"Is it okay to lie?" (Journal Entry)

We just had prayer time with Precious. She told a story for the first time this week- she told the story of David and Batsheba, including when Nathan confronts David. You could tell she memorized a lot of it- but who wouldn’t the first time, and especially for her- doing it in a second language- English. She did a great job, really.

Afterwards, I was talking to her while Robin made chai. She said, “I have really learned a lot of things about God from these stories…” We talked about the story- and I praised her a lot- because it really makes her happy to know she has approval (she’s like me in that way!). She said she is thankful for our friendship because she can learn a lot from us, and from the stories about God.

We talked during chai about our professors in college, and somehow Precious brought up “manipulating the truth”- and asked us what it meant and if we thought it was good or not. We said no, that means you’re lying and that’s wrong. She then went on to say how she thought it was okay if there was a good reason- i.e. if you were saving someone or doing it for a good reason. After discussing it for a while, Robin told her the story about how Abraham lied about Sara being his sister- and how God punished him for that. I also told her about the story when God gave all the rules to his people about not worshipping other gods, he also said never to lie- and that lying was really bad. Robin explained that God sees David killing Uriah in the story we just did, just as bad as if we lie about something. I explained how it’s hard for us to see that we are just as bad as someone who murders someone else- but if you think about how great and good God is—anything compared to him, even if it’s just one lie, is not good…

She was silent for a while, and then said she had to go- she wasn’t upset or anything, but you could tell she was thinking about the story and everything we said- it was probably not what she was expecting from us- she probably thought we would agree with her- because humanly speaking what she said would make sense…If you lie to save someone, isn’t it okay?

Anyway, it was interesting- and just another step towards realizing more of the truth. In so many ways she has come so far, but in other ways, she has so much further to go…will she get there before we leave? Will she ever get there?