Lies #6 - The first conundrum

Ok, so I'm procrastinating. Sue me.

 Nathan put forward a juicy difficulty for my position on lies in a comment. It runs:

 "[God] also seems to either commend or participate in the deception of Israel's enemies, assuming the prophet in 1 Kings 22 is telling the truth, for example..." 

Let me quickly break the passage down for you.  Roughly summarised:

Ahab, king of Israel, consults his 400 non-Yhwh prophets to see if he should attack some cities.  They say yes, you'll win.  He gets advice to go a prophet of Yhwh, Micaiah (Mick to his mates).  Ahab hates Mick because he's always prophesying that Ahab's going to cop it, but he asks him anyway.   

Mick says, "Sure, go for it!"

Ahab says, "Yeah right, since when do you ever prophesy anything good for me?" 

Mick says, "Yeah, just joking.  You're going to get so smoten if you do.  Also, I saw a vision where God told a spirit to tell all your dodgy prophets that you'd win, just so you'd go for it." 

Then he tells everyone, "Mark my words, if he comes back alive from this battle, I'm not Yhwh's prophet."

Knowing the truth now, Ahab decides to have a crack anyway, but in disguise and with a stunt double.  Short story shorter, the stunt double makes it out alive but Ahab cops an arrow to somewhere more vital than his knee.

Now, there's lots to say about this passage about truth and lies.  And lots of it, I think, mitigates the uncomfortableness of what God does in the sense that through this incident truth massively wins.

Despite this, the fact remains.  God sent a spirit to deceive.  God made Ahab believe something untrue.  The thing that I think is most important to note is that God does so in judgement.  Much, in fact, as God killed Ahab in judgement.

You see, what I'm getting at is that God's denial of the truth to someone, and even his giving them over to their delusions, (and given the nature of the prophets Ahab consulted this was definitely a product of Ahab's delusions) is destructive judgement.  It was an act predicated upon his righteous decision as judge to finally destroy this wicked king after years and years of grace.  In this case of deception, the only case of this exact nature I'm aware of in Scripture, it is synonymous with the bringing of death.

Now, Ahab actually knew what Yhwh had said before he went to battle.  And Yhwh arranged that.  So it's not as if God doesn't actually tell him what's in store if he fails to take heed.  In fact, he makes sure the false information comes from the mouths of false prophets.  The word from Yhwh's prophet came perfectly true.

But in reference to our current question of ethics, of what is right for humanity to do, the passage raises question marks.  Is lying always wrong?

I would suggest that lying is in a similar category to killing.  It almost never the right thing to do.  I think that the kind and degree of reasoning that we ought apply before deceiving is of a similar order to that which we ought to apply before taking life.  Partly because that's what lies end up doing.  They destroy life.

God's purpose for this reality is life and thriving for people, and it is our duty to uphold this.

Yet, God reserves the right to destroy the destroyer.  It's the kind of thing that God is free to utilise in judgement, but not so humanity.  Not in the same way.

Gospel vid

I'll be trying to get a chance to do a review of this soon.  What do you reckon?
321 from Jeremy Poyner on Vimeo.

Lies #5 - Lies make life less fun

I think something that people tend to overlook is that lying isn't in the liar's best interests. Why?

Lies destroy community and relationships

In describing the reasons for the corruption in Israel, God has a fair bit to say about the destruction that deception has caused in that community.

"They make ready their tongue like a bow, to shoot lies; it is not by truth that they triumph in the land. They go from one sin to another; they do not acknowledge me," declares the LORD. "Beware of your friends; do not trust your brothers. For every brother is a deceiver, and every friend a slanderer.  Friend deceives friend, and no one speaks the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they weary themselves with sinning. (Jer 9:3-5 NIV)

David, Israel's greatest pre-Jesus king, agreed with God re the destructiveness of lies.

Destructive forces are at work in the city; threats and lies never leave its streets. (Psa 55:11 NIV)

And called out to God for rescue from the liars in his nation.

Help, LORD, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men. 2 Everyone lies to his neighbour; their flattering lips speak with deception. (Psa 12:1-2 NIV)

While his wise son suggested they're not wise for leaders:

If a ruler listens to lies, all his officials become wicked. (Pro 29:12 NIV)

High maintenance

Lies are a real pain, because once you've told one then you've got to keep the act up.  You can't just tell it once; you've got to keep all the lies you've ever told in your head so you don't end up contradicting yourself and getting caught out.  I'd especially avoid them if you've got anxiety issues and don't want more to worry about.

