Lying

[B-A-C]

Liars and lying

1 Tim 1:8; But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully,
1 Tim 1:9; realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers
1 Tim 1:10; and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching,

It seems lying has gotten very prevalent in today's society, Some believe being a good liar
is a prerequisite for being a good politician

It seems whenever a certain behavior become popular and "everyone is doing it", it always has a way
of creeping into the Christian culture as well.

So what does the Bible say about lying and liars?

1 Tim 4:1; But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,
1 Tim 4:2; by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,

There are some who will lie so much, that their conscience will be "seared over" as if "with a branding iron". They will have lied so often that it doesn't even bother them anymore.

Rev 21:7; He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.
Rev 21:8; 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.”

Some of these scriptures are pretty severe. Perhaps you've told a lie at some time in your life.
But I believe there is a difference between telling a lie, and being a liar. A liar is someone
who lies habitually. They lie all the time about everything.

Jesus said this to the Pharisee's.

John 8:44; You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Obviously he is speaking of Satan here.

One of the 10 commandments in exodus 20 says...

Exod 20:16; “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Being a false witness is the same as being a liar. If I was in a court room being a witness
for the prosecution, I could say.. "I saw John carrying that television out of Bob's house."
When in fact, I never saw any such thing. This is lying.

In the story about Ananias and Saphira (Acts 5) they were both put to death, simply for lying
to the Holy Spirit!

Col 3:9; Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices,
Col 3:10; and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him—

1 Jn 1:5; This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
1 Jn 1:6; If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;

I always wonder how this verse applies to homosexuals living together, or even heterosexuals living
together. If we say we have fellowship with Him... but walk in darkness... we are liars!!

There are many more scriptures about lying, but I think this is enough for us to know lying
is not a good thing. There are severe consequences for being a liar.

 

[Jesus_is_LORD]

Amen, well said.

And you know what this relates to right?

But of course, it relates to truth. One who lies has a problem with the truth.
As we stated elsewhere, our world has a problem with the truth and therefore lies are common.

Yup.

 

[amadeus2]

"God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. " Rom 3:4

And...

"I said in my haste, All men are liars." Psalm 116:11

So when does the lying stop? The beginning of the stopping is when we have received the Lord in our hearts and start to follow Him rather than those old ways we learned while in our flesh alone. Then we move deeper into the realm of that which is impossible for man:

" And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God." Luke 18:27

"To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:" Col 1:27


Give God the glory!

 

[KingJ]

Lets say you helped Jews hide in WW2. What would you say to the Germans asking you a direct question on whether or not you have them?

 

[amadeus2]

Lets say you helped Jews hide in WW2. What would you say to the Germans asking you a direct question on whether or not you have them?

Depends on where your heart is and what God sees. One of Corrie Ten Boom's family in "The Hiding Place" lied to protect the Jews. Another in the same situation told the truth. How did it work out for each of them and God?

Then in scripture, the harlot, Rahab, in the city of Jericho, lied to protect the Israeli spies and as a result her family was spared when the walls came tumbling down. What did God see in her?

 

[Jesus_is_LORD]

Lets say you helped Jews hide in WW2. What would you say to the Germans asking you a direct question on whether or not you have them?

Why do you ask?
I see it this way. I think you are missing the point perhaps with that question. Often times God makes His will clear to us, but mankind is always trying to find a loop hole
thereby he askes certain questions. The problem is not the question but the motivate at times behind the question.

The scripture says that God is all powerful. An atheist who has a problem with that will ask a question such as, "Can God create a rock so big that He cannot lift it?"
The scripture says that we should forgive others, Jesus told His disciples to forgive, Peter then asked Jesus how many times should I forgive, is 7 times enough?

The scriptures say that God will give His angels charge over you, so Satan tells Jesus, well that's what the scriptures say so why don't you jump off this cliff.
Jesus was fasting to build strength but the scriptures also say that He was the Son of God, so Satan ask Jesus why don't you turn these stones into bread
if you are truly the Son of God.

Motivate matters
So first I would say we often times need to check the spirit from which the question is coming from. Are we trying to test God, are we trying to find holes
in His WORD? Do we seek to edify God with such questions, or valid ourselves?

Even the question to Jesus about paying taxes wasn't one that sincerely was seeking Him. The scripture says that they wanted to trap Jesus.
We see this over and over with either trying to trap Jesus or Justify self with such questions.

I don't say this to insult you or that the devil is working in you (as when Jesus told Peter, Get thee behind me Satan), but I do want to make you just mindful
of the spirit from which the question is coming from. I can't tell you which spirit, but you can self-examine and find out for yourself.

Follow Jesus' example
With all of that said, what did Jesus say when they came for Him? Did He lie? No, Jesus did not lie, He said "I am" or "I am He" when they
said they were looking for Jesus.

