Truthfulness and Lying
Paul
Wong
There are
two verses in the New Testament that show the truthfulness of God. They are: “Let God be true and every man a liar” (
When we
learn that the devil is the father of lies it does not relieve us of the
responsibility for our own deceptions, but it does give us insight into where
lies came from. We cannot use the devil as an excuse to be dishonest. People lie for many different reasons. They
lie for convenience sake. Sometimes it seems that it is just easier to lie than
tell the truth. They lie to protect their interests, jobs, homes, families and
even their religions. They lie because they want others to think they are
something they are not. They lie because they are sinful people. None of these
reasons to lie excuse their actions. If
Christians are to be called the children of the Truth, then they must live in
truthfulness at all times.
Two Forms of Lying
Broadly
speaking there are two forms of lying: deception and denial.
Deception
is something that we see in all kinds of human activity, speech and
thought. It can be found anywhere from
the home to the school, workplace and even in churches. A deceiver is someone
who wants to look or act like another person with the
motive of personal gain. When it comes to lying, deception is making oneself
and others believe what one is not. This involves tactics like falsifying
facts. The Biblical story of Rebekah who had planned for Jacob to disguise as his
brother Esau in order to gain Isaac’s paternal blessings is a strong case of
deception (Gen. 27). Deception brought
hatred in Esau’s heart who planned to kill Jacob after
Isaac’s death. The result was that both
sons left home and made Rebekah a very lonely widow,
plus the retribution of Jacob by his uncle Laban’s
deception (Gen. 29). Sin has a way of
coming back to the sinner.
To a
lesser degree exaggeration is also another form of deception. When we "stretch the truth" in
order to make ourselves appear to be something that we are not, we are guilty
of lying. In the early
The second
type of lying is denial, which is to think, speak and act as someone we are
not. The Biblical account of Abraham and Sarah illustrates an attempt at
denying who we are. Abraham brought his wife Sarah to
History
repeats itself. It appears like either
Abraham did not teach his son Isaac his past wrongful denial as a husband or
Isaac did not want to learn from his father’s mistakes. Isaac feared that Abimelech
would kill him for the same reason that his father Abraham had when he was in
Egypt, so he denied Rebekah was his wife and lied she
was his sister. (Gen. 26:1-11).
What
traits of character did Abraham and Isaac display when they lied to their hosts
by denying who they were. Definitely they were not of faith at that
time. They did not trust in God’s
protection. They were cowards and
weaklings. They did not show chivalry in
protecting their own wives. They should
be ashamed of themselves. For our
comfort, that was a phase in the lives of Abraham and Isaac when they were
learning to walk as believers. Both
Abraham and Isaac grew and developed into giants and heroes of faith.
The most
infamous biblical case of lying by denial is of the apostle Peter. He denied he was with Jesus, not just once,
not twice but three times (Mt. 26:69-75).
Peter’s three denials of Jesus was recorded and well
documented in the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The best part of the story is that Jesus not
only forgave him but also restored his faith and filled him with the Holy
Spirit who guided him to become one of pillars of the
Honesty is
a virtue not only extolled by Scriptures, but it also encourages us to be
truthful in our Christian living.
How do people in Christianity tell lies?
Before our Lord Jesus Christ went to
the Cross He was greatly concerned about the truthfulness of His Church. He prayed to the Father, “Sanctify them by Your
truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into
the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.” (Jn. 17:17-19) To achieve
sanctification we not only need the word of God which is the truth, but also
truthfulness which is the character and integrity of faithful Christian
ministers. It is possible for dishonest
ministers to “exchange the truth
of God for the lie” or twist Scriptures to their own destruction (Rom.
People in
Christianity tell lies by insinuation when they allow an untruth to go
unchallenged. If we know something being
said or taught in our assemblies or churches are not true, we have a moral
obligation to bring it out into the open.
If we allow lies to remain lies, we are participating in the lie. One of the most common lies within Christianity
is an assembly, church, congregation or ministry claiming to be the only one in
the world that can bring salvation to mankind.
If this is true God would have stated it very clearly in the Holy Bible
with the words: “It
is written . . .” or “Thus
says the LORD . . .”. Our Lord Jesus
Christ would also have said it during His earthly ministry and the apostles
would certainly have stated it in the New Testament.
