Grey morality

[addo]

I was wondering about some moral dilemmas and what should we Christians do if we are found in one of them. For example: you live in Germany in 1943 and you have Jews hidden in your home. Nazis come at the door and ask you to tell whether you have any. If you tell the truth, they will certainly be executed. If you lie, their lives are saved.

Or another one: you are given the choice between committing adultery and saving 1000 people's lives or not committing adultery and sending all of them to their graves.

I guess you get the point. What should a Christian do in this situation? Certainly if given the choice a Christian is to die rather than sin against God, but what if they life of others is at stake? What if there's the case that if you don't fornicate or tell a lie (or even idolatry) hundreds of people are going to die? Will God approve of this praising your 'loyalty' or will he disapprove of it? So, what is a Christian to do?

Thank you for taking time to consider my question.

May God bless you,

Emanuel

 

[GloryBe!]

There is no greater love than this: that a man lay down his life for a friend.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

I would be truly emotionally and forever traumatized if I had to have sex for the purpose of saving lives. However, I would be more traumatized if I knew those folk died because I wouldn't. I pray that nobody is put into that kind of position.

God searches the heart and knows our motives. If we are truly sober and penitent in knowing that this act is sinful, then I think God would look at our heart's motives and cover the sin act by His loving grace.

 

[randon]

For example: you live in Germany in 1943 and you have Jews hidden in your home. Nazis come at the door and ask you to tell whether you have any. If you tell the truth, they will certainly be executed. If you lie, their lives are saved.

We debated this very question in college (except the scenario was Anne Frank's secret annex in Amsterdam), and what we all agreed on is that it is not merely the act that we will be judged on (in this case, lying), but the intent BEHIND the act.

Lying is a sin. But do you think telling a malisciously hurtful truth is any less of a sin? Or do think you'll go to hell for falsely telling your grandmother that you love the hideously ugly sweater she knitted for you for Christmas?

 

[OllieFranz]

We debated this very question in college (except the scenario was Anne Frank's secret annex in Amsterdam), and what we all agreed on is that it is not merely the act that we will be judged on (in this case, lying), but the intent BEHIND the act.

Lying is a sin. But do you think telling a malisciously hurtful truth is any less of a sin? Or do think you'll go to hell for falsely telling your grandmother that you love the hideously ugly sweater she knitted for you for Christmas?

Although, in general, God would that we be truthful, the Commandment is "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." In other words, it is specific that it is lies that hurt other people that the commandment forbids. A situation whereby lying saves lives is a situation I can live with, and one in which my hope is that God is willing to to look past.

The second situation is one I can't imagine ever coming up, other than a crazy stalker who is himself the danger to the people and he is extorting you by threatening to kill them. For that situation, I compare it to the crazed gunman who wants to kill a specific person (you) and threatens a crowd of hostages until you surrender yourself to him.

Suicide is a sin, but willingly facing certain death for love (whether the love of God, love of your fellow man, or love of a spouse or family member) is not the act of a suicide, but that of a hero. If it is heroic to allow yourself to be killed for love, it is equally heroic to allow yourself to be raped for just such a cause. And it would be rape (at least in my case) no matter how calm and accepting I appear on the outside.

 

[Freedom63]

Lying is a sin.

Are you sure??

Jesus in John 7
6 Therefore Jesus told them, “My time is not yet here; for you any time will do. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil. 8 You go to the festival. I am not going up to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come.” 9 After he had said this, he stayed in Galilee.

10 However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went also, not publicly, but in secret.

The commandment is bearing false witness BTW - NOT lying.

 

[juvenissun]

I was wondering about some moral dilemmas and what should we Christians do if we are found in one of them. For example: you live in Germany in 1943 and you have Jews hidden in your home. Nazis come at the door and ask you to tell whether you have any. If you tell the truth, they will certainly be executed. If you lie, their lives are saved.

Or another one: you are given the choice between committing adultery and saving 1000 people's lives or not committing adultery and sending all of them to their graves.

I guess you get the point. What should a Christian do in this situation? Certainly if given the choice a Christian is to die rather than sin against God, but what if they life of others is at stake? What if there's the case that if you don't fornicate or tell a lie (or even idolatry) hundreds of people are going to die? Will God approve of this praising your 'loyalty' or will he disapprove of it? So, what is a Christian to do?

Thank you for taking time to consider my question.

May God bless you,

Emanuel

Good question. I believe there are many similar situations like that.

