Lying To Save A Life, part 3

This is the Third Post from Appendix 10 of Friends With God: “Should You Lie To Save A Life?” In the first post in this series we addressed how to possibly answer this question. In this post we explore what God is doing when he puts us in difficult situations.

Death Is Common To All People

If God wants someone to die, do you think your lie will save them?

Why would you lie to protect another person? We are told to lay down our life for others, but in reality death is the one thing all people have in common.

If the person threatened with death relies on you to lie for them to get them out of a tight situation they are therefore not relying on God.

Also, do they actually want you to lie for them? If so then it’s an opportunity to teach them to have faith in God. It’s not the time to cave in to unreasonable demands and undermine your faith in God.

Such trials are a critical time to trust in God, not a time to premediate about the best way to chicken out. If we trust in God, and die, then God will greatly reward us.

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. (Psa 116:15)

God will bless us and God will test us, and he wants to see how we cope with both. After talking about all the blessings and miracles that God did for people in Hebrews 11:1-35, Paul then goes on…

And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise. (Heb 11:36-39)

All of these people who were killed obtained a good report by faith, not just those who were blessed and were saved from trials. By suggesting that lying is a logical way out, you have ignored God completely, and his plan for both you and the other people involved.

God is going to test our faith, and if we do lie we fail the test.

Not that our righteousness will give us eternal life, but his law is the Way of Life, and God tests us to see if we are willing to live that way.

“Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you, but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.” (1Peter 4:12-13)

God allows us to suffer, and we must trust him to be able to endure it, for he is testing us. Please take the time to look up these verses on testing and faith in God: 1Cor 10:13, Ex 16:4, Deu 8:2-16, Jer 17:10, Jer 20:12, Zec 13:9, 2Cor 13:5, Rev 3:10.

The Law Of God

What is the “Law of God” if it’s not a summary of what God wants us to do? Therefore, when God uses the law, the law of life, to test us, he is merely testing our faith.

However, this law is also good for us, it’s not simply an arbitrary set of lines that we must not cross.

If we think that the law is limited in its benefit for us, then we have limited Gods’ tools that he has to test and help us to grow. The thing he will test us on is what we believe, that is our faith -whether or not we trust him completely.

If, however, we have already determined (in a hypothetical situation) that we are ready to buckle even before any testing starts, then we are determining to fail. God is not merely testing us to see if we are willing to obey the intent of his law, rather than simply the letter of the law. We can most often obey both the letter and intent. However, sometimes the consequences may appear to be disastrous.

Abraham Followed God’s Commandment

As discussed in this previous post, God tested Abraham when he said to sacrifice Isaac. This was no game. Abraham almost did kill Isaac.

In comparison if we justify lying to save a life, then perhaps Abraham should have got ready his knife, then said to God "well obviously you are not serious about this" and then argued with God.

But he did not, he was willing to go through with the sacrifice, as he believed that God was able to raise Isaac from the dead. Yet this was not Gods plan. God stopped Abraham just when he was ready to kill Isaac.

Similarly, God may choose to pull us out of an apparent mess, or he may allow us to go right on through it, to our death, or the death of others. We must, like Abraham, trust in God.

He may show us a way out so that we may be able to keep his law, and save the lives of everyone involved, and perhaps even also convert our persecutors to Gods way in the process. Or, perhaps, he may forgive your weakness in lying to save someone’s life, including your own, as he did with Peter, who feared for his life and denied that he knew Christ, yet he was forgiven.

The Commands Of God Are Good For Us

It may be valuable to look at the logical ramifications of our intention to obey God, and indeed we are admonished to count the cost of our discipleship to Christ. (Luke 14:28-33)

However, we should not confuse such serious assessment with wild speculation on some unlikely, improbable, outrageous situation we may possibly never find ourselves in. And we should not allow such assessment to undermine our determination to do what we can do now to obey the truth of God as we understand it.

We are constantly told to not forget Gods law:

“My son, do not forget my law, But let your heart keep my commands; For length of days and long life And peace they will add to you. Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart, And so find favour and high esteem In the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones.” (Prov 3:1-8)

And even if it’s not health to your flesh and strength to your bones, then you should be willing to do it anyway, as that is what we have agreed to do in our covenant with Christ: We look forward to eternal life, not just physical blessings in this life.

Just as the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. So abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. (John 15:9-10)

We know God is able to forgive us our sins, but sin is failure, it’s not success. We should not try to work out when we may “need” to sin, rather we should try to live a good life that glorifies God, and his way of life, which is what he expects us to do by keeping his commandments.

In the next post we will see why lying to save a life will generally fail, and that God will not support such lies.