A strange fascination with World War II has been part of me since about the Number the Stars age. Two of my favorite pieces of literature from that era are The Hiding Place, the story of a Christian family who hid Jews, and a historical fiction series called The Zion Covenant, about a group of people, mostly European Christians, who took part in early resistance movements.
One ethical problem that pops up from time to time with Christians in Nazi eras -- sometimes they need to lie or deceive. In the Ten Commandments, there's no conditional statement added onto "Thou shalt not lie." So, technically, isn't it a sin for Corrie ten Boom to deny that their are Jews living in her bedroom? Getting down to the nuts and bolts, it might be, but I chose to ignore it. God will understand.
On the other hand, is choosing to lie to get out of a dangerous situation like putting God in a box? Do we believe he can manage to get us out of a tight spot if we are faithful to playing by his rules?
Corrie's sister, Nollie, had a problem with lying under any circumstances. Once, she was hiding some men in a hole in her kitchen that was covered by a rug and a table on top of the rug, which she was sitting at. Soldiers came in and asked her where her men were. Unwilling to lie, she told them they were under the table. The soldiers looked under the table (but not under the rug), smacked her, and left. She had principles and abided by them, and God seems to have honored that.
If you're still reading, the point is now coming: people in the Bible lied for God, and he blessed them. The Hebrew midwives in Egypt told the Pharoah some lies about Hebrew labor habits. There's Rahab, too. Probably others.
Apparently "Thou shalt not lie" has some unwritten subsections and amendments. Or maybe I just need a better definition of "lie." All these women did intend to deceive. But their deception was not just in order to save their own skins -- it was to help others.
But I want God to be bigger than that. I want him to play by the explicit rules every time. I want some black and white lines. I want, I want, I want.
1 comment:
Ariel,
This is something I have thought about also. I used to ponder that story from The Hiding Place. It fascinated me.
The story of the women in the Old Testament (specifically Rahab) has also bothered me tremendously. She lied to save the Jews staying with her, and for that specific act she was saved from destruction. She was saved for lying. Lying is a sin. Huzza-wha?
Thou shalt not kill--but God demands his people to kill thousands.
Tamar seduced her father-in-law into fathering her child and is praised for the act. She is more righteous. She is in the lineage of Jesus.
Where are those lines? Where ARE they?
Maybe there aren't any lines. There's something else.
Shoot.
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