE is the Lord's not ours.

We must do what is right and leave the consequences to God.

Hope this helped.

p.s. In Heb 11:31 talks about Rahab's faith in God (for she risked her life to save the two spies from death), but nothing is said to suggest that her lie was commended.

 

[Luther073082]

The story of the prostitute (Rahab) is found in Joshua 2.

First of all, Rahab was gentile, thus she didn't know God's law.
Just because she did lie doesn't me we can do it.

Let's think about it. What if the soldiers didn't care about what she said and came inside and checked? You see, the problem is we do not know what's going to happen whether we lie or not. When we lie, we are trusting ourselves rather than trusting God.


We must realize that THE BATTLE is the Lord's not ours.

We must do what is right and leave the consequences to God.

Hope this helped.

p.s. In Heb 11:31 talks about Rahab's faith in God (for she risked her life to save the two spies from death), but nothing is said to suggest that her lie was commended.

A state of war changes a lot of things. For example its wrong to kill people, with the exception of in warfare which it is allowed.

In this case I belive that lying to the enemy during a state of war would be allowed by God's commandment. Sun Tzu said all war is deception, and its very true that if you want to win a war, you had best be able to somewhat deceive your enemy. And deception is the real sin in lying.

Its not a sin to lie by words but not by deception. Say you are doing some really boring task, and I say to you "Having fun?" and you say sarcastically "oh loads." Thats not a sin because even though you lied by words, you made it clear by your tone of voice and sheer logic that you where being sarcastic and you had no intent to deceive me. Likewise telling the truth by words with the intent to deceive is still a sin.

So personally I think in warfare its not a sin to try and deceive your enemy. Rahab was not sinning or violating a commandment of God when she hid Israeli spies.

Now as to lying for your own benefit, outside of warfare of course I don't see how that could not be a sin. Typically deceiving others which gives us benefit causes some damage or detrement to them in some way shape or form. In which case that is of course a sin.

 

[NvxiaLee]

A state of war changes a lot of things. For example its wrong to kill people, with the exception of in warfare which it is allowed.

In this case I belive that lying to the enemy during a state of war would be allowed by God's commandment.

War changes nothing. Are your at war now?

 

[Fearless_Disciple]

Can Christian lie to protect ourselves? We can't just be too honest otherwise we will be taken advantage of or even being set-up or being look down on or be at a disadvantage of or things like that. Some Christians may not be have the skills to divert the topics away or strategy to avoid telling the true answer. I for one am one but I always in a struggle whether to say the true answer or not, or just to lie for some convenient sake. If I am very honest with my answer, I may be taken advantage of, be at a disadvantage or be in a unfavorable situation. How should Christian like us deal with such a situation? To lie, not to lie, tell half truth, be honest?

I personally believe as Christians we need to stand out from the rest of the world by always being honest. God tells us in Eph. 4:25 "Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body". We should also treat everyone the same not showing favoritism. Therefor all people we come across(enemy or friend) should be treated as our neighbor, and we should be honest to them.

What comes to mind is the simple question. "What are you going to say at the end times when questioned about your fate?" I certainly hope your not going to lie to save your life. For Rev 12:11 says "They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony;they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death." Just as you are honest about your faith in Christ Jesus we should be honest in all other matters. If you can't be honest with something small with much less consequences how unlikely are you going to be honest when your life is on the line?

If the commands God gives us depends on the situation at hand that makes me wonder if you think it's alright to cheat on your wife when your out of town? Or is it okay to assault a person that breaks your car window out? So does the circumstances really determine if we should follow God's laws?

These are my thoughts on the matter.
I prayLord Jesus will anoint these words and you are able to gain something out of them.

~Be @ Peace, Be with God~
~Eric, a disciple of Christ Jesus~

 

[Luther073082]

War changes nothing. Are your at war now?

No I am not at war, I can not exist in a state of war. . . I can be a part of a war (which I am not) but I am not a state but a person.

When a state is at war and acting in that state's authority you are allowed to deceive your enemy and to kill him.

 

[Anihilus]

"Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD, But those who deal faithfully are His delight" Proverbs 12:22 NASB

"Truthful lips will be established forever, But a lying tongue is only for a moment." Proverbs 12:19 NASB

"But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and ALL liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." Revelation 21:8 NASB

Scripturally it is never acceptable to lie. God always hates it.

 

[E.C.]

Can Christian lie to protect ourselves? We can't just be too honest otherwise we will be taken advantage of or even being set-up or being look down on or be at a disadvantage of or things like that. Some Christians may not be have the skills to divert the topics away or strategy to avoid telling the true answer. I for one am one but I always in a struggle whether to say the true answer or not, or just to lie for some convenient sake. If I am very honest with my answer, I may be taken advantage of, be at a disadvantage or be in a unfavorable situation. How should Christian like us deal with such a situation? To lie, not to lie, tell half truth, be honest?

If it is something grave, such as a life and death situation, oh heck yes I'm lying!

 

[lindseyk3]

honesty is the best policy.

 

[josephbonello]

i dont think thats a wise idea, the bible clearly says lying is wrong

 

[Sketcher]

Generally speaking, no. Not unless you find yourself in a situation like this:

Exodus 1:15-21
The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, “When you help the Hebrew women in childbirth and observe them on the delivery stool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?” The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.” So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.​

 

[EBR]

I would lie to save a life or protect classified information, but otherwise no. If telling the truth got someone I loved hurt of severely injured, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. Now, lying to protect my job or to not offend someone? No, I would not do that.

 

[Xenocide]

hypotheticals are useless, i always go with my instincts

 

[RedheadedPrincess]

The only instances I can remember in scripture of lying being excusable are the 2 mentioned and both were to save the lives of God's people. That being said if you were a married man and someone broke into your home and asked where your wife and children were...you wouldn't tell them surely you would lie to save their lives. I don't think this is wrong.

However lying because you are scared of something, don't want to hurt feelings, or look bad or any other crazy excuse is totally unacceptable.

 

[ImperialPhantom]

Christians can certainly lie to protect someone if it's in the Bible - reference Skecher's Exodus example and the story of Rahab. Bearing false witness against your neighbor and bearing false witness to protect your neighbor are quite different things.

 

[k450ofu3k-gh-5ipe]

Generally speaking, no. Not unless you find yourself in a situation like this:

Exodus 1:15-21
The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, “When you help the Hebrew women in childbirth and observe them on the delivery stool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?” The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.” So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.​

Just quoting for emphasis. Bearing false witness against your neighbor is a specific type of lie. Lying to save someone's life or to lead your enemies away is another type of lie which is not sinful.

 

[Amber the Duskbringer]

So what about when your spouse asks something that you know will bite you hard ie out on your butt for telling the truth?