Isn't it Better to Lie? - When God's Commands Come into Conflict

"Do you have any other radios at home?"

"No." Corrie replied. The man handed her the device and nodded her on. By the time she got out on the street she was feeling terribly guilty. That was the first lie she had ever told! Don't worry about it, she told herself, God knows I did it for a good reason. The Nazi's soldiers permitted only one radio per household but the ten Booms needed another to help with resistance work. Corrie had lied in order to help in the work of saving lives. Had she answered "yes" to the soldier's question she would never have been allowed to take the radio. Besides that, she would have been in trouble for even trying to get it. The entire ten Boom family could have fallen under suspicion, which was no small danger in times such as these. It was unavoidable, she told herself. She had to lie... didn't she?

Is it always wrong to tell a lie? What if it's for a very good reason? These are questions that we have all heard at one time or another. They were questions that came to be a point of disagreement in the ten Boom's family. Hiding Jews in Nazi occupied Holland was a dangerous task and the ten Booms, who had always believed it was wrong to lie, found themselves facing the fact that they might have to. Corrie argued that it wouldn't be wrong to lie if it was the means of saving someone's life. Her sister Nollie disagreed.

"We are to keep God's commandment and if we do He will honour that obedience." It would soon be put to the test.

Men and boys, from sixteen to thirty, were being taken by the the Nazi soldiers to serve as laborers in the munition factories. It was called the Razzia, and such seizures could happen at any time of day or night. Nollie and her husband, Flip von Woerden, had three boys and the entire family feared that they would soon be taken. As a precaution, the von Woerdens built a hiding place in their house and the boys stayed as near to home as possible.

It was on an evening when the family was celebrating Flip's birthday that the dreaded knock finally came. For a moment the room fell into silence. It was after curfew and they all knew that only the Nazi soldiers themselves would dare to be out. Flip rose from the table calmly and nodded to Peter and Bob. It took only moments for them to get into the secret room. Nollie squeezed her daughter's hand before going to open the door. Two soldiers were waiting outside.

...

"Do you have brothers?" One of the men asked, singling the girl out. Cocky glanced nervously at her parents wishing that they could tell her what to answer. All my life they have told me not to lie, but what about now? She tried to guess what they would say. "Well?" The man repeated.

"Yes. Three." The man grinned,

"And how old are your brothers?" She wondered how long could she continue to tell the truth?

"The oldest is twenty-one. The others are nineteen and eighteen." 

"Good answer. Now you must tell me where they are hiding." The soldiers had already made an unsuccessful search of the house and Cocky knew her answer could put her brother's into jeopardy. She couldn't do that, not when they were so close to escaping, not for such a silly conviction. Surely when her parents had told her that she must never lie they hadn't predicted that she would have to face such a circumstance. But God said it first, Cocky recalled, and He would have known about this situation. The thought made her laugh aloud. 

"They are under the table." She said without any further hesitation, laughing still. The officer walked over to the table and lifted the overhanging cloth. When he turned back to look at Cocky his expression had darkened. He slapped the girl across the face. 

"That should teach you to make fun of a German officer!" He shouted. Motioning for his companion to follow, the young man stormed out of the house.

Cocky hadn't lied when she said that her brothers were under the table, nor was she making fun of the man. For that was exactly where they were. There, under the mat on the floor was hidden the trap door to the secret room. Later that week, the family came to disagree on whether or not Cocky had done the right thing.

"It was an unnecessary risk." Corrie argued, "It's alright to lie, Cocky, if you have a very good reason. God knows the motive of the act, and..." Nollie interrupted.

"That isn't so, Corrie! God tells us not to lie and Cocky did right to follow. It was He who blessed her with faith to obey and He kept the boys safe also." Corrie wasn't convinced. It seemed more like a near miss than providence to her. God did say not to lie, but He also said "rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to die; save them as they stagger to their death" (Proverbs xxiv.11). When the two came into conflict, she believed the latter was the more important to uphold. With six Jews taking refuge in the ten Boom's house, it was a compromise that they had resigned themselves to.

The controversy was revisited when both Nollie and Annaliesse, a Jewish girl who had been living with the von Woerdens were taken by the Gestapo. The agents had asked Nollie if Annaliesse was a Jew and she had told them the truth. In result she was taken to a prison Haarlem and the girl was sent to a holding area in Amsterdam. Corrie's worry for her sister and Annaliesse only enhanced her frustration over the ongoing disagreement.

"Will she never see that one does not have to adhere to morals regardless of reason?" Even in prison Nollie refused to recant her convictions, "She actually believes that God will honour her obedience and keep Annaliese from harm!" Corrie related what the messenger had said in disbelief.

Many of us agree with Corrie's convictions. How can it be wrong to tell a lie if it is accomplishing good? Surely it's alright if the only alternative is something worse! But is that actually the only alternative? Cocky told the truth because God had said to and she realized that He must have had a good reason for giving us such a command. 

“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,  and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good?" (Deuteronomy x. 12 -13)

When Moses gave God's law to the Israelites he explained to them that it was for their good. It wasn't just a bunch of random rules that He decided to burden them with, they were commands designed to benefit them. He in all His wisdom had made a law that would protect the people and cause them to prosper. Likewise, God had a purpose in telling us not to lie and the command doesn't become a mere suggestion when we are faced with danger. When we make the mistake of justifying lying even 'for a very good reason' we are essentially saying, "I know what God said, but did He know...?" The answer to that question is yes. God is all - knowing so even when He first gave the command He knew of the predicaments Corrie, Cocky, and Nollie would face. He knew that the morals He gave them to live by might seem to conflict and yet in all of His Word there is no exception to the rule, instead it says:

"Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal faithfully are His delight." (Proverbs xii. 22)

and

"Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices." (Colossians iii. 9)

So then if we are to defend the helpless and rescue those who are being led away to death, but we can't lie, what are we supposed to do? We are called to have faith. You see, it all comes down to a test. A test to see if we will trust His words and obey Him or whether we will turn to our own understanding and rely on our own discernment to make the decision instead. Corrie was right to say that telling the truth was a risk, but it wasn't an unnecessary one. It is alway necessary to obey God. Although we may find ourselves in a circumstance that appears to offer only two bad options, it doesn't have to be a matter of picking which command to obey if we will only trust Him. Nothing takes God by surprise and He is perfectly able to make a way for us to keep both command simultaneously. He never asks us to do something without also enabling us to do it. Cocky chose, in simple faith, not to rely on her own understanding. She entrusted her brother's care to God Himself and this was far from a foolish choice as it is He alone who was able to protect them. When Nollie made a similar choice the evidence of His faithfulness did not immediately appear, yet her trust too was rewarded. A few days after Corrie had received Nollie's message she got news that Annaliesse and forty other Jews that she had been held with had been rescued!

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." (Proverbs iii. 5-6)

There may arise a situation, or many situations, in which it appears like we have to disobey God but even then we do not have permission to override what He has said. Such a situation can become an opportunity for Him to show us a way that we could not see. He does not face the same limitations that we do. It is for this reason that our discernment is never to be trusted above His word. We are to remember Him and our demonstrate that we trust in Him through obedience. We have a God, who alone is wise, and we are called to obey Him. He will not abandon us.

"Indeed, no one who waits for You shall be put to shame..." (Psalm xxv. 3)

In Christ

quiana