What if we're just talking person to person? Wouldn't it be worth lying to someone if it convinced him to accept Jesus? Isn't that sin worth saving someone's soul?
Sorry for the delayed response; I think integrity (rock) beats manipulating and cutting truth (scissors).
But it depends on the statement -- was it really a lie, or a mistake, or a personal view of something? Like a person who didn't grasp they couldn't lead everything.
I've seen times where devoted believers got conflicting messages, both earnestly convinced they'd heard from God. From an outside viewpoint, it was easy to see that both were fitting each person's circumstances, but were not meant to fit together as they'd presumed.
I remember times when God called individuals out of churches, and they kept feeling like it couldn't be God, because they liked the church and thought of it as the place God was working. But we all know He works throughout the Earth, and churches change when we least expect.
On salvation: A soul-saving is a long series of interactions and reasoning, where God works with someone over time, bringing multiple people and coincidences into the process. A person rarely leaps from disbelief to belief and devotion -- that does not seem authentic or beneficial.
If you suggested an Ethiopian restaurant to a friend, and they said they hate carbs and eating with their hands... but then someone else came a long and said, "They always offer forks" and the first person said, "Lets go!"
Did they really want to eat there? Or were they just trying to stay in sync with what others were doing.
And if they got there and no forks were offered, would they get fed up with the whole deal, and mistrust the friends?
Even the example of Jesus spontaneously calling fishermen to follow -- they were already Jews, growing up in a Jewish community, so they were not complete newbies. They probably hadn't had years of study or leadership.
The hawk story... we need to trust that each person lives out their faith in different ways. We might make decisions more sensibly, but some people really like personal confirmations, tips that solidify decisions, and things that brighten their days.
I have had those bird-type incidents often, but view them as God saying He's paying attention to my needs. "I'm there for you." Because I like to see unusual things in nature, it feels like God is blessing me with rare peeks. But I don't make decisions based on unusual occurrences.
I would guess that people who do have been praying and deliberating for a long time, and haven't mustered the gumption to take the leap.
the hawk itself perched on him. He took this as a sign he should take the job.
He had already retreated to reflect and pray over the decision. That was the reason for him being in a perchable position.
(Raptors like to be above, looking downward for prey.)
A lot of decisions and leadings from God are holistic -- we seek his guidance, ask for wisdom, research the facts, ask others for advice, experience a sense of peace or anxiety, consider who will impact, sometimes get guidance from God in ways we recognize... and then we need a tiny push.
The hawk should be a personal sign, that is not used to draw others into obligation. A preacher shouldn't say, "A hawk told me to go to Kenya, so now you should donate for my air fare." It was between him and God, how he made that decision and carried it out.
The story should just be a "That was cool," and we should chill and let them enjoy their quirky circumstance. Then if there are concrete problems with their decisions, talk to them about the facts, and let them quietly cherish their flightier parts of the decision.
