The word of God?

Question

God does us thou shall not lie. But i can concieve of situations in which lying would be morally justified. Such as if i was hiding jews during WW2 and the nazi was asking me if i had hidden jews within my house do i tell the nazi the truth or do i lie? God clearly wants me to never lie but does that mean i should tell the truth and allow the nazi to kill the jews? Does this mean God is wrong? What about murder in self defence, God has said, thou shall not murder. God has not given any excuses for us when we can disobey these rules.

Answer 1

do not get caught up in the letter of the bible , but the spirt of what is written. Meaning God knows your heart , if your purpose is to help others,then the love factor of which was the main gospel that Jesus preached, will be in effect. In other words do what your heart tells you.

Answer 2

Youy say "God has not given any excuses for us when we can disopbey these rules". That's not quite true. He sent the Israelites to war. He decreed capital punishment. So He obviously set out situations when killing was alright. What the commandment says is" You shall do no murder". Self-defense, by the way, is ont murder either. So lying about hiding Jews in your home during the nazi domination? I believe God is quite capable of judging a person's heart in a right way. The law in the Old Testment is there to give God's standard of holiness. But even in the Old Testament, what God is most interested in is the law that is engraved on your heart. And, according to the New Testament, the law can be summarized in: "Love God, love your neighbour". In other words, God is not a legalistic pharisee.

Answer 3

Actually, He has. In limited cases, such as defending another's life, it is permitted, even required to do whatever it takes to protect the other person. God tells us that the commandments are given so that 'you shall live, and not die'. This is understood to mean that if obeying the commandments will imminently lead to death, one is required to disobey. Protecting Jews from the Nazi's is such a case.

The only exceptions to this, when one should accept death over breaking God's law, is in cases where one is being forced to commit murder, engage in sexual immorality or practice idolatry.

Answer 4

God is not a rule, He is an entity, a personality. Commandments are not absolute laws. Abraham was commanded by God to kill Isaac, and he was praised for his willingness to do so. This is not sin. God determines right versus wrong.
However, outside of the theology of Divine Law, one must also take into consideration whether or not it remains moral to lie even in the situation granted. We are called to obey the government so long as doing so does not violate God's commands. Furthermore, our resistence to believing that it would be acceptable to be honest and have all suffer the consequences is really not a question of purely religious interest, but of our own desire to avoid suffering. In the book of acts, believers are tortured, and upon release thank God for being found worthy to suffer. We cannot say that what sounds wrong or unpleasant to us is really so in an ultimate sense.

Answer 5

Abraham said Sarah was his sister to keep from getting killed.
King David pretended to be crazy and ate grass knowing the philistines wouldn't kill crazy people.
Rehab said the spies left by that way, knowing they were on the roof.
Jesus was asked if he was going to Jerusalem and he was evasive or said no, then later he went. He knew he was going.
You are not required to tell everything. In the bible a king was later destroyed by telling all that he had and showing the enemy the treasure room.
Samson lied a bunch of times before he told the truth and that is what got him killed.
Not that lying is okay it is one of the deadly sins. But it might be better to just not say anything.
Be evasive, I mean David didn't actually say he was crazy.
But on all fours eating grass gave them that impression.

Answer 6

Obviously by principle, telling the truth is always the best policy. But judge for yourself, albeit carefully, if more evil occurs if you do tell the truth. If you read on the OT, youll see the story of the prostititute where she lied to save the men of God. In certain rare situations, less evil and grave injustices are avoided by lying to clearly evil people. But these instances are very rare.

If you kill somebody in self-defense, it isnt murder. Murder is when you kill unlawfully and/or unjustly. Things like self-defense and capital punishment are instances of JUSTICE, not personal vengful wrath. (murder)

Answer 7

While malicious lying is definitely condemned in the Bible, this does not mean that a person is under obligation to divulge truthful information to people who are not entitled to it. Jesus Christ counseled: “Do not give what is holy to dogs, neither throw your pearls before swine, that they may never trample them under their feet and turn around and rip you open.” (Mt 7:6) That is why Jesus on certain occasions refrained from giving full information or direct answers to certain questions when doing so could have brought unnecessary harm. (Mt 15:1-6; 21:23-27; Joh 7:3-10) Evidently the course of Abraham, Isaac, Rahab, and Elisha in misdirecting or in withholding full facts from nonworshipers of Jehovah must be viewed in the same light.—Ge 12:10-19; chap 20; 26:1-10; Jos 2:1-6; Jas 2:25; 2Ki 6:11-23.

Answer 8

There is never a moral justification for sin, such as lying. Instead, there is ALWAYS another option.

In your example, one option would be to stand up for what's right and die defending them. The success or failure of your attempt matter little. It is the decisions you make and the character you display that is the basis for judgement. That and mercy, of course, but that's another issue.

Everyone will face judgement eventually. As for me, I'd rather die sooner in good standing with my maker than to cave in to pressure, disobey, and face God in court.

Answer 9

you should always tell the truth.we can not murder in self defense, the commandment says thou shall not kill. God will see that they get their punishment on their day.It is not up to us to punish or pass judgment only god is the ruler.

Answer 10

The "word of god" was written by poverty stricken, bronze age goat herders, fishermen (whom we all know tell tall tales) and warriors. There is nothing of value in that book that you can't get elsewhere, but without the dogma and absurdities.