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We were talking during the meal

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about the issue of lying,

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and is there ever a reason for a Christian

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to lie, like to save a life

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or things like that, because there's situations

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in the Old Testament like Rahab or

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other people lying and it seems as though

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good things happened as a result of that.

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So is there ever a reason

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or would it ever be ok for a Christian to lie today?

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Well, first of all, the fact that good things happen

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because of something doesn't mean anything

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about whether it's right or wrong.

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There are a number of passages

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in the Old Testament that raise questions.

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I think that it's a very risky thing

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to start talking about lying being right

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in a situation because it has to do

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with my integrity and my character.

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Would God lie to me?

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If it's acceptable, then God might lie to me

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in order to accomplish a greater good.

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I don't think we have to take it

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that God condoned Rahab's lie,

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but rather that He condoned her faith.

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And so, I'd be very cautious about that.

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You get into all kinds of issues

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because you have things like

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you leave a light on in the house,

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you're trying to make people think you're home,

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but you're not.

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A general does a diversionary tactic

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trying to make the enemy think that he's

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doing such-and-such;

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actually, he's deceiving them.

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And when a soldier's taken in battle,

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is he under obligation to tell the truth?

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Some argue that wherever

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there's a covenant of truth between people,

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that's where there's an

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obligation to tell the truth.

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So in other words, I ought to expect

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an enemy soldier not to have to tell me the truth.

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So I don't know if there's any validity to that or not.

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It seems to me that in light of the character of God,

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that He is a God of truth.

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Most of those questions where you bring up

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is it right to lie...

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and that comes up in ethics classes

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and stuff like that;

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almost always those classes are designed in

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such a way not to help you to understand better

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what you should do, but to undermine your faith

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in right and wrong entirely.

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And they never bring in the vertical of God being there,

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they always are on the horizontal level.

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And a lot of times whenever you see the Lord's answers

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to questions, somebody will ask Him a question

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and they'll set up the ground that the battle

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is to be fought on,

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and if you do that you're going to lose.

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And the Lord would answer -

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it said Jesus answered and said,

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and it's clear over here somewhere

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that doesn't even seem to relate to the question.

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A lot of times the devil tries

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to set us in situations where,

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you know, well, look you've got to sin.

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No, you don't.

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There are many, many things like that.

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Do you have to tell the Germans about the Jews

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hiding in your house and things like that.

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I think probably what would happen to me

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is that I'd be killed before too long,

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because the idea of lying about something,

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you might be able to say something like

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search and see or something like that.

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You know, Corrie Ten Boom's sister strongly believed

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that you should not lie.

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They had a trap door under the table,

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and her brothers hid in that trap door

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when the Germans came.

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They had a rug over the trap door

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and then a table sitting on it.

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And they said, "where are your brothers?"

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She said, "They're under the table."

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They looked under there and said,

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"don't play games with us."

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Well, actually, they were under the table.

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God protected them.

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But it's not always that way either.

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I'm not going to be much help on that one.

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I think there are times when we can avoid

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saying everything.

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I don't think we have to say everything.