Proverbs 13:3 ESV
Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.
[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs+13%3A3&version=ESV]
Let’s pick up where we left off last week.
The second standard, beauty, is the question, ‘Does this person have a right to this information; is this the proper time and place to tell them; what is the right way to tell them?’ All these may seem somewhat disconnected from ‘beauty’, but beauty, properly understood, is the correspondence of all parts to a Godly pattern. Aesthetically, this manifests into what we generally call beauty. In our daily lives, however, beauty is no less important than in art, for beauty is, ultimately, the echoing of God in His creation, the ultimate goal of the Imago Dei, the image of God in man (Genesis 2).
Does this person have a right to this information? To return to the example of knowing my friend’s credit card pin number, the reason it’s wrong to just tell anybody I want is two-fold: first, as noted above, I don’t have that right to do that with the information; second, they don’t have the right to know it. These two reasons are, of course, two sides of the same coin, but understanding both is important. Like with property, different people have a right to different pieces of information, and giving a person information which they don’t have a right to know is, in a sense, theft, a violation of the pattern God has established for his people.
Is this the proper time and place to tell them? Choosing the right time and place is important. Conversely, choosing the wrong time and place can be immensely deleterious. Announcing your displeasure with the taste of the lasagna, for instance, may be justifiable in private, but doing so in front of a full dinner party, including several guests, is simply a bad idea. Likewise, informing somebody half-way up a cliff that their friend just died would be not only impolite but quite possibly dangerous. This question, therefore, is one of prudence.
Is this the right way to tell them? The means must match the message. The grocery list can be written on a post-it note or recited hurriedly; a marriage ceremony similarly conducted loses much of its grandeur. Likewise, singing might be an appropriate way to entertain a child, but for most people, singing their cancer diagnosis would be a cruelty to add to terror. In truth, this question is not of whether you speak but of how. If I choose to tell another anything, I should be sure that my words, my tone, and my medium are all consonant to the information I wish to convey, as all three will carry a part of the information, if not generally as large a portion as the words themselves.
The third (and first) standard, truth, is the question , ‘Is this true?’ It is, in many cases, the simplest of the three, but its application is fraught with controversy because of one simple issue: when is it right to lie?
Is this true? This question is generally simple enough. You should know before you speak whether what you intend to say is truthful- accurately reflective of God and His world- or deceptive- a distortion of the previous. This is not to say the answer must be yes, however. Jests, lies intended not to deceive but to amuse, are not necessarily immoral, though discretion and care must be exercised; the previous criteria still apply. Jests are not the only exception, though, which leads into the next question.
When is it right to lie? Here’s a question much-debated, one this post has entirely insufficient space for. Therefore, instead of trying to present a comprehensive case, a short summary of the Biblical position will be provided, with the caveat that many great Christian men have disagreed strongly with the position outlined.
The ninth commandment prohibits man from “bearing false witness against [his] neighbor” (Exodus 20:16). The crime here, if rephrased, is the use of deception, particularly (but not, as an understanding of the expansive purpose of the Ten Commandments will assure the reader) in court, for the purpose of harming another (neighbor being defined, as per Christ in __, as any other human). Lying, therefore, is absolutely prohibited when it is aimed towards harm. This prohibition leaves in doubt only ‘harmless’ and ‘beneficial’ lies.
The answer to both lies in the answer to the following question. What right does the person speaking have to disseminate the information and what right does the person listening have to learn the information? In the case of a Nazi patrol in search of ‘untermenschen’– Jews, Romany, and the like- if the person they are questioning can answer truthfully without compromising the safety of the persecuted, he should. To lie in such a case would be unnecessary and therefore unjustifiable, the perverting of truth without good cause. If silence will accomplish a similar purpose, it is likewise permissible (if not always safe), though the implication inherent in not answering a question must be remembered.
What if, however, this hypothetical person was hiding a Jew in his attic, and the Nazi knocking on his door asks, “Do you have any Jews in the attic?” In this case, the Nazi does not have any right to that information- his intent (whether inherent to him or a result of governmental policy exercised through his agency) to commit murder is enough to disqualify him from that privilege. Therefore, withholding information is not theft. Meanwhile, the person hiding the Jew, while he has a right to tell others about that fact, does not have a right to eventuate the Jew’s death, as would be the expected result of speaking the truth (or, indeed, remaining silent). He is called therefore, to lie, not for the purpose of harming another (which is prohibited by Exodus 20:16) but for the purpose of defending the Jew, as well as himself and the Nazi, given the turpitude speaking the truth would further in both of their souls.
In short, lying is right only if the person speaking has no right to communicate the information or the person listening has no right to learn it. At all other times, in all other cases, lying is an abomination to the Lord, an homage to Satan, the Deceiver.
God calls man to guard his lips, to slay all ill words and speak all good. In this quest, which man’s depravity renders impossible, He has not abandoned us (Isaiah 53:6; Jeremiah 17:9; John 16:7). To His people, God promises, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns’” (Isaiah 52:7; Romans 10:15). Further, he promises that we shall bear the good news to all corners of the earth: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). Let us therefore rejoice and be glad in Him Who made us to glorify Himself.
God bless.
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
