10. Hey! There’s a gift!
9. Well, well, well …
8. Boy, if I had not recently shot up 4 sizes that would’ve fit.
7. This is perfect for wearing around the basement.
6. Wow. I hope this never catches fire! It is fire season though.
There are lots of unexplained fires.
5. If the dog buries it, I’ll be furious!
4. I love it — but I fear the jealousy it will inspire.
3. Sadly, tomorrow I enter the Federal Witness Protection Program.
2. To think — I got this the year I vowed to give all my gifts to
charity.
1. “I really don’t deserve this.”
Are you saying that that type of lying is okay? Is lying ever okay? Didn’t God bless somebody for lying in the OT in Joshua? Just some thoughts. I also do get the humor in this blog and am not trying to be all serious to a funny posting. I just had these thoughts as I was reading it.
.
Isn’t this lying by omission (of what you really think) akin to simply not telling people exactly what you think of them? It’s more out of respect than anything.
My favorite is #10, although #6 is a close runner-up.
I’m just trying to love people through laughter…. It does bring a good point up though. Where is the balance of being respectful and being rude or brutally blunt. Is saying, “hey, your fly is open” or some other comment that does not exactly represent reality sin? If a woman asked another woman for her opinion on a hair style and that particular style or look is hideous, what should they do? Do they let the guns blaze?
Let the conversation begin….
This is like a Seinfeld episode.
Happy Festivus… on to the Feats of Strength.
I think of lying as denying the truth to someone who deserves it. This very nicely covers the case of deceit in warfare and cases of preventing evil (hiding Jews from the Nazis and the like). Applying the same principle to the case of the white lie to save hurting one’s feelings, I suppose it depends on the circumstances. If there is something that the person could actually do with your feedback to better the situation (now or in the future), then you probably owe them the truth. If nothing good could possibly come from blunt honesty and only embarrassment or hurt feelings would result, then I think you could make a case for a little creativity in your answer.
So then there is “good” lying? Is there a dramatic risk in this since the one who is misrepresenting the truth is, in this scenario, the one who determines who deserves it? Isn’t this the “yellow brick road” that leads to the city of relativism?
There is no more risk in this view of truth-telling than there is in making a distinction between murder and justified killing. The pacifist makes the error of oversimplifying the command to not murder, to apply to all killing of human beings. Clearly, there are cases where taking another human life is justified, indeed morally required. To standby while a child is brutalized by an aggressor, when you could use lethal force to prevent it, would be morally reprehensible.
In the same way, truth-telling requires moral judgments. If we oversimplified, we would eliminate law enforcement sting operations that prevent drug trafficking, child pornography, and lots of other moral evils. We would have to eliminate our attempts to infiltrate Al Qaeda with spies. We would have to advise the courageous Germans who hid Jews in their attics during the Holocaust to confess to the Nazis that yes, there are people hiding here. The deception that allowed us to pull off the invasion at Normandy would be immoral, not to mention the whole host of bluffing games that we play for fun.
Relativism states that truth or morality is relative to the subject. So, two different people in exactly the same circumstances could legitimately come to different moral conclusions. I am not advocating that at all. Our moral judgments are always based on the circumstances we are in, but we apply universal truths to make the judgment that results in the greatest good. For example, what if a parent instructs a child to lie to a sibling? The child must decide whether it is better to honor his parent or to tell the truth. It would be easy if we had pat answers for everything, but sometimes we find ourselves with conflicting principles and must make Spirit-led, Scripturally-informed judgments.
I would make two modifications/expansions to this thought. First, Christians in day-to-day encounters must apply truth in hopes that God is the one who controls the outcome regardless of how they may or may not feel compelled to act.
Two, when unsusual circumstances do occur (war time, law enforcement, Al Qaeda infiltrations, etc.) we place our hope in God’s rule. In other words, we conduct ourselves out of a desire for God to be famous (glorified) and not personal gain. When our motive is for God’s glory, according to the truth He has given us, sin cannot exist. If I have the opportunity to enforce the justice of God and my motive is centered on His standard being enforced, then I can do things that otherwise would be considered wrong in day-to-day living. In these situations the motive for the activity and not simply the activity itself must be addressed in making any judgement.
