Do You Approve of Lying?

This quotation, supposedly taken from our teachings, has been published in a number of places. The usual quote is: [Eugene Spriggs is speaking] "Our definition of lying means the intentional deception of those who have a right to know. Are we obligated to tell the Devil the truth? Do the courts have a right to know what you know? Not telling the truth to someone who doesn't deserve to know the truth isn't lying."

The accusation is that we choose to deceive courts, officials and others when it suits our purposes. Here is what we have to say in response:

We teach Biblical morality. The Bible does not require that the truth must be told to evil men to aid them in harming the innocent. Who would condemn a man for hiding a Jew from the Nazis and telling the Gestapo that he did not know where the Jew had gone? Examples from the Bible of withholding information that would cause harm to the innocent include the following:

1 Samuel 16:1-2 - Now the LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have selected a king for Myself among his sons." But Samuel said, "How can I go? When Saul hears of it, he will kill me." And the LORD said, "Take a heifer with you, and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.'" Was God guilty of telling Shemuel to lie?

Exodus 3:18 - "You with the elders of Israel will come to the king of Egypt, and you will say to him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. So now, please, let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.' Did not Moses, under the influence and instigation of God, deliberately mislead Pharaoh when he concealed his real intention? Was God then guilty of lying? (Psalm 18:26).

Joshua 2:3-6 - The king of Jericho sent word to Rahab, saying, "Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land." But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them, and she said, "Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And it came about when it was time to shut the gate, at dark that the men went out; I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them." But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them in the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order on the roof. Was Rahab a liar or a woman of faith? Did the officials have a right to know where the spies were?

Judge for yourselves. Here is what we actually taught about lying. As you can see, it upholds cooperating with authorities in the pursuit of justice:

"Our definition of lying means the intentional deception of those who have a right to know. They need to know for the sake of justice and righteousness - then we are obligated to tell them the truth... Moses, Rahab, Samuel - did they have the obligation to tell the devil the truth? Are we obligated to tell the devil the truth? Do the courts have the right to know what you know? And what will the outcome be? ...Telling the truth may cause serious harm to an innocent party. Such intentional deception may be moral and must be determined by judging whether someone has a moral right to know the truth for justice sake."

So, how do you judge? Is it immoral to withhold information in order to protect the innocent? Those who quote isolated sentences from our teachings to prove a point, while not quoting others that reveal the proper context, are withholding information. Is it moral to withhold information in order to slander the innocent?