When Lying Is Not a Sin

God does not want us to cause harm to each other. He despises all acts (including lies) that are used for selfish gain at the expense of others.

Scripture examples of how lies are used to do this include:

• Sowing discord among brethern
• Hiding hatred
• Slander
• Personal gain
• Hating others

God hates anything we do that selfishly and intentionally causes harm to another person, whether it be lying, stealing, adultry, or putting sugar in our neighbor's gas tank.

God did not give us the commandment, "Thou shalt not put sugar in thy neighbor's gas tank", but I am convinced He would not approve. If every possible wrong we could do to each other was listed in a book, my tractor's front-end loader would be unable to lift it.

God had a point to make -- and that point is to "Love your neighbor as yourself". You would think we could take it from there, but we get hung up on the words He used (the law) and miss the point (the reason for the law).

"Thou shalt not exceed the posted speed limit" is a law that is established by states to protect their citizens. When I was a police officer, I was allowed in certain circumstances to break that law. Why? To protect citizens. It was not the law that was most important -- it was protecting citizens.

God's gave us His laws for the same reason, to protect us from ourselves. It is not the laws that are sacred, it is the purpose for the laws -- and that purpose is to prevent us from harming each other. Unfortunately, there are some who get this backwards. They feel that God's laws are more sacred then God's reasons for giving them. This makes them preach that God's laws must be obeyed at all times, regardless of the consequences. That's like not allowing an ambulance to run a red light when transporting a critically injured person to the hospital.

Most of us who break the state's speeding law do so for selfish reasons.

Most of us who break God's lying law do so for selfish reasons.

Most of us who break God's stealing law do so for selfish reasons.

However, protecting others is the goal for all of these laws, and if there comes a time when breaking them would best serve that goal, breaking them becomes the new law.