Deranged Christian Orthodoxy

     I posed this question at the end of my last post: “God doesn’t lie: doesn’t that mean I shouldn’t either?” (see post here:  In Defense of Lying (Biblical Examples) ). While this post does intend to answer that question, I realized that biblically justifying righteous lies is just a branch springing from the tree of the real issue. The real issue keeps coming up and I’ve mentioned it before as well, but the fact is that Christians love to make standards that are stricter than God's Word.      Many people would just say “yep: legalism is always a temptation” and leave it at that. But even that’s not really the issue, because the bible doesn’t have explicit standards for all times and all situations. It has plenty to say at all times and all situations along with a multitude of principles to govern our lives, but it also leaves room for wisdom, context, and experience to determine the best course of action (say, choosing an education for you children...

       I decided to lay out why I’m even discussing this topic in my last post. You can find that here if you like ( https://valiantfortruth2016.blogspot.com/2024/10/in-defense-of-lying-intro.html ). It’s not really necessary to understand for the purposes of this post but I thought it was a valid question regardless.      Now for this post I want to discuss a common interpretation of the 9 th commandment: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16). This is commonly applied in such a way that it might as well read “You shall never lie (or deceive anyone)” period. I find that no one really believes this and if they say they do, they’re lying (see the last post). But my serious objections about this overreaching standard came because it condemned what the bible did not. I tend to be opposed to any standard that condemns what the scripture commends.      It wasn’t even my own observations that started me ...

       I wanted to put into writing my thoughts concerning the 9 th commandment (“Thou shalt not bear false witness”…) and how it is not a blanket condemnation of every form of deception(/lying: they will be used interchangeably). But I also realize that when attempting to defend anything that the majority of people consider to be an unequivocal sin, usually said argument will just be viewed as justification for a sin that the arguer refuses to repent of. So I figured I need to explain why I have a vested interest in this topic first.      Because I used to consider all forms of deception and lying to be sinful. And I viewed manners, formality, and tradition as an act of deception when done half-heartedly. I still do in fact. I also still think those things can be sinful and often are in a generation of cowards. But what I’ve come to realize is that sometimes it’s a sin to be honest. Sometimes, in fact, people don’t need to have any idea what you rea...