(Tangentially related proverb that makes my case seem more biblical)

A fortune made by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapour and a deadly snare. (Pro 21:6 NIV)

At the centre of dysfunctional relationships

Samson and Delilah's relationship seems abusive and self-seeking on both their parts.  Seriously, read the story and imagine sleeping with someone who'd treated you like either Samson or Delilah had treated the other.  Messed up.  Lies were a staple part of their relational diet.

Delilah then said to Samson, "Until now, you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. (Jdg 16:13 NIV)

Even with God

Most seriously, deception destroys our relationship with God.  Repentance relies on bringing the truth to light.  It is not possible without it.  The heart that refuses to admit sin, to self and/or to God, lives in darkness.  Whereas the heart that comes to grips with the reality of its own state and calls it like it is with God finds amazing joy and freedom.

Only those who come clean experience full joy and freedom in God's forgiveness.  If you keep a part of yourself back, thinking to 'work on it' so that you need not rely utterly on God in every way, then you will be a slave to that improvement.

We write this to make our joy complete. This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. (1 John 1:4-7 NIV)

I just reckon that lies are a poor investment if you want to have a really free, fun life.

Lies #4 - Why the truth matters pt2.

Nathan, forever my valued interlocutor, asked in an earlier comment in this series whether I could point to a place in Scripture where God commands his people not to lie.  I think the answer to that is 'yes'.

Let's look at a few examples.

The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in men who are truthful. (Pro 12:22 NIV)

You could suggest that this is wisdom literature, not law, and so carries the weight of what is good rather than what is necessary.  So let's go to some law.

Do not lie. Do not deceive one another. (Lev 19:11 NIV) 

Seems fairly clear.  But you could suggest that this is the OT and perhaps there's more 'freedom' in the New Testament on these sorts of issues where wisdom suggests that bending the truth may perhaps bring a better outcome.  So let's go to the NT.

Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. (Col 3:9-10 NIV)

Now one could further again argue that perhaps there is an escape clause here in that the command seems to apply only to discussion within the Christian community.  So Christians could technically lie, but only to non-Christians?  Yet, lying in general seems to be a sin that God suggests leaves its exponents culpable:

But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars--their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulphur. This is the second death." (Rev 21:8 NIV) 

Now, I'm generally not one who likes to build my case based on one-verse prooftexts, but having been challenged to do so I don't think that the Scriptural evidence points away from my central thesis.  Even if you're building your ethics from a very flat view of the 'divine command' approach, you're really going to struggle to think that it's godly to engage in any sort of deception without very serious prayer and reflection on why these commands might not apply in that particular case.

Distancing ourselves

I personally find the idea of distancing myself from the culture out of which extremist Christian groups such as Westboro Baptist have emerged as quite enticing.  The kinds of arguments that emerge from those kinds of extreme (and even milder) groups who claim Christianity are many of the reasons my friends would claim as their reason for rejecting Christianity.

I thought this piece from The Onion was quite a cool idea, if not quite implemented as funnily as I'd have hoped from such a promising idea.  Its concept has Almighty God holding a press conference in which he distances himself from the Christian right in the US, and several of their intolerant policies.

I'd like nothing better than to have my totally legit and logically airtight reasons for my faith totally distanced from the lame arguments that my friends ridicule (read into that as much bravado and/or tongue-in-cheek humility as you see fit).  And I often do so when talking to said friends.

Further, some of my friends have been hurt by a 'ask no questions, just submit to these rules' type of Christianity that seems to find greater traction within that culture.  I'd like to distance what I think is a right expression of following Christ from that perspective also.

And yet, I'm not sure that I want to distance myself from the Christian right in the way 'God' does in this article.  In fact, I'm not sure if I can.

Doesn't that sound scandalous?  I think it is.  But it's the scandal of grace.

Not because I'm supposed to show them grace or anything noble like that, but because I am equally in need of grace.  I have no moral advantage over the worst of the Westboro lot that would give me any sort of 'in' with God.  I have in common with them the need to be rescued from my perverse views and foul actions.  And for many people who are part of that culture I also share with them a connection as we are both connected to Christ, sinners made righteous in Him.

