Recently I had a conversation with a devoted Christian man who took me to task for applying God’s standards too literally. The conversation was in reference to telling lies. I stated that unfortunately Christians lie all the time. He disagreed with me so I gave an example of a simple ‘white’ lie that people do all the time. It was at this point he informed that I was wrong and that I was taking things too literally. But was I?
What does God say?
- ‘You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another. Lev 19:11 NASB
The majority of Christians will answer “it is by God’s standards we should live.” They will look at you as if you are asking a foolish question. But is it?
The word “lie” as defined by The Complete Word Study Dictionary, is “a verb meaning to engage in deceit, to deal falsely.” There is no exception in the Word of God for a ‘small white lie.’ Intent has no bearing on whether it is deceit or not. If one gives false information no matter how insignificant it may appear, it is a lie. God has not provided any exceptions.
Christians have taken God’s standards and lowered them to fit their own standards. This is a dangerous and precarious position to take. If we take a different standard other than God’s standard and apply it to our lives, we will not be in a position to repent of particular sins in our lives for we do not view it as a sin. This does not imply one has no salvation or has lost their salvation but simply means that we have left God’s standard behind and apply our own standard.
Are we able to keep His standard in perfection? Absolutely not. We lack the ability to live a life of perfection. But if Christians do not recognize sin for what it is, then they do not see the need to go before Him and ask for forgiveness for the sin. The view is that it is not a sin or it’s not really that ‘big of a deal.’
God’s standard, His law, is such that no one can apply it to their lives perfectly. Jesus is the only one that has been able to live a life that was in perfection. This means that He was able to live the law in perfection and therefore His righteousness is imputed to us. When the Father looks at His children, He looks at us through the righteousness of Christ. But this does not permit Christians to change the standard of His law to fit our point of view.
Only when we can come to terms with the sheer righteousness of His standard, can we realize how far short we fall and can come before Him in gratitude that He has saved us despite our inability to live a life that is without sin. Not one of us can measure up, but if we recognize sin for what it is, no matter how small by our standard, we can go before our creator and seek His forgiveness.
For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. Isa 64:6 NASB
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Ed
May 13, 2012 at 2:28 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
As far as white lies go, what I do is look to the spirit of the law versus the letter of the law.
For instance, if my spouse has worked hard at preparing a meal and asks me
if it tastes good, even if I don’t think it tastes all that good, I may choose to build my spouse
up by my words rather than be completely honest.
1 Peter 4:8 — Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
Alan Robertson
May 13, 2012 at 3:07 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
If you are a Christian then you should take the literal message as stated in the bible which is the received word of God. A liberal Christian intellectually has the worst argument of the lot, neither believing in science or even their religion except where it suits them. They are not even self-consistent. If you believe in God then you are saying there is a higher power than your own free will, so the purpose should be to accord with the revealed truths of his will and if it does not follow modern fashions that is too bad.
Ed
May 14, 2012 at 12:36 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I’m a conservative fundamentalist Christian, but if I interpret everything that God says in the Bible literally, I would have to pluck out my right eye and cut off my right hand, and I daresay so would the great majority of Christians.
Matthew 5:29-30 — If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
I do not interpret Scripture to suit me, but I do have a relationship with the Holy Spirit who guides me into God’s truth, and so I still possess both of my eyes and hands.
If you think about it, plucking out an eye and cutting off a hand wouldn’t get to the root of the problem anyway, which is our thought life. So then, still sinning, I would have to pluck out my other eye and cut off my other hand, and still nothing would have changed, except that I would be completely blind and have no hands.
Jesus tried to teach the Pharisees that the spirit of the law should always supercede the letter of the law, but they were so deeply mired in legalism that they could not grasp it.
Brutal honesty is all it’s cracked up to be, brutal and unloving, and there are times when the right thing to do is to tell a white lie in order to fulfill the greatest commandment, which is Love.
If our motive and intent is to build someone up in Love, then unlike a regular lie, there is no personal gain or deception to be had by telling someone a white lie. Love is not a modern fashion.
The closer our walk with the Holy Spirit, the more sensitive we become to His voice and His guidance, and the less we cling to the false sense of security that legalism provides.
Ed
May 18, 2012 at 8:04 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I apologize for the tone of my last comment.
Ed
Saturday Reblog: God's Standards - Fruit of the Word » Fruit of the Word
May 13, 2012 at 1:17 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
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