Originally posted by Rhetorician:
To all who have an ear:
Some examples that may need to be considered.
1. Rahab the harlot in Jericho. Go back and read that narrative again. Did she lie? Was the lie justified?
2. "Bro. Andrew" who smuggled Bibles into and behind the Iron Curtain countries in the post-WWII era. Was he doing "God's will with a pure conscience" or not?
3. How about Deitrich Bonhoffer who was in on the plot to assassinate Hitler. Was that ethical behavior in which a Christian minister should engage?
"Is it ever right to do wrong in order to have a chance to do right?"
Points to ponder.
sdg!
rd
1. Yes she lied, but her faith justified her, not her lie, so the lie was not justified! (Does that come out right?

)
2. I discussed Brother Andrew and bible smugglers on p. 2. He didn't lie or go in under false pretences as I recall, and neither have others.
3. Nope, I don't see how a preacher could participate in a plot to kill a leader, even one as evil as Hitler, based on 1 Tim. 3.
Having said that, maybe I should inject something I wrote in a different context about the concept of misdirection.
"Misdirection is that psychological technique by which you divert the attacker's attention from you, cause him to hesitate for just a moment, put fear into his heart that he himself will fail or be in danger, or even cause him to believe what he thinks he sees instead of what really is there.
Do not mistake misdirection for deliberate deceit. God Himself used misdirection in His battle plan given to Joshua at the second battle of Ai. Notice these verses from Joshua 8: 'And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land: And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.' An ambush is a form of misdirection, and it was God who ordered it. If you study the rest of the passage (vv. 1-29) you find that the soldiers of Ai deceived themselves into thinking they had won, and every single one of them (v. 17) surged out of their city to destruction in spite of the fact that they knew that Israel had a much greater army.
In truth, what destroyed them was not God's stratagem so much as their own pride. That is the whole point of misdirection. The opponent deceives himself into foolhardiness or cowardice because of his own pride and arrogance. The person employing misdirection has not sinned by deceiving someone, but only 'set up' his opponent for self-deception.
A Biblical ethic will not allow me to lie, even to save my life. However, that does not mean that I must tell everything I know. In the old poser used as an excuse for dishonesty by the philosophy of situation ethics, it is assumed that when someone comes to the door to kill your friend, your only options are to tell them where he is or to tell a lie. There are at least two other options. 1. Oppose evil with force. 2. If evil is stronger, misdirect evil. For example, in answer to the question, 'Where is your friend so I can kill him?' the statement, 'Have you checked at the park?' would not be a lie, but might very well send the killer on his way!
I am not responsible for what some fool chooses to believe instead of the truth. According to Solomon, 'The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.' (Prov. 14:15) If an attacker deceives himself by misinterpreting what he sees or hears then that is his fault and not mine. The truth is, every time you use a fake or a feint in sparring you are using misdirection. Other possibilities in a self-defense situation include: faking fear or despair, pretending to see a policeman (the old 'What's that behind you?' trick), pretending to have a partner or weapon, etc.'" (
A Christian Philosophy of Self Defense, by John R. Himes, p. 19-20)