There are some interesting places in Biblical history in which I believe these principles can be clearly seen. If there are those interested in exploring this more I can create a new “thread.” Just let me know if you would like to go further.
Ultimatly, God will judge our motives and lives in a way that everything will be laid bare. May we live as though that day will be a day of joy and not sorrow.
I completely agree. The two great commands are to love God and love your neighbor. That is the driving principle (love of neighbor) in each of the examples I gave. And I don’t mean to make light of the sin of lying. I also agree that those are rare cases, but I’ll leave you with one more likely scenario… Say parents perpetrate the myth (lie) of Santa on their children, and the oldest child learns the truth. Now the parents instruct the child not to tell his younger siblings or classmates that Santa is make believe; and further, he is told to continue to play along for their sake. What does the child do? Play along? Refuse? What does the child do when one of those siblings or classmates asks him if Santa is real?
Simple. The wise child says, “Sure Santa’s real. I just hope he never catches fire! It is fire season though. There are lots of unexplained fires…” 😉
Wow, now we are playing hardball! This subject is tantamount to detonating a nuclear bomb with some families. Let me say this, I believe parents make a colossal error when they propagate a lie to children in playing along with the Santa tale (picture me ducking as I say this). Parents are the people children should never even consider questioning the authenticity of what they are saying. When a child comes to realize Santa does not exist and then realizes that their parent(s) were the ones pushing the story what other “truths” will the child question? This type of activity aids the fundamental erosion of a belief system that a parent is trying to create. Also, Santa is reinforced by the world during the holidays so there is a lot of sensory evidence through the media/culture. However, the only time validation for Christ’s existence happens is at church or in a swear word on the playground. Also, the teaching of Christ can be hard, while Santa is a big, huggable guy who always brings something good even though we periodically throw the “lump of coal” talk around. I don’t want my children to ever think my word is questionable. I want them to know whether they are 2 or 22 I will tell them the truth. I may adjust my terms and depth of explanation based on their maturity, but never venture into a category of something untrue. My kids (all six of them) know Santa is not real. They also know that the gifts they receive are expressions of love from Jesus our Savior and Vicki and I as parents.
Yeah, I agree. I couldn’t look my daughter in the face and tell her that there was a Santa Claus. I felt it would violate the tremendous trust she has in her daddy. Along the lines of what you said, I think it’s sad that many people who grew up in Christian homes can name the date they came to believe in Jesus, but grew up always believing in Santa Claus. We do a lot better with the myth than we do the real thing.
Santa’s not…….real? My mom lied to me?
I am glad we can be here for you John. It’s OK. Now, about that Easter Bunny….
Well just to have a little bit of diversity on the topic, we do the Santa thing. Nothing elaborate. Just pictures at the mall and asking, “what are you going to ask Santa for?” It is over balanced with a large dose of “Christmas is not about Santa and presents, but God becoming a person.”
When they have the maturity to point blank ask me then I won’t lie but I just don’t see it as being a traumatic, life-changing, philosophical thing. It’s a fun story.
Kids are eventually going to question everything their parents say anyway. Hopefully they will have the wisdom to know the difference between a holiday tale like Santa and serious life choices. If not, I leave it up to natural selection. 🙂
P.S. “Nuclear bomb”? I should hope not. Don’t judge me on this gray issue and I won’t judge you. 🙂
P.S.S. Don’t you think the word “colossal” is just a bit of an overstatement? What word would you use for a parent using biting sarcasm and personal insults as means of motivating their child to achieve more? 😉
I would use the word “Herculian” to describe this mistake. 🙂 I think anytime a parent knowingly propagates a lie to a child in an effort to increase happiness it is a colossal error. I talk about Santa with my kids, I speak of the virtues that the Santa character is to have and refer to the history of St. Nicholas, but I am quick to reference Christ as our gift-giver. The subject of Santa is not a horse I ride seeking to prevent parents from crippling their kids, it is simply another subject that parents need to consider and address with their kids. I am most concerned that the majority of Christian parents have never even considered it or don’t think it matters. I just want to be God-centered in my thinking and balanced in how my family interacts in the culture we live.