A lying spirit???

Question

In the Old Testament (somebody help me out here) God ( as one of the 7 spirits of the throne) says "I will go forth as a lying spirit".

The Bible says that in Christ, there is no guile, that He is all perfection.

If Christ is the Word, and the word is God , and was with God...

How could God lie???

Nos. 1,2 & 11 are examples of blind faith. If the word of Allah (SWT) are true, they withstand scrutiny, and if not, it helps us to get to the "real" word of Allah (SWT)...

Answer 1

That's in 1 Kings 22. Actually, it isn't God saying that he'll lie, but a spirit volunteering to do God's bidding. And in any case, what is really being said is that God will send a spirit to convince one of God's enemies to do something foolish. This is similar to the story of Exodus in which God does not let Pharoah set the Israelites free (he "hardens Pharoah's heart").

Remember that at the times these books were written, it was conventional to ascribe feelings and decisions to the works of supernatural beings. I wouldn't read too much into it.

As for whether or not God lies in the Bible, that depends on what you mean by lying. I would call it lying when God tells a man that he should kill his son when all along God intends to countermand the command at the last minute. Most Christians say that this isn't lying because God was testing Abraham. I say that's splitting hairs. If I lied to test you, I'd still be lying.

But then again, I'm an atheist so I may be a bit biased.

Answer 2

did God lie, or did He allow a lying spirit to travel through the camp? do a little bit of studying on the context behind the passage to get a better understanding of the situation. also, this question is right up there with "did God sin because He allowed sin?"

not to mention, it's tough to make an Old Testament argument while using the implications of the Christ that had not arrived, though I know what you mean.

Answer 3

Below are the verses that are in question.
It appears in 1 Kings and then slightly rephrased in 2 Chronicles.

I read the whole context and at first impression, it seems almost schizoprhenic. There almost seems to be different people, all named GOD doing radically different actions.

I think the real interpretation comes to an understanding of Jewish thought at that time. Their understanding of the universe was much more philosophical in nature. ALL THINGS must have their root in God. GOD DOES ALL THINGS. So every action, natural phenomena, human action is placed on God. With this understanding, a person who lies must have been inspired to by God. But why would this in the bible?

Well the rest of this particular story is a war between Israel and another country. Israel wins because the prophets (advisors) to the other king give bad counsel. So God "wanted" the other prophets to lie, so that Israel would win.

Remember the winners write the history books. Also for Jewish thought, the human arena is merely a reflection of what is really going on in heaven.

So does God lie, or inspire lying? No. However in the Jewish thought of the time, that was the only possible interpretation of human events.

Search For: Lying Spirit (4 Matches) in KJV
1KI 22:22And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.
1KI 22:23Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.
2CH 18:21And he said, I will go out, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And the LORD said, Thou shalt entice him, and thou shalt also prevail: go out, and do even so.
2CH 18:22Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil against thee.

Answer 4

Gods ways and thoughts are not ours, always remember everything on earth, beneath the earth and in heaven was created by God. he chooses to use all of His creation as He wills, because He is God. the moment you want to question Him you become like Lucifer. so if God sent a lying spirit , is it not God that made all the spirits, if they decided to becoming lying spirit, it does not mean they no longer bow before God , they tremble before God and He will do with them as He wills. God use both good and evil for His purposes.

Answer 5

The scripture your thinking of is in (1 Kings 22:19-23) and says: "And he went on to say: "Therefore hear the world of God: I certainly see Jehovah sitting upon His Throne and all the army of the heavens standing by him, to his right and to his left 20 And God proceeded to say, "Who will fool Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ra'mothgil'ead?" And this one began to say something like this, while that one was saying something like that. 21 Finally a spirit came out and stood before God and said, "I myself shall fool him." At that God said to him. "By what means?" 22 To this he said, "I shall go forth, and I shall certainly become a deceptive (lying) spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. So he said "you will fool him, and what is more, you will come off the winner. Go out and do that way." 23 And now here God has put a deceptive spirit into the mouth of all these prophets of yours; but God himself has spoken calamity concerning you."

So here we see God uses a Satan or deceiver as he has used many times before, such as in Jobs Test of faith. This is NOT inconsistent with a "loving God" as Job proved his faith and was rewarded and King Ahab of Samaria had lost Gods favor.

Answer 6

I'm not familiar with the scripture that you are making references to, but God does not lie. I will have to look up the scripture to see what you mean.

Answer 7

lying as in lie down. hes a spirit that is lying down

Answer 8

Whats the verse, context is important

Answer 9

This doesn't sound right. Find me the chapter and verse and we'll figure out what's wrong here.

Answer 10

In my opinion, the entire Bible is written in such a fashion as this, that it's confusing, unbelievable and please ... it wasn't written by GOD, it was merely written by men.