Tuesday, January 24, 2006

There are so many lies around

Firstly I have to apologise for the complete lack of posting for about a month but with one thing and another I haven’t really had time.

Today’s post will concern mainly a question arising from last night hall group bible study on Joshua 2. The question being “Is it ever right to lie?” The background to this being that Rahab lies to the king in order to protect two Israelites spies. This then ensures that she is kept safe when the Israelites later take control of the land. Initially, the question was raised that by her lying she was serving God’s purpose because in Matthew 1 we discover she is in fact an ancestor of Jesus. I think it is important to say that I don’t think God ever wants us to lie to serve him; he was simply using the fact that she lied and was then spared. It is also true that had she not lied and had been killed God would have brought about Jesus’ coming to earth in another way; it would not have made it impossible to happen. Anyway, the debate “Is it ever right to lie” is what I’m going to talk about if I haven’t bored you all to death already.

Disclaimer: the following is my opinion so please feel free to comment and disagree as you see fit.

I think the first thing to say is that lying is wrong, always. God does not want us to lie to people and I think that is quite clear, it’s up there with things like murder that most people would agree we just shouldn’t do. My opinion from this point is that although lying is wrong, there are circumstances in which we all do it. The fact that I think something is wrong does not mean that I wouldn’t do it at some point.

The cliché Hollywood example would be, someone is pointing a gun at the person I love and is going to kill her, I have a gun and can therefore take out the “bad guy” first, if I want to. Others may disagree but I am almost 100% certain that I would take the chance and shoot the other man, in order to protect the person I loved. This means that although I know killing is wrong, it would not prevent me from doing it if I thought it was necessary. This then effectively makes all situations like this a “means to an end” type scenario. If we value the end result highly enough then we will sacrifice principles and go against what we know is right to achieve them.
This ties in nicely with a point from a film I watched the other day, namely Batman Begins.



Liam Neeson’s character, Ducard, is intent on stopping the crime wave that is Gotham City. His means is by simply destroying it so that there is no trace of the evil remaining. Although you are meant to side with Batman, that this is not good, I can easily see how Ducard’s approach is reached and justified. The end, that the crime and evil in the city is ended for good, is so important to the man that he is willing to do something seemingly horrific and evil in order to achieve it.

I think that this lead to a sort of “everyone has there price” situation where it becomes simply a question of what we value highly enough to make us go against our beliefs. This would no doubt be different for everyone although there may well be some things that would affect many people.

Well there we go, that was a lot more than I intended to say, I hope I haven’t offended anyone and may have inspired some debate!
Moving to less deep subjects I was keenly watching the championship play-offs this weekend where Seattle beat Carolina and then Pittsburgh Steelers beat Denver Broncos. This deserves special mention as Denver have not been beaten at home all season and previously knocked out the N.E. Patriots, winners for the last two years.



So there it is, Pittsburgh Steelers Vs Seattle Seahawks – Sunday 5th Feb, about 11o’clock in England and sadly only available on Sky Sports 3 – I’m backing the Steelers!

Oh and one last thing especially for Angie

Detroit Tigers Rule!

Two guys called Magnum can’t be wrong!