Years of writing in discursive forums has given me a sensitive nose for impending excrement. I hope to be wrong about this, but in recent days I’ve had three strong whiffs of dangerous deceit, emitting (sadly but not surprisingly) from fellow evangelicals. I’ll get straight to the point.
There’s a line of thought being propagated that aligns two ideas:
- That lying isn’t always a sin.
- That the US justice system is inflexible and, wait for it, legalistic (d’uh!)!
These might appear to be unrelated assertions, but there are devious reasons to hitch one wagon to the other.
First of all, of course lying isn’t always a sin. Every parent knows this, protecting their child from truths they are not yet ready to face. Christians hiding Jewish people from the Nazis in the run up to WW2 and lying to soldiers at their doors were unquestionably doing the right and godly thing. From a Biblical point of view, there is the example of the prostitute Rahab, who lied to the authorities in Jericho to save the lives of the Jewish spies, along with her own life and those of her loved ones. Rahab was rewarded by the Lord for her righteous deceit, was rescued from Jericho’s doom, and even became part of Jesus’ ancestral bloodline. I wrote about this in July 21, in an article entitled What is Sin? This was written before my readership grew, and so was largely unnoticed at the time, but I think it contains some crucial challenges about the nature of sin, along with God’s reasons for helping us overcome it.
It’s important to understand, however, that the commandment is not nullified by the righteous lie. Exodus 20, 16a:
‘Thou shalt not bear false witness…’
The purpose of this commandment remains – to exhort us to build communities on a foundation of honesty and truth. We are living in a post-truth age, when conspiracy theories carry as much weight as actual facts, and certain political leaders have abandoned any notion of basic decency, lying through their teeth to serve themselves. Experts have been sidelined, biased talking heads promoted as truth-tellers, and the result is that ordinary people barely know what or who to believe. This is an utter disaster which I hope we can reverse.
I’ve seen it destroy lives. A once-dear friend in Alabama has become embroiled in the worst forms of nonsense, his previously good nature warped by conspiracies and fear. In the early days of Obama’s presidency, he posted a lengthy article which insisted Obama was sneaking guillotines (yes, the full-sized, French neck snippers) across the country at night and establishing concentration camps for Christians. My friend was awaiting arrest, detention, and execution at such a camp, along with all other believers in the country, and the devious manipulators selling this delusion had him ready to defend himself with force. This sort of deception undermines the very foundation of a healthy society, dividing people into camps and setting them against each other, sowing hatred and discord into once-innocent hearts.
The commandment urges us to resist false testimony because a society needs truth, reliable fact, and accountability in order to function, but we have abandoned this injunction in favour of what scratches our political itch.
So yes, lying is not always a sin, but ripping up the fabric of society is. Pairing up permission to lie with criticism of the US justice system stinks, implying that lying to the authorities, and specifically lying under oath in court, is fine with God if it serves a higher purpose. What could those pushing this dangerous idea possibly be referring to, albeit in a tacit manner?
To me the answer is clear – they are implying that Trump, and anyone called to give testimony about Trump (specifically the ex-vice-president and Evangelical Christian Mike Pence), would be serving God by lying on the stand about crimes the former president is guilty of. Pence’s testimony about the Jan 6th attempted coup will be crucial in terms of Trump’s future political aspirations, and so Trump’s most loyal followers (hoodwinked, mind-blasted Evangelicals) are trying to craft a comfortable cushion for Pence’s backside – don’t worry Mike, we won’t hold it against you if you lie. In fact, we’ll praise you for your righteous deceit. How far has this idea already spread? A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.
Similarly, Fox News are currently being sued by Dominion for their propagation of the false narrative that the 2020 election was stolen. Rupert Murdoch knew his organisation was spreading lies and stirring up division but did nothing about it, and hosts who knew the truth continued to spew deceit to please their base and maximise profits. This is a fight for the future of US society, and there is a clear villain – a clear, devilish force, intent on reshaping society in its image, no matter the damage to individuals, families, and communities; even if it means tricking ordinary members of society into believing an election was stolen and raising the temperature enough that they gather en masse and assault the Capitol building, ruining their own lives and careers and damaging trust in US democracy.
In the eyes of Christians all over the world, sections of the US church have become a cult, politicised by devious forces to harness a voting bloc. It breaks my heart to see my brothers and sisters brainwashed and enslaved, turning their back on the commandment to preserve truth and integrity at the behest of self-interested individuals and forces.
Over the past few months I’ve been nurturing a desire for unity in the Church. I see goodness, light, and truth in so many of my fellow believers, be they Evangelical, Catholic, or Progressive, and I want to build bridges rather than burn them, but then I come across something like this. It leaves me with no choice, because I will not seek unity with apologists for corruption.
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