(Is It Ever Okay to Sin? Post 5) Food for Thought

            You know, sometimes I manage to annoy even myself. I came across an article online that 

detailed a biblical case for telling a lie. I told myself, “You better save this somewhere; this would make 

for an interesting blog post.” Naturally, I don’t do that. Now I can’t find it. That is reason #100,362 I’m 

excited for a new heavenly body when Jesus rolls around. Maybe I’ll remember something then!

            But here it is nonetheless (from memory): the ninth commandment states that we are not to bear 

false witness. To paraphrase and simplify, Christians just say that we are not to lie. But this writer 

brings us back to the language of the actual passage (found in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5). It 

doesn’t say not to “lie”, but to “not bear false witness”.

            He argues that this passage is speaking from a court perspective. "Bearing false witness" is 

legally inclined, whereas "lie" is more of an everyday term. The passage is speaking as if there is a 

judge (or a mediator) and an accuser (or defendant) present. We are not to lie to these people when we 

speak. In this situation, the mediator and the accuser deserve the truth, therefore we must be honest.

            How does this change whether or not we can sin (specifically lie) in extreme situations? It 

changes things because we can judge whether or not the people we are speaking to deserve the truth. If 

Nazis knocked on my door asked if I was hiding Jews, I could lie to them because they do not deserve 

the truth. They intend to harm. They are being neither just in judgement nor merciful.

            This person balances that illustration with the fact that almost everyone deserves to hear the 

truth, therefore we should always tell the truth to those people. It is only in extreme situations (such as 

war) where we can lie. This sums up his position.

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            I have to admit, the writer was convincing. He got me with the war illustration. How else can 

nations have useful intelligence agencies if they can’t lie to gain information and stay one step ahead of 

other nations? I admit, I do not know. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Christian spy/pastor, and he was fine 

with lying to an enemy. If you read his books on theology (try The Cost of Discipleship) and Eric 

Metaxas’ biography on him, you’ll learn that this guy was a strong Christian.

            Going back to the Bible, God never condoned sin (though he blessed some of the sinners in it). 

Therefore He never condoned lying. The author would maneuver around this fact by saying that lying 

to those who do not deserve the truth is not a sin. God doesn’t have to condone something that isn’t 

sinful.

            Again, I am extremely irked that I can’t find the article. You could read it yourself. Anyway, I 

have one main problem with the whole “you can lie (bear false witness) to those who do not deserve 

the truth” position:

            To counter the "Nazis at the door" example, I will use the "Are you a Christian?" situation. Say 

you are at a church with all your close friends and family members. A gunman then comes inside and 

walks to you. He says, "Are you a Christian? If you say yes, everyone here dies. But if you deny your 

God, everyone goes free." There have been countless Christians who have been shot to death by 

answering yes to this question. Mothers and fathers have watched their children get beaten to death. All 

because they refused to deny Jesus.

            Using this logic, however, it is okay to deny Christ because the murderer doesn’t deserve the 

truth. Often these people are terrorists, so they would fall under the category of those who can be 

misled.

            I don’t know about you, but denying our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is never justified. He 

gave you eternal life, but you would trade Him for this short life? It would be okay to deny Christ under 

this position. That's the problem with saying that sin is okay in extreme situations.

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            This debate can get heated, but I don’t think it needs to be. We all can agree that, even if it is 

ever okay to sin (lie), it would be in extreme situations that we will probably never experience 

anyway. Going back to the premise of my position, we can be sure that God won’t tempt us beyond 

what we are able to handle (1 Corinthians 10:13). That is how I take this often philosophical debate and 

make it practical. We can argue over the finer points of scripture, but we can come together and agree 

that in our day-to-day lives, God won’t give us more than we can chew. There is always a way to 

glorify Him in whatever situation we find ourselves.