Other times Jesus was not ready to go and the scriptures tell us that he fled and ran away through the crowds. Jesus cared deeply for the disciples
and asked the soldiers twice who they were looking for to make sure His disciples were not also arrested. So like the Jewish question you asked, just
like you and I would not want the Jewish family harmed, Jesus didn't want His disciples harmed either. But ultimately Jesus knew that He was eventually
leading His disciples into danger, which is why He said , "You will be hated by all the world for me name sake." He didn't tell His disciples to deny Him when
times got tough, He actually said the opposite. In Matthew 5 He tells that them blessed are they when they are persecute for righteousness sake
for great would be their reward in Heaven.

GOD's WILL does not require us to sin
I look at it like this. As a Christian my faith, hope and trust is in Jesus. My purpose and desire is to be in the will of God. Jesus said
if you keep my commandments you will abide in my Love. There is no where in scripture where I can think that God will require
us to sin to stay in His Will. So if God does not want us to lie, there is no where that I can think off that I will have to lie to stay in
His Will. Even if we do lie He can still work it into a play for His glory, but He will not prompt us to sin as a step to staying in His WILL.

What are we trying to save?
Your question may be coming from a preservation stand point as in, if I don't lie then this will happen. If I don't' lie than I might
get arrested. If I don't lie than this person might do bad. We'll ultimately you are not responsible for other people's actions.
God will judge each person for their action.

Did Jesus lie about who He was to escape the cross? No. One asking the question in the same spirit as your question may say,
"But if Jesus doesn't lie and say I'm not Jesus they will kill Him and tortured, and beaten, and it will just be horrible."
But Jesus was walking in the Will of God and therefore doesn't need to sin(lie) to continue on the path of God's WILL.

Often times we venture off the path that God has for us and then find ourselves in a bad situation and feel forced to sin(lie, etc) to
save ourselves because we have strayed from that path God has for us. Personally as a Christian and as I brother of Christ this would
be my answer to you.

I would
First I would try to escape if I could. If that failed, I would just avoid answering the question. Like just being silent or saying something
like, "I refuse to answer your question." Often times doing the right thing leads to other people doing bad things, but I'm not responsible
for their actions in God's eye, they are. A girl refusing to go into a force marriage similar to being a sex slave(not all arranged marriages are like that
and their is virtue in Mature adults picking the spouses) could bring much violence and retribution on her family as the offended party
might kill her family members if she resist the contract. But does this mean she should allow herself to be a sex slave, I would say no.
Just because doing the right thing may have consequences doesn't mean we don't do it.

The problem
I think this is the problem with a lot of Christians, we do things based on the consequence rather than either or not it's right (God's WILL for us is my definition of right).
So Christians start asking a billion questions about tithing, not because they really want to know, but the consequence of me paying
this money to the church means that maybe I can't afford that HBO premium cable package. So they look at the consequence and then
start asking questions instead of doing what God commands ( I know we are no longer under the law but Grace, just an example). Or
the Bible will say that being gay a sin, then the world will ask, well with if I'm born gay. Instead of following the obvious answer (if they believe being gay
is a sin) of dying to self daily, they want to valid themselves and get approval because the consequence to accepting God's path is unfavorable to them.
The Bible was tell us that killing is wrong but we want to be comfortable. This lady isn't ready for a baby, it will slow down her career, she just wanted to have
a fun night of sex. So we ask well what about a women's right to choose. What if the mother's life is in danger? Instead of just holding the standard
that abortion is clearly wrong. If Jesus sacrificed Himself so we could live, a Christian mother should do the same for her child who has yet to be born.
If Mary's pregnancy was unto death, do you think that God would want her to abort the baby Jesus, or allow herself to die in the delivery so that Jesus
could have life?

In a Nutshell
Ultimately we can see that with such questions it becomes less of our love for Jesus and wanting to honor our relationship with Jesus,
but more a love for self and how to maintain a comfortable life. I don't want to venture into being too legalistic which is not my point,
but this perspective is just appropriate in terms of responding to such a question. Like the squirrel above who is just concerned about His
nut, we as humans have a tendency to just be concerned with our comforts primarily and this shapes our perspective and shows even in
the questions we ask.

Stay in God's will and you will not have to sin to continue in God's will. Dr. Charles Stanley puts it this way, he says
"Obey God and leave the consequence to Him." If a Christian has a strong relationship with God and accustomed to being led by
the spirit is in the situation you pose, they should just be obedient to the Holy Spirit and leave the consequences to God.

 

[B-A-C]

I think this is the problem with a lot of Christians, we do things based on the consequence rather than either or not it's right (God's WILL for us is my definition of right).

Exactly!! We know better than God does. So we base what's wrong or right on what we feel.
And if we don't "feel" something is right... then of course it's wrong.