I
was watching this movie on television where one of the subplots was a woman who
had been raped years ago and gave birth to a son out of wedlock. Her son was
now 27 years of age and still didn’t know about it. The mother didn’t say why
she had kept this from her son for all these years, but it became obvious that
she was intentionally shielding her son from the truth when she spoke to this
other person in confidentiality, “The truth can do more damage than a lie.”
And
by the way, I have to say this without measuring my words and with a degree of
bluntness, even if you happen to be guilty of it! That reasoning is right out
of Satan’s playbook! Yes, these characters are fictional, but this stuff
happens all the time in reality.
Some,
in their right tidiness, would support her effort by saying with great empathy,
“I
think I understand why you did what you did in keeping the truth from your son.
You were only trying to protect him from the hurt. The damage had already been
done, and you were right, he doesn’t need to know that he was a byproduct of
lust rather than love because his mother was raped. It would only result in
turning his world upside down and upsetting him and possibly making him bitter
toward you even though you were the victim in all of this!
“That
was 27 years ago. To tell him the truth about his biological father now would
only bring in a high tide of heartaches, emptiness, and brokenness. This could
possibly open up a door for your son to walk through and become suspicious of
you and wondering if there was anything else you might be hiding from him. Yes,
what you did was right; it would only stir up a hornet’s nest to come clean!”
In
other words, let sleeping dogs lie.
Now,
for a Judges 21:25 mindset or a worldly outlook; all of the above sounds good; …everyone
did what was right in his own eyes [not
God’s eyes]. You might even think; “Yeah, it makes sense. I can see the wisdom
of letting sleeping dogs lie.” The mother and the child are seen as victims as
your heart goes out to her and her son! This character in the story is literally
walking wounded down a path of her own design that affords no healing. And let’s
not forget, “God allowed it to happen!”
So,
here we have a lying mother beating herself up, embattled and bitter, a son unknowingly
believing a lie, and it’s understood but not articulated that it was God’s
fault! The thinking is that if God was doing His job, she would not have been raped
and had to tell her son a whopper in order to protect him from a God who could
not or would not protect her! Does that sound about right? Houston, we have a
problem.
The
practical words of Sir Walter Scott come to mind, “Oh, what a tangled web we
weave, when first we practise [sic] to deceive!” (Marmion: A Tale of Flodden
Field).
What
would you have done, my dear reader (male or female), if you were in this mother’s
shoes? Shooting the rapist is not an option! I have an opinion, but that is not
the reason for this article to render my personal opinion on a hypothetical; I’m
tempted but stayed. No, there is a greater principle at large that will move beyond this fictional movie series into real life.
If
you can get into the character’s head and attempt to appreciate her situation in order
to relate to her, it becomes evident without going self-righteous that her decision was heavily shaped and molded under pressure?
There were powerful forces at work to create and justify a false narrative to
her son and to those in their circle of friends and influence. How easy it is
for an empathizer to respond, “I don’t blame her for doing it.” What would
others think of you if you didn’t go along with the charade? Let me think; we might be thought of as someone who is heartless and self-righteous, perhaps?
You
know already; because we went down that path how many times now? It’s easier,
yes? It’s just easier, practical, less messy, less vulnerable to any negative
backlashes. Keep your head down in the matter and keep moving; otherwise, you
might be targeted by an anti-God culture.
This
happens in so many areas of our lives when we compromise on biblical truth and
standards and simply agree or remain silent that we can sense a feeling of uncleanness,
ugliness, coldness, and unrighteousness. It yields no peace, comfort, or
contentment, but it leaves you more unsettled and tormented, soul-sick. It’s
called worldliness: thinking, feeling, and acting in a worldly, ungodly manner.
And it leads to no good for a believer in Jesus Christ.
As
believers can we not see the difficulty of following Jesus (cf. Mt 10:38; Jn
15:18-19, et al)? We are to do more than simply see but put grease to it and follow behind Jesus
into, through, and out of the difficulties pressing on us. Regardless of the circumstances, Your will be done, yes?
It
sounds reasonable for the mother to lie to her son to protect him, however,
this cuts against the grain of Scripture in so many ways; there are other
alternatives and wiser choices than the ways of the world. The truth for believers
is that personal holiness is to be experienced by those who have been justified
or judicially declared righteous by Yahweh (cf. Col 3:17; 1 Cor 6:9-11a; 1 Pet
1:15-16).
If we are to be holy as He is; we need to find out what that means and to what extent because believers are to be seeking a person’s highest good, to help them be like Christ through our words and actions! We cannot help others to be holy if we are thinking, feeling, and choosing to be unholy! If God cannot lie (Titus 1:2; Num 23:19; 1 Pet 1:16), how can you or I be Christlike by not telling others the truth? Is it impossible to bring glory to God by lying for it is sin and falls short of Yahweh’s standard of holiness as laid out in Scripture.
Our
testimony would be broken because it would breed mistrust by others; that, my
friends, subverts the glory of God rather than promoting it! Going down the way
of the world of whatever works leads to chastening by God the Father.
Remember, it is never acceptable to Yahweh to justify a lie because the
truth would be more damaging. There is this liberating factor that if the Son makes you free,
you shall be free indeed (Jn 8:36). This is so true on so many fronts: from the slavery of sin,
tradition, legalism, culture, superstition, the enemy, and many other
pressures; there is no question!
There are so many bedrock principles provided by the all-loving, all-knowing, all-wise, and all-powerful Yahweh that we need not resort to doing what is right in our own eyes but His eyes! You know when you can see the eyes of God (through the Word), you are close enough to Yahweh to know where He wants you to go with everything as His eyes are watching over us (Psa. 32:8; 33:18; Prov 3:5-6). Yahweh doesn’t need to deceive to do good and neither should we.
Have you ever read, “All lies work together for good
to those who love the Lord to those who are the called according to His purpose
(Roamings 6:66)?” I didn’t think so! So, why do we avail ourselves from time to
time of the world’s playbook rather than the Bible in precarious or peaceful
situations? It always makes for bad decisions that do not glorify our Lord. The Word of God should be our playbook on living 24/7/365. Be holy,
my friends, be holy all the time for His glory; blessings from on High are always found in the
ways of Yahweh (Psa 1:1-3; Josh 1:7-8)! <><
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