by Robert7 12 Replies latest jw friends
This whole concept of not telling the truth to someone unless they're entitled to it is absurd. Isn't one of the 10 Commandment, "Thou Shalt Not Tell a Lie?" Doesn't that mean that God doesn't want us to lie? It doesn't say, "Thou Shalt Not Tell a Lie to One Entitled to the Truth."
StAnn
Dear St. Ann, you wrote: "Isn't one of the 10 Commandments, 'Thou Shalt Not Tell a Lie?' Doesn't that mean that God doesn't want us to lie?"
Actually, that is not one of the 10 Commandments, but nevertheless truthfulness is certainly one of the Torah's maxims (cf. Lev 19:11; Ex 23:7). On the other hand, the answer (even in the strict biblical view) isn't quite as clear as it might seem. Truth is a high value, but not an absolute one. We should indeed ask: "When, if ever, is it permitted to lie?" Some examples:
(1) When life is at stake. E.g., the first chapter of Exodus tells how two midwives helped save Israelite babies against the order of Pharaoh by telling him a lie (Ex 1:19). The subsequent verses tell us that God "dealt well" with the midwives, and established "households" (=large families) for them. In other words, the midwives were right in saving Israelite infants and lying to Pharaoh - they received God's blessing for doing so.
A similar case is Rahab of Jericho (Jos 2) who was saved and blessed to even become an ancestor of King David because she had saved Israelite spies by lying to the king's officers.
Or, in a later incident God himself is depicted as instructing his prophet Samuel to save himself by telling a lie to King Saul (1 Sam 16). Obviously, God could have told Samuel to tell Saul the truth and assure the prophet that he would protect him, but instead tells him to lie. From this we learn that we should also lie to thwart would-be killers, and not tell them the truth and rely on God to save us. It would be both foolish and immoral to tell the truth to an evil person and thereby enabling him to go on doing evil or to commit murder.
(2) 'White lies' to avoid unnecessarily hurting feelings. An obvious biblical example would be the 'white lie' God himself tells to Abraham in Gen 18, where Sarah laughingly says: "…am I to have enjoyment, with my husband so old?", which Yahweh tactfully modifies when he reports it to Abraham: "Why did Sarah laugh, saying: 'Shall I bear a child, old as I am?'" By this 'white lie' God avoided hurting Abraham's feelings and possibly giving rise to some serious marriage trouble between the aged couple.
Consider, e.g., you are invited to a wedding and the groom asks you: "Isn't my bride a beauty?" - Would you answer, even if it were the truth: "Nah, she looks awful and disgusting!" - ?? (Wouldn't you rather say: "Oh yes, she looks very pretty!"?)
(3) Lies told for reasons not to harm another. E.g., should a doctor (or family member) tell the truth to a person who is dying? That depends; for a biblical example cf. 2 Kings 8:7-10. In such cases, much compassion, sensibility, and human feeling is required.
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