Lying To Save A Life?

Satan is the father of lies...

Apr 25, 2024

This is the First Post in a series of posts from Appendix 10 of Friends With God: “Should You Lie To Save A Life?”. As persecution of Christians is increasing around the world, we need to take this question seriously, as it’s likely not to be hypothetical in the near future!

Do You Know A Liar?

Do you have friends, or family, who are a bit elastic, or loose, with the truth? If, for instance, they went on a ski trip, would you believe them if they said it was 20C below zero (-4F) ? Or during a heat wave, if they said it hit 45C (113F)?

Do you also have friends who are so truthful that it’s painful to ask them any question, because their answer will always have an extended clarification? Such as, if you ask them what the temperature reached during the heat wave, they could say: “Well the front thermometer said 42.5C, but that was getting a lot of heat from the pavement, and the back thermometer said it was 39.8C, but that was getting a lot of breezes, and was in the shade all day. …” While certainly more accurate, such detail is a bit tedious!

Can being inaccurate to make something sound better (or worse) than it is, lead you to being a liar about more important things? We are told that Satan is the father of lies. (John 8:44) We need to be careful not to live the way Satan lives.

Would You Lie To Save Someone’s Life?

However, what about something really important, like, would you lie to stop someone being killed?

If the Gestapo was at the door, would you lie to save the Jews in the basement?

How should we answer such a question?

What should you do in this sort of situation, be it hypothetical or real?

Perhaps the best thing to do is to turn the question back onto those asking it, by saying: “why do you ask such a question?”

Often the real motivation for their question is to undermine your faith in God, yet they would not admit it. Such questions are often traps, set to put you in a bad light, to weaken your faith, and diminish the trust others have in you.

Such people often just want to prove you are a hypocrite, seeing if you really want to follow God, and make you choose between someone dying and your “saying a little lie”.

While we have all lied in the past, that does not mean we will, or should be so weak as to lie in the future. We need to be careful whom we follow, Satan or God:

You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires.
He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own resources,
for he is a liar, and the father of lies. (John 8:44)….

We are told to overcome sin, not to be overcome by it. (Rom 12:21) All those who lie are following Satan’s lead, and being overcome by him. They are failures, even if the lie “succeeds” in its short-term objective.

Such people are tempting you to admit that you have lied in the past, and will lie in the future. They are setting a trap for you to be accused by Satan as being one of his followers, rather than a follower of God. They are implying that God could be wrong in expecting you to always be truthful.

Yet we are to be following the example of Christ, not of Satan:

If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. (John 15:10)

The Life Of Overcoming And Change

I have heard preachers say that it would be more “honest to admit” that they would lie to save a life, because they know they have lied in the past when in difficult situations of a much less serious nature. However, just because we know we have previously been weak, does not mean we should “admit” that we would lie in the hypothetical future, to save a hypothetical life.

The Christian life is one of change and growth, not one of giving in to our weaknesses. For the ‘honest’ person to say ‘I lied in the past, therefore I most probably will lie in the future’, is not a statement of honesty, but of resignation and failure.

It’s also oxymoronic, how can you actually be an “honest person” if you admit that you will lie in the future?

Repentance is about the fact that we must change and overcome our weaknesses. We must admit that lying is wrong, and because we are honest, we are now determined not to lie in the future, no matter what the provocation, or situation.

If you were to deliberately lie to gain advantage of a situation, and think nothing of it, then that is to live the way of Satan. Yet lying in a time of weakness, under duress, is not living the way of sin, just weakness. But to premeditate to lie, when presented with a hypothetical situation, is not weakness- it’s resignation to not overcome sin.

But we must overcome sin, and not give up trying to overcome just because it’s a bit difficult!

“He who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son.” (Rev21:7)

It is only “He who overcomes” who will be rewarded with eternal life, not the weak failure who is determined to sin, even in a hypothetical situation: Rev 2:7, 2:11, 2:17, 2:26, 3:5, 3:12, 3:21.

Thrown Into A Roaring Fire For Telling The Truth!

There are plenty of examples of people in scripture who have not lied in terrible situations, and God has delivered them. He can deliver you, too. These are not just nice stories to entertain us, but are given as examples to strengthen our faith so that we emulate such people in our lives.

Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. (1Cor 10:11)

One of the greatest examples of faith and courage in the face of death, is of the three Hebrew slaves, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were told to bow down to a pagan idol when in Babylon. They were dragged before the King of Babylon, but boldly told him:

“our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king.
But if not, (if he does not deliver us) let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up." (Dan 3:17-18)

They could have lied. They could have bowed down to the idol in pretence. But they didn’t.

They said God can deliver us, and he will, but if he doesn’t then we won’t pretend to worship your idol.

The irony of this story is that God did not deliver them from being thrown alive into a burning furnace! God did not deliver them from this punishment from the king… until they were in the middle of the fire!

Yet God did not test them beyond what they could endure:

God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability,
but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape,
that you may be able to endure it. (1Cor 10:13)

God will not test you beyond what you may be able to endure, but we must trust him completely, or we are not his sons, but the sons of Satan!

The way of escape for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego was to go into the furnace! So fierce was the fire that it killed the guards who threw them in, yet in the middle of the fire Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were not burnt. The king looked in and saw not three, but four people walking in the fire- for God had sent his angel to be with them. (Dan 3:19-30)

The lesson is that God can deliver you too, if you trust him to help you to overcome sin, and not to be manipulated by devious people, who ask difficult questions, or demand you do what God tells you not to do, in order to undermine your faith.

Christ also had many such devious people asking him deceitful questions, to trap him. (Matt 22:15-46, Matt 21:23-27, Luke 14:1-6, Luke 20:19-26)

In these examples Jesus showed us how to answer such people. These also are not just stories for our entertainment, but are there for us to emulate, so that we too may demonstrate to others that we are walking and talking as he walked and talked. In doing so we show that we are followers of Christ, and his way of life and being a light to the world that will point people to God. (Matt 5:16)