Years ago
I invited a Messianic Jewish lady to attend Sabbath Services in our home. She asked some difficult questions. One of her questions was whether or not our
denomination has members all over the world consisting of all the nations,
tribes, peoples and tongues. I asked her
why she asked that question. She
replied, “The Messiah came to redeem mankind by His blood “out of every tribe and
tongue and people and nation”
and the apostle John saw the vision in Heaven “a great multitude which no
one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues.” (Rev. 5:9; 7:9) The sister
said she had been seeking and studying various denominations for many years and
she could not find one that has a membership that consists “of all nations, tribes, peoples and
tongues” on this
earth as described in the book of Revelation.
I told her we may not have the qualification she was seeking but we
certainly try our best to preach the truth and the full Gospel of salvation. On the next Sabbath Service she not only came
but also brought her Chinese friend who later joined our small
congregation. This has encouraged me to
always tell the truth and not make false claims about our congregation.
We also
lie when we engage in vain flattery in the church. When we tell someone a lie
in order to gain favor in the person’s eyes somehow this is a lie. That doesn't
mean we must be rude to people. If a church sister asked you if you liked her
dress you needn't tell her it is ugly even though you may actually think so.
But, at the same time, you shouldn't tell the sister her dress is beautiful
just because you want some favor from her.
How do people in the secular world tell
lies?
There are
numerous other ways in which people in the secular world lies, and each and
every lie they tell is devastating.
A study of
some
·
"Saying
a required book costs $50 to $60 when it really cost about half that 'so they'd
pity me and send me money'"
·
"Saying
they were staying in to study for a test.
·
"Getting
out of baby-sitting some 'brats' by claiming a prior
commitment.
·
"A
woman telling an interesting man she's not dating someone else regularly so
he'll ask her out."
This
article demonstrates the eroding of the value of honesty and truthfulness in
today's society. Yet the Bible places great emphasis on this Godly virtue.
The most
obvious way we lie is blatant deception. It becomes
even more serious when viewed in the context of the 9th Commandment
that deals with a malicious lie intended to cause harm to another person. This
commandment specifically deals with lying in a legal context. Lying is wrong,
but to commit perjury compounds the lie because we are harming other
persons. Committing perjury is an
extremely serious offense against God, and against our fellow man.
There are
lies by omission. If we are selling our automobile, and we list on the
advertisement that it is in excellent condition we better be telling the truth.
If we know that the car was partially under water during the recent flood in
We lie
when we spread rumors. This is perhaps one of the most insidious lies.
Sometimes we don't even realize we are lying when we do it. Just because we do not know it is a lie
however, doesn't make it any less dishonest. We must check the facts before we
tell someone something we heard. Not only that, we must really decide whether we need to be sharing
it anyway.
White Lies
During a
recent Bible Study on this subject we touched on the subject of white
lies. They are lies that are supposedly
helpful and not harmful to others. We
studied the case of Rahab the prostitute who
concealed the two spies that were sent out to spy on
1.
Rahab was a
Gentile at that time and was ignorant of the Ten Commandments.
2.
God
forgave Rahab’s lie after she became a believer in
Him.
3.
Rahab was
simply deceiving the enemy, a normal and acceptable practice in wartime.
4.
Rahab broke a
lesser principle – telling the truth – to uphold a higher principle –
protecting the lives of God’s principle.
There may
have been another way to save the lives of the Israelite spies. But under the pressure of the moment, Rahab had to make a choice.
During the Second World
War Corrie Ten Boom’s home in Haalem,
During our Bible Study
and Discussion on white lies we also touched on the issue of how much truth we
have to tell terminally ill patients. In
my Christian ministry I have developed a guideline of what to tell patients
that are terminally ill. Regardless of
their health condition I would always begin by sharing with them the Gospel of
our Lord Jesus Christ and also His healing power (Mt.
The apostle Paul's plea for
Honesty
In writing
to the Church at
A lie does
at least three things. First, it misrepresents the truth. The person who is
lied to does not know the truth; therefore, he has to act or live upon a lie.
Secondly,
lying deceives a person. Deception leads to misunderstandings that can destroy relationships.
Third, a
lie builds wrong relationships. A person who enters into a relationship with
another person based upon a lie cannot develop a proper relationship due to
deception and dishonesty created by the lie.
Lying is
specifically condemned in the Bible. ". . . and all liars
shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is
the second death.” (Rev. 21:8) “Blessed
are those who do His commandments, that they may have
the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the
city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers
and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever and practices a
lie.” (Rev. 22:14-15) If you want to go to Heaven don’t lie. Always tell the truth! Amen!
May God bless you
For comments please write first to: arkpw@sbcglobal.net
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Paul Wong is a Christian minister and the
President of ARK International. |
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