Lying and half-truths is a topic I have to address as a dad
on a regular basis. Well, recently it
came up again but not because we had an offender in the family. In our family devotions last week we ran
across a passage that caused my boys to ask, “why did God tell him to lie,
dad?”
The situation we see in 1 Samuel 16 isn’t any different from
the ethical dilemma many people have faced.
Can I lie under certain circumstances?
·
What should I do if a beggar asks me if I have
any money, and my boys hear me say I don’t, but they know I do.
·
Say, my wife asks me how her new outfit looks?
·
What if a family I’m serving in another country
asks me how I like the dinner I could barely stomach?
·
What if a mom lies to her abusive husband in
order to escape the home with her kids?
·
Can a football team run a trick play and score
the winning touchdown as a result of their masterful deception?
We all seem to be OK with setting some conditions on telling
the truth in some situations as seen above.
However, we have a hard time knowing what to say when confronted with
the direct question, is it OK to lie?
First of all, we all understand that the Bible teaches us to
be truthful and honest starting with God’s confrontation with Adam and Eve in
the Garden of Eden and also seen in Exodus 20. Furthermore, we know that God is truth and
that He does not lie and therefore as his children it is our goal to be like
him (2 Cor 4:2.) Additionally we
understand that the whole truth is very important in these situations:
1)
Total honesty to legal authority figures is
vital for an orderly society and explicitly taught in Scripture. We must tell the truth and the whole truth
when asked by those responsible for our “law and order.” That goes for children in the home as well. The Israelites were taught to tell the truth
and they couldn’t conveniently leave vital information out when in a court of
law (Lev 5:1, Deut 19:18.)
2)
Honesty communicates loyalty, increases trust,
and it fosters intimacy, each of which are vital for the development of
relationships. So, total honesty is
expected in marriage and in close friendships as well as between believers in a
covenantal relationship. As long as
these relationships are healthy and mutual, to hold back personal information
would be seen as dishonest and would miss opportunities for intimacy.
3)
Lastly, honesty about sin is a vital part
of: healing (Jas 5:16,) fellowship with
God (1Jn 1:9,) and it proclaims the truth of Scripture to others… all of which
are very important.
This is what we need to teach our children. Simply, tell the truth and tell the
whole truth. In the process I need to be
careful to model for them a consistency of truth-telling knowing that they are
watching and listening to everything and tend to see life in very literal
terms.
However, as my kids become adults I need to help them see
that not everything in life is as black and white as we’d like it to be. Just like there are exceptions and conditions
to the command not to kill I have to help my boys learn to always be men of
integrity and truth while knowing there will be some occasions that they
shouldn’t tell the whole truth.
In 1 Sam. 16, God instructed Samuel to be prepared to give a
half-truth to King Saul, if he were asked why he was in Bethlehem. Why was this Ok for a God who is truth? I believe there are four reasons why God would
want us to not be transparent and in some cases deceptive.
1.
First of all I’m reminded that God doesn’t
reveal everything to everyone and what he does reveal He doesn’t give all at
once. He has chosen to reveal bits and
pieces of himself and the spiritual world and he has done so through
installments of revelation throughout history and throughout our own
lives. Does that make God a liar? It simply models for us the option to
allow some information to remain a mystery until the right time and place. So, in our relationships it’s important not
to mislead or lie, but we can choose to withhold information to leave it a
mystery. Mysteries about me will reveal
the people who truly are interested in me because those people respectfully
pursue those answers to know me. This is
how we find our true friends and our mate.
2.
Careful allotments of personal information is a
very strategic way for teaching others. We can teach someone a skill or impart
knowledge, but we don’t dump it all at once.
A good example of this is how we teach our kids about the birds and the
bees…technically what we say to our two year old is usually a lie because we
know that to give the whole truth would be at best confusing and at worst
detrimental.
3.
We must lie sometimes to protect yourself and
others. We all know that there is
certain information about ourselves that we would not divulge to certain people
for fear they would use that against us. Such has been the case for American POW’s who
are interrogated and those who helped hide Jews from the Nazis. Such is the case today in abusive homes and places where evil men exploit those who are vulnerable.
4.
Many people demanded that Jesus reveal who he
was, but it often wasn’t the right time or the right situation. Additionally, these people held no position
of authority over him so he had no legal nor moral obligation to answer
them. If a person who is not a legal,
moral, or spiritual authority seeks to interrogate us, we are free to use Godly
discretion as to how much we reveal, knowing they don’t have our welfare in
mind nor do they have responsibility for an orderly society. Their motives are selfish.
God tells Samuel not to tell the whole truth to Saul
because Saul held no legal nor moral right to demand total transparency and transparency would jeopardize innocent lives. As was proven soon afterwards, such knowledge
would only lead Saul to fixate on killing the ones God had ordained and it wasn’t
yet God’s timing for David to become a fugitive.
I can’t easily explain these exceptions to my young kids,
but after they've learned the importance of honesty and telling the truth I need to help them begin to learn that when evil people demand
information from them, they’re free to say nothing or to mislead. Now,
if they deceive their family, parents, teachers, law enforcement, friends and church
family, that’s a problem that needs my attention!
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