Ultimately, to distance myself from the Christian right, while very tempting, is to distance myself from the God of grace who embraces foul people.

In the cross, God didn't distance himself from foul people.  He came near to them.  And when he did, we were so foul that we killed him. And Jesus knew we would.  And yet he says of foul people who killed him:

"And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."  (John 12:32)

Now, this post could contain many caveats about how we practically deal with such massive differences, the calling out of false shepherds, discussion of genuineness of conversion based on evidence of the fruit of the Spirit, etc.  But we can discuss those in the crumbs, cos this crumb is about God not distancing himself from me, when the moral gap between me and God makes the moral gap between me and Westboro look pretty darn insignificant.

Lies #3 - Why the truth matters pt1.

In my next few posts in this series I'm going to work a few different angles on bits of Scripture that show how important truth is.  So hopefully there'll be a few of these, in quickish succession, but they should each be reasonably short.

The first angle I'm going to work from is that that the ethics of creatures proceed from their Creator.

So, who is our Creator?

God is not a man,a that he should lie... (Num 23:19 NIV)

He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie (1Sa 15:29 NIV) 

God, who does not lie... (Tit 1:2 NIV) 

...him who is holy and true... (Rev 3:7 NIV)

Just and true are your ways, King of the ages. (Rev 15:3 NIV)

... is called Faithful and True. (Rev 19:11 NIV) 

But do we need to try and be like God in this respect?  Or is truth an 'incommunicable' attribute of God?  One that He possesses, but we're not commanded to emulate?  Well, Colossians specifically combines the command not to lie with the destiny of the believer to be like his/her Creator:

Do not lie to each other,a since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. (Col 3:9-10 NIV) 

This is not only our future, but also the expectation of the character of our lives now:

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.  24 God is spirit,a and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth." (Joh 4:23-24 NIV)

 And this in anticipation of our future.  As John sees in Revelation:

Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads. ... No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless. (Rev 14:1-5 NIV) 

So while we may not necessarily act truthfully instinctively, honesty is the direction the Christian must be pointed towards because it's what conforming to the image of his/her Creator looks like.

Our ethics flow from the nature of our Creator.

Lies #2 - What is a lie?

In the discussion with Nathan that followed my first post in this series, he suggested that offering a working definition of a "lie" may be  a helpful next post in this series.  And as Nathan is a genuine authority on blogging, here we are.

Defining something like 'lying' is difficult.  Well, that's a lie.  But it is difficult to define well.

This is in large part due to the complexity of human interactions and the variety of contexts and cultures within which they occur.  So let me start with a negative description.

Is not telling the truth lying?

I don't think that withholding the truth is inherently a lie. This is because not all truth is appropriate for all people to know at all times. The intimacy that is shared by lovers is not something that one shares with all and sundry. In fact to do that would destroy that intimacy that is made so special by its exclusive nature.

Similarly, I don't think there's any moral imperative to be a pedant.  It is perfectly legitimate (particularly in a counselling setting) to simply nod your head and say "right" when someone shares with you their perception of events, even when you 'know' that they're wrong or deluded. Doing this acknowledges that this is their perception of events. It doesn't validate it as true. It communicates acceptance of the person and their experience of an event. Choosing not to contradict a person is not lying.

So what is a lie?

I reckon a decent description of a lie is intentionally representing a false statement as true.

Does that work for persuasive communication?

This is some fairly grey territory.  What if, by making statements that are individually true, I represent a situation or product in such a way that isn't a full or fair reflection in all aspects?

What has happened here is that we're shifting the scope of evaluation from single propositions to entire pieces of communication.  Here, I don't think the label of 'lie' is the most helpful descriptive category.  It's not a label the generally makes sense when applied to, say, a newspaper article as a whole.

I think here we need to ask: "Is the piece of communication faithful to the truth as believed by the author at the time?"  Some points with respect to this:

• As discussed above it doesn't need to disclose all facts, but in these cases a more general grading of faithfulness to truth is more appropriate than the binary term "lie". 
• To be "faithful", the premises in a piece of communication ought to truly support the message (which may be explicit or implicit) of that piece of communication.

Ok, so that's some definitional/descriptional stuff.  It's not meant to be arguing for anything, just laying things down as I'm using them so what I write makes more sense.

Do you like these descriptions?  No?  Help me out a bit and let me know what you'd add/change in your crumbs.