Christians and lying

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Homer
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Re: Christians and lying

Post by Homer » Thu Mar 23, 2017 9:41 am

Years ago I taught a class at church on Christian ethics. One subject that we studied was whether it would always be a sin to tell a lie, for example, to save a life. Some folks were appalled that any Christian would ever lie. Then the pastor's birthday came and they wanted very much to surprise him with a birthday party at the church. They told him a false story to get him to come to the party.

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TK
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Re: Christians and lying

Post by TK » Thu Mar 23, 2017 9:53 am

Haha. Good one Homer.

In truth though, there is so much depth to this topic. Exaggeration is lying, sarcasm is lying, lots of things are technically lying. The question on the table is whether all untruths are sin.

Timios
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Re: Christians and lying

Post by Timios » Thu Mar 23, 2017 5:28 pm

TK wrote:To me, the sin of "lying" entails telling an untruth purposefully for personal gain or nefarious purpose. I don't consider a "white lie" to preserve others' feelings as being told for personal gain.
Couldn't the lie of telling your mother that her bad food is delicious be for personal gain? The personal gain of remaining on the good side of your mother. For if you told her it tasted terrible, she might get angry and not treat you as well as she had been treating you.

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dwight92070
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Re: Christians and lying

Post by dwight92070 » Thu Mar 23, 2017 6:18 pm

[quote="mattrose"]There are multiple occasions where Jesus did not tell the truth

Dwight: Okay, I'll bite. When did Jesus not tell the truth?

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TK
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Re: Christians and lying

Post by TK » Thu Mar 23, 2017 6:46 pm

Couldn't the lie of telling your mother that her bad food is delicious be for personal gain? The personal gain of remaining on the good side of your mother. For if you told her it tasted terrible, she might get angry and not treat you as well as she had been treating you.
Could be if that was truly my devious motive. But that would not be MY motive.

Thank goodness it is the Lord that ultimately judges motives and not man.

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mattrose
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Re: Christians and lying

Post by mattrose » Thu Mar 23, 2017 8:25 pm

dwight92070 wrote:
mattrose wrote:There are multiple occasions where Jesus did not tell the truth

Dwight: Okay, I'll bite. When did Jesus not tell the truth?
Pretty much every time He was asked a question He replied with a question instead of the truth

He did this because He discerned the lack of genuineness on the part of His questioners

He talked about not casting your pearls (the truth of the Gospel) before swine

Once, when asked a supposedly tricky question, He responded with a question about John the Baptist. When His questioners wouldn't answer His question, He replied "then neither will I answer your question".

Those are all examples of not telling the truth which I'm sure you were aware of. You may have misunderstood my statement to mean that there were times when Jesus lied.

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dwight92070
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Re: Christians and lying

Post by dwight92070 » Thu Mar 23, 2017 9:05 pm

Yes I did. It does come across that He lied many times, which we know is false. I would prefer to say that sometimes He withheld the truth, always for a good reason. But for those who sincerely sought after God, like Nicodemus, and the woman at the well, He freely spoke the truth to them, and even to some who weren't quite there yet, like the rich young ruler.

Si
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Re: Christians and lying

Post by Si » Fri Mar 24, 2017 4:35 pm

dwight92070 wrote:I love my mother very much but she's not so delicate that she can't bear to hear the truth. Perhaps all those squirming people could learn a lesson from her. How many godly people in the Bible told the truth, causing people to do a lot more than squirm?
Here is a broader way of looking at the question; when someone does something nice for you like cook you dinner, and they ask you how it is, the purpose of the question is to see whether or not their hospitality was acceptable. Because my intention is to state to the person that, yes, your hospitality is acceptable, the answer is yes, the food is good. The ham is a symbol of the hospitality. Saying that the food is good is to be grateful and reciprocate hospitality. In my opinion, the eternal truths of loving my neighbor and honoring my mother rise above any legalism. How many times were pharisees told that their legalistic application of the law actually caused them to violate it?

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TK
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Re: Christians and lying

Post by TK » Fri Mar 24, 2017 5:54 pm

Very true Si.

Never let a rule get in the way of doing the right thing.

I heard that on the Andy Griffith show the other day.

Timios
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Re: Christians and lying

Post by Timios » Fri Mar 24, 2017 5:59 pm

Si, why lie when you can express your appreciation of your mother's hospitality without doing so? Refraining from lying is not legalism. It's morality.

If your mother finds out you lied about her food, she may find it harder to believe other things you tell her.

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