Lying Rahab

[ded2daworld]

In my idle thoughts time, I wonder about the question that seems to come up frequently. "Rahab lied to get the messengers out of the city and keep them from being killed. God wanted the men to get away. Lying is a sin, therefore Rahab sinned and God condoned it. Therefore God condoned sin."  Did He? Whew! There's a poser!

Faulty reasoning. God never told Rahab to lie and he never told her what to say. Did he know she would? Of course! Same as he knew that Adam and all of humanity would. Did he approve it? No. The Bible nowhere says that.
Here's what the second chapter of James says about it.

25 "It was the same with the prostitute Rahab. She was put right with God through her actions, by welcoming the Israelite spies and helping them to escape by a different road.
26 So then, as the body without the spirit is dead, also faith without actions is dead."

Rahab did not demonstrate her belief in the Israelite God by saying, "I cannot lie now that I believe" It says Rahab was "put right" with God through her actions. In other words, yes Rahab lied but that lie saved the lives of the 2 messengers, rahab, and all her household  her family AND their slaves and was a practical demonstration of her faith in the God of Israel. What you DO is more important than what you say.

[ded2daworld]

Like the parable where the father asked one son to do a certain work. The one son replied he would do it but promptly forgot about it and never did it.
The father asked a second son to do a certain work. This son responded by saying he would NOT do it. Later, after thinking about it the second son went out and did what he was originally asked of him.

So, obviously, actions speak louder than words. It doesn't really matter what we say we're gonna do for God. Let's just do what he asks us.

[thinktank]

[reFORMer]

David confesses, "Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts . . ." (Ps 51⁶, KJV)  But, it has not been made well known what God has said, though it has been made well available. 

Some think the commandment says, 'You shall not make unto you any graven image . . . " when it actually says we are not to make images, "To bow down to and serve them."  It is not against images, but against idols.  Eve misapprehended by addition to God's saying.  Many misrepresent God's command by not quoting in full, but only the part of His word.  He does not say, "You shall not bear false witness."  He says, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." 

A well-beloved novel could be said to be so against God, that the author and even his readers would be outside the city (that is, wife) of God, as it is written concerning, "Whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." (Rv 22¹⁵, KJV)  Yet a great work of fiction teaches much truth in a way that the readers may profit much.  We know God also used lying spirits to get His own way.

In Germany of the Nazi's, to lie to hide and protect Jews and Christians was a virtue.  It may have troubled many an over sensitive conscience.  Solomon says, "Be not over righteous, for why would you die before your time?"

[eaglesway]

This is a beautiful thread,

To lie, in order to preserve the lives of a family in the basement, or the attic, as the Nazi's threatened to kill anyone who did so, was an act as admirable as any that could be done.

Bearing false witness against your neighbor is a far cry from the misdirection involved in saving a life in such a manner.

Bearing false witness against your neighbor was about liable, slander, misrepresentation in a dispute, lying to achieve a personal  end to your neighbors loss.

The inability to make the distinction between these two very different actions is a sample of how the letter kills and how legalistic religionists with no humanity or simple wisdom and common sense cause the way to be evil spoken of.