Posted on 08/18/2018 10:09:46 AM PDT by Salvation
The Bible and the Church never praise lying, even when there are good intentions behind the act Msgr. Charles Pope
Is lying always wrong?
Question: We are told not to lie, but the Bible says Rahab the prostitute lied to protect the Jewish spies. The Bible later praises her as being justified for doing this. Does Scripture praise lying, which is a sin? — Tamarah E. Jones, La Plata, Maryland
Answer: No. We should be careful to recall that the Bible records many things that are not praiseworthy. There are murders, rapes, theft, polygamy, adultery and the like. The mere reporting of these behaviors is not approval of them. In many cases, such behavior becomes an object lesson to illustrate what happens when such bad behavior ensues. In other cases, the sinful behavior simply goes unremarked. But silence is not the same as approval.
It is true that Rahab lied. Here is the account of it: “So the king of Jericho sent Rahab the order, ‘Bring out the men who have come to you and entered your house, for they have come to spy out the entire land.’ The woman had taken the two men and hidden them, so she said, ‘True, the men you speak of came to me, but I did not know where they came from. At dark, when it was time to close the gate, they left, and I do not know where they went’” (Jos 2:3-5).
The incident is simply recorded. And while the two Hebrew spies benefit from her lie and even promise her reward for her protection, there is no explicit praise in the text for the lie itself.
Later in the Scriptures there is praise of Rahab, but there is no mention of her lie, only her act of receiving the spies and sending them out by a protected way. Here are those texts: “By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish with the disobedient, for she had received the spies in peace” (Heb 11:31). “And in the same way was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by a different route?” (Jas 2:25).
Hence we should be careful not to say that the Scriptures affirm lying in this matter. There is a care in the sacred text to focus the praise on her overall benevolence, not the lie. St. Augustine affirms this stance: “That therefore which was rewarded in them was, not [her] deceit, but [her] benevolence; benignity of mind, not iniquity of lying” (“To Consentius, Against Lying,” 32).
A question = no answer.
(What’s the questioner to think??)
I think you missed the joke!
David to Goliath: INCOMING!!
Until you bark.
It's as easy as showing that Mary was sinless from the bible.
Can you show a Bible verse that has the phrase: Mother of GOD
Just great wishes: Galatians 5:12
I bid you a good night as well.
I am DOOMED!!
Ah...
A thread I can really start to sink my teeth into!
—Deconica coprophila(but so few calories)
Just another thing Mormonism got from Rome...
http://mormonswearwords.blogspot.com/p/mormon-swearwords-msw.html
Oh boy!
So then Jesus wouldn't even had to have changed His mind. But - He does go to the Festival in “secret”. Isn't that sort of a lie?
While this all makes for an interesting discussion, I'm glad that the main thing is, Jesus died for ALL of my sins. From the terrible ways I treated my parents as a youth (and that they lived long enough that I could ask for forgiveness)to the sometimes deceitful acts of my adult life. I'm still growing.
And it is interesting how my behavior SHOULD be solid as a rock, but it is so often influenced by the other party. Get undercharged at a small cafe with nice help and I'll point it out. “Oh - we had two coffees, you only charged for one.”
But then “Hey honey - the cable company forgot to charge us for that extra cable box! Lucky us.” (Bad example though. The cable company would never forget something like that. And if I mentioned it to my wife, she would be on the phone to correct their error!)
I’m not sure what you mean by “that exception.”
Please ignore 215. I didn’t see this post. I will look at it.
Actually, there was nothing in Scripture that stated it was unconditionally wrong and never OK to work on the Sabbath until the Lord taught it could be done in order to save lives, as it was in keeping with the intent of the law . And there is nothing in the scriptures that states that it's unconditionally wrong and never OK to lie in certain circumstances, and instead it shows noble souls lying to evil men in order to save lives, and implicitly sanctions it, as God is shown only rewarding the midwives, Elisha, Rahab, Jael who lied to save souls, and nowhere reproved them.
Why something is wrong to lie must be considered, and thus God can do what would be evil for man to do, without actually violating His law, because He alone can make it work out for the good of those who love Him.
NP.
I’m not denying that Christ was God. Christ was fully God and fully Man. To ignore the “fully Man” part is to simmply not understand the miracle of the incarnation and all that it represents. You’re the one who seems to be ignoring Christ as the “Son of Man”. What exactly do you think it means that “Christ emptied Himself”?
Not much to misinterpret.
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