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1 Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity
than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool.
2 Desire[a] without knowledge is not good,
and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way.
3 When a man's folly brings his way to ruin,
his heart rages against the Lord.
4 Wealth brings many new friends,
but a poor man is deserted by his friend.
5 A false witness will not go unpunished,
and he who breathes out lies will not escape.
6 Many seek the favor of a generous man,
and everyone is a friend to a man who gives gifts.
7 All a poor man's brothers hate him;
how much more do his friends go far from him!
He pursues them with words, but does not have them.
8 Whoever gets sense loves his own soul;
he who keeps understanding will discover good.
9 A false witness will not go unpunished,
and he who breathes out lies will perish.
That is a big bunch of verses that I gave us for today. Can you see the theme? Let's take it apart a bit. You won't find it in every verse, but if you will take the time to study these a bit, you will find an underlying theme about lying and false witnesses.
Lying is a serious thing. It can be the root of so many relationship problems. As soon as you lie to someone, you immediately lose through trust...probably for good. You certainly lose their respect.
A question...is it ever ok to tell a lie? I'd like to just leave that thought hanging with you today. And before you answer a quick and immediate, "No!", please take the time today to look at the following Bible passages. Neither passage is very long. You might just change your mind after reading them. Or maybe not. What do you think? Was it ok for these women to lie?
The story of Rahab: Joshua 2:1-16
The Midwives: Exodus 1: 15-22
Hmmmm, what a quandary. The ten commandments list lying as a no-no. But, but...how do you argue with the lies that saved God's people? You got me. What do the rest of you say?
ReplyDeleteI am with Belinda.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, no one going to step up and form an opinion one way or the other?
ReplyDeleteHmmm....I may be totally off-base here (which is likely, since I just got back from a tiring business trip) but this is how I would answer. The Ten Commandments have been mentioned, but remember when the question was asked of Jesus...and He said the "greatest" Law was to "love the Lord your God ...and to love your neighbor..." He said that if we keep these two commandments, we have kept the whole of the Law. In my finite mind, that means that the midwives and Rahab put their love and fear (reverence) of God first. By doing that, they "kept" all of the Law.
ReplyDeleteAm I on the right track?