The Father of Lies

I thought I wrote about this some time ago, but in reviewing my past stuff, apparently I only thought I did. Well, stop me if you've heard this ...

Everyone knows that it's a sin to lie. It's abundantly clear. No one doubts it. "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor" (Exo. 20:16). There it is, plain as day. What else do we know about lying? Well, we know that Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44-45). We know that all men are liars (Psa. 116:11). We know that liars don't go to heaven (Rev. 21:8). And we know that lying makes your pants burn. No, wait, that's just a kids' saying. Strike that.

What is a lie? Most people consider it "not telling the truth", but we all know it's really much broader than that. You can lie by not saying anything. You can lie by telling the truth. "Really, Dad, my teacher didn't appear to be drunk in class ... today." The inference is clear: The teacher has been drunk in the past. Conversely, there are things that are not lies that fall in the category of "not telling the truth". For instance, when Jesus said, "She is asleep" about the little dead girl, was that an attempt to deceive? No. Death is a permanent transition from consciousness of this world to the next. Sleep is a temporary departure from this consciousness. She was only temporarily away. In fact, "sleep" was a common euphemism in Scripture to describe the dead because it wasn't the end. Some have said, for instance, that President Bush lied to us about Iraq. Did he lie? Was his aim to mislead us? Or was he operating on faulty information which he passed on to us? You see, if I tell you something as true that I believe is true, you may receive faulty information if it's actually false, but I did not intend to mislead you.

That, then, is my standard definition of a lie. Any attempt a person makes by word or lack of word, by silence or by action, to deceive someone would be a lie. Accidental misinformation is not a lie; it's a mistake. Truthful information intended to deceive someone into a faulty conclusion isn't the truth; it's a lie.

And we know that all lies are sins and all liars go to Hell. (Well, we can be forgiven, sure, but you know what I mean.)

I suppose, however, that when I said "No one doubts it", I wasn't completely honest. I have my doubts. I understand that bearing false witness is a direct violation of the Ten Commandments. But are all lies "bearing false witness"? I know that Satan is the father of lies, but are all lies from Satan? I know that all men are liars, but are all lies sin? I'm having a little trouble with this. (Yeah, like anyone who reads this blog with any regularity would be surprised, right?)

You see, I have too many biblical examples of lies that were commended rather than condemned to make a blanket statement. You can look at the midwives of Israel in Egypt (Exo. 1:15-21). They were commanded by the Pharaoh to kill all male children at birth. They refused to do it. Then they lied to the Pharaoh about it. Exodus says, "So God was good to the midwives" (Exo. 1:20). "So" indicates a cause and effect. Because they saved the male children and lied to Pharaoh, God was good to them. If it had intended to say, "God was good to the midwives in spite of their lies," the author might have prefaced the sentence with "but". He didn't. How about Rahab? Rahab hid the spies and lied about them (Josh. 2:1-20). Her lie saved their lives and, in return, they saved hers. So important was she that she is listed in Hebrews in the extremely exclusive faith chapter (Heb. 11:31). Now, maybe you think I'm mincing words or finding excuses. Okay. Let's look at another one, where we'll find a real catch to the idea that all lies are sin from Satan.

In 1 Sam. 16 we find the story of Samuel the prophet being sent to anoint David as the replacement for King Saul. In 1 Sam. 16:1, God tells Samuel to go. In verse 2, Samuel balks at the command. "How can I go? When Saul hears of it, he will kill me." And look at God's response: "Lie to Saul." Now, you might argue that it's not an actual lie. He told Samuel to "Take a heifer with you, and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.'" Fine. And Samuel did take a heifer with him and told the town elders that he was there to sacrifice to the Lord. But it was not the reason Samuel was there. It was an attempt to mislead. Sprinkling the truth in the midst of an attempt to mislead isn't any less a lie. (Note: If you read through the passage, there never is any reference to any actual sacrifice being carried out in Samuel's visit to Bethlehem.)

Now we have a problem. You can squirm about if you want, but if your teen tells you "I'm going to the library to do my homework" and, after visiting the library for a short time, goes to the movies without your permission, you'd call that a lie.

Other people will call up the Nazi events. Christians hid Jews from the Nazis and lied about it. (Come on. Some told fabrications, and others attempted to deceive the Nazis by various actions. In either case, it is an attempt to deceive -- a lie.) However, to me, debating the morality of lying to Nazis about hiding Jews is an experiential argument, not a biblical one. It says, "What do you feel is right?", not "What is right?" However, when we have God commanding Samuel to deceive Saul, and we know that God cannot sin, I think we have a valid reason to question the position that all lies are sin ... or maybe to question that all deceit is a lie.

I notice something in the lies in the Bible that are commended. In every case, the lie was not intended to benefit the liar or to harm the one to whom the lie was given. Perhaps it could be argued that Samuel's lie was intended to protect Samuel, but 1) he didn't come up with the idea, and 2) he was told to do it by God for the purpose of obeying God. Since 99% or our lies are intended to shield us from consequences or obtain for ourselves some benefit, I would suggest that most of our lies do not line up with the biblical ones. And what does the command actually say? "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor" (Exo. 20:16). Notice that it doesn't say "for." It says, "against." Clearly the command is to refrain from telling an untruth that is intended to harm your neighbor.

If you think I'm being unfair or dogmatic (in the wrong direction) here, let me know. I'm not completely convinced of anything at all on this topic. It's just that I'm having a very hard time taking a "never lie" stand when liars in the Bible are commended, commanded, and blessed by God. Maybe not everything is as black and white as we'd like to think it is.