In previous threads on lying, the old question came up, “If you were hiding Jews in your basement, and Nazi storm troopers came to the door and asked if there were any jews in your house, would you lie?”
I wrote this in response to that question today:
I was thinking about it last night in bed, and it occurred to me, more than likely, most of the people who throw that question around probably would not be the ones to hide jews in their basements. I mean… look at the state of the church today. Most professing Christians will not even babysit for a young widow in our church, or drive a jewish neighbor to the doctor for chemo treatments (if they have even met their jewish neighbor) because they are to wrapped up in their own happiness and ambitions, but we are supposed to believe that suddenly they will risk their lives by hiding jews in their basements and lying to nazi’s?
I like to believe that I would step up and do the right thing just as much as the next Speculatively Jew Hiding Nazi Tricker, but if we are not even willing to get involved in the tumultuous marriage of that couple in church on the edge of divorce, it is a pretty safe bet that the storm troopers will have nothing to find in our basements.
I mean, how much are we doing for the persecuted church now? Do we even know what is going on in China and Burma, much less do anything about it?
What are you doing to get involved in other peoples problems, most specifically other Christians problems, and if you aren’t, why do you think that you would risk your life for someone who is not even your Christian brother?
Do you just pat struggling Christians on the back and church and say, “I’ll pray for you” or do you actually help them find a job, kick the booze, sit with them at the bedside of their dying mother?
If not… I don’t wanna hear you speculatin’ ’bout hidin’ jews in yer basement. You ain’t gonna do it.
Look around you… who in your little corner of the world is hurting and what are you gonna do about it?
Daily Discernment 
First of all, could you capitalize the ‘j’ in Jew for us? Thanks.
I hear ya. After working at the Holocaust Museum, it was initially easy to wonder why no one did anything. I remember reading how Jews didn’t even believe other Jews about what was going on.
You’re right — we DON’T do anything for others. Darfur? Ruwanda? The single-mom crack head in Raleigh. I’m guilty as charged.
But you did not answer the question. Would YOU lie? What if it wasn’t to save a Jew from the Nazi’s.
What if I was in some dangerous situation that if I lied could save my daughter from being raped and tortured and killed? I confess. I would lie in a heartbeat. I’d probably try and kill too.
Sorry about the non-capping. If my spell check doesn’t tell me to do it, I am clueless.
Honestly… I have not answered the question because I don’t think that any of us can actually know what we would do in such a situation.
Would I vociferously rebuke them in the name of Jesus? Would I use Jedi mind tricks? Would I tell a clever lie? Would I try to kill them? Would I panic and freeze like a deer in the head lights? Would I just wet myself and pass out?
We can postulate and plan all day long, but really, it is just speculation.
But if i did lie, would not be afraid of God bringing the hammer down on me.
I will let you know what I do should I ever happened to be faced with such a dilemma. If I survive that is.
…what with all the Nazi’s and gang rapists that are trolling the mean streets of Maine.
The question is hard to answer for all people. Would you lie to save someone if it means that lying could end with your own death?
So many questions can emerge from this but forgoing them all here’s an answer. If you have come to a place in life where your heart is no longer tied to the things of this world, where your deepest emotional attachments are truly with Yahushua, where dying is just doesn’t matter, then I am sure lying to protect life would be no problem.
I work in a profession where life and death are daily decisions. The way we make those decisions is to practice. Conversely, I say if we practice Jesus we will have no problem making a choice for Him when the time comes. Even if it means saving a “Jew” in the basement. We may be coming to a day when we will be the ones hiding in a basement. Just as they have to hide in Burma and China now.
http://www.pagachristianity.com is a website that will make you think about how to really practice the real deal Jesus. If we all truly practiced Him these questions would be easy to answer. Which doesn’t mean to imply that you don’t truly practice Him.
“the real deal Jesus. If we all truly practiced Him these questions would be easy to answer.”
Very well said.
Only that I know myself well enough to know that I cannot be trusted to truly practice the real deal Jesus all the times.
Since I came to Christ, I have surprised myself several times, both by practicing acts of cowardice and selfishness that I never thought myself possible of doing, and practicing acts of bravery and unselfishness that I never thought I could do.
It has taught me the truth of the scriptures:
and
It has also taught me the value of my salvation and has steered me clear of cheap grace.
I always hope that my response to what ever the world throws at me will be exactly what Christ would want, and would do himself, but for me to say that I what I would do is putting far more faith in me than is wise.
Can you post that web address again? The link is dead.
Sorry I posted the wrong link. Here’s the correct link:
http://www.paganchristianity.org/
The answer to the question is clear. Kill the Nazi and tell the Jew to bury him in the basement and get ready for the next one… because they will be coming. We are either convicted to do right things, no matter the risk, or we are not. Hugs and kisses,
Mike
jEWS are inbreed demon worshipers… Yes i would hide jews in my basement, every kike that i kill will be hidden in the basement, and any Goyim that try to defend them… KILL em’ all… from the unborn to the elderly and everything in between – Tristan Rogers, remember my name because the next time you hear it will be the last.
There’s lies, & there’s disclosure control. Why should you NOT be suffered to actively prevent Nazis(or anyone 4 that matter) from learning something they have no right to know. If honesty was purely a function of what you revealed, Judas Iscariot would have been the most honest person in the world. Jesus said it would have been better if he had never been born. The Bible values keeping secrets ie confidentiality(somewhere in Proverbs)as much as it does integrety. If actively misleading was always wrong, then no Christian could do under cover work or sting operation. But I think there’s a passage where a prophet tricked King Ahab into revealing something.
Well today children are being deported back into the mexico where Per capita, a person was at least nine times more likely to be murdered in Chihuahua last year than in Afghanistan. And I keep hearing that its right because of the law. we don’t even risk our lives to change it and yet? there are millions of children in this USA that we can protect and yet politics are preventing it. Are you really christian the speak up never mind the rhetoric SPEAK UP!
JAMES S. WHEAT