The key is: we should follow the lead of the Spirit. If the Spirit tells you to lie in order to save people, then you lie. If the Spirit tells you don't lie, then you don't lie, even that would lead to the death of many.

In front of God, you do what He tells you to do and not to worry about other things.

The real question is: how do you tell what does the Spirit tell you? To me, this needs practice and experience, way before you face the crisis.

 

[Ave Maria]

I was wondering about some moral dilemmas and what should we Christians do if we are found in one of them. For example: you live in Germany in 1943 and you have Jews hidden in your home. Nazis come at the door and ask you to tell whether you have any. If you tell the truth, they will certainly be executed. If you lie, their lives are saved.

Or another one: you are given the choice between committing adultery and saving 1000 people's lives or not committing adultery and sending all of them to their graves.

I guess you get the point. What should a Christian do in this situation? Certainly if given the choice a Christian is to die rather than sin against God, but what if they life of others is at stake? What if there's the case that if you don't fornicate or tell a lie (or even idolatry) hundreds of people are going to die? Will God approve of this praising your 'loyalty' or will he disapprove of it? So, what is a Christian to do?

Thank you for taking time to consider my question.

May God bless you,

Emanuel

As for the case about the Nazis, I think that you could probably avoid the question and distract them somehow without lying. If worse came to worse, I would lie. I think it would only be a venial sin (if that) in this case and not a mortal sin.

As for the second one, I most definitely would not commit adultery as adultery is always a mortal sin.

So yeah, while there are definitely some situations that can occur in life where it may seem like there is a dilemma, you can always choose the lesser of the two evils.

 

[GloryBe!]

As for the second one, I most definitely would not commit adultery as adultery is always a mortal sin.

So yeah, while there are definitely some situations that can occur in life where it may seem like there is a dilemma, you can always choose the lesser of the two evils.

so, as a devil's advocate sort of question.... Isn't murder also a mortal sin? Say, you chose in full knowledge of the entire situation to not commit adultery, whilst knowing that people would die as a result of your choice. Wouldn't you then be responsible for their deaths, by way of NOT choosing to love them, your neighbors, as yourself? Even Christ BECAME SIN so that we might live....

Just a thought.

Glory be!

 

[MasterpieceMesias]

I was wondering about some moral dilemmas and what should we Christians do if we are found in one of them. For example: you live in Germany in 1943 and you have Jews hidden in your home. Nazis come at the door and ask you to tell whether you have any. If you tell the truth, they will certainly be executed. If you lie, their lives are saved.

Or another one: you are given the choice between committing adultery and saving 1000 people's lives or not committing adultery and sending all of them to their graves.

I guess you get the point. What should a Christian do in this situation? Certainly if given the choice a Christian is to die rather than sin against God, but what if they life of others is at stake? What if there's the case that if you don't fornicate or tell a lie (or even idolatry) hundreds of people are going to die? Will God approve of this praising your 'loyalty' or will he disapprove of it? So, what is a Christian to do?

Thank you for taking time to consider my question.

May God bless you,

Emanuel

even thought I'd be painfully reluctant, sure I'd go ahead and save those peoples's lives. It ain't like I'm committing 'adultery' anyways seeing as how I have no spouse. . as Peter Griffin would say "Criss-cross"

 

[addo]

even thought I'd be painfully reluctant, sure I'd go ahead and save those peoples's lives. It ain't like I'm committing 'adultery' anyways seeing as how I have no spouse. . as Peter Griffin would say "Criss-cross"

Well, as another person pointed out, it will technically be rape, since you are basically forced to have sex. Even though the commandment condemns an action, every action happens in a context and thus they must be judged, if judged at all, in the context in which they happened.

Anyway, thank you all for the responses. They've been of great help.

 

[homewardbound]

There is no greater love than this: that a man lay down his life for a friend.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

I would be truly emotionally and forever traumatized if I had to have sex for the purpose of saving lives. However, I would be more traumatized if I knew those folk died because I wouldn't. I pray that nobody is put into that kind of position.

God searches the heart and knows our motives. If we are truly sober and penitent in knowing that this act is sinful, then I think God would look at our heart's motives and cover the sin act by His loving grace.

Great response.

God does know your heart, addo, and if you are faced with any dilemma where you think you might sin, ask yourself one question....will the course of action I take benefit me, or am I acting in order to preserve the physical or spiritual well-being of another? If the honest answer is "it will make me feel better about myself," I would be very cautious about that course of action.