In an earlier article and wiki entry, I’ve briefly explored what the Bible teaches about truth and faith.
Now, I want to explore each teaching in greater detail, starting with the teaching that God doesn’t lie.
My Interest in the concept of lying
Lying—intentionally communicating something believed to be false—has always intrigued me, especially from a moral perspective. While most people can easily identify situations where lying is clearly wrong, there are instances where the morality of lying becomes more complex, with debates over whether it might be justified in certain circumstances.
Furthermore, there are also “variants” of lying—such as lying by omission or misleading without expressing something false—that also have questions on whether it’s justified.
It could be argued from the Bible that, to some extent, God Himself may have engaged in some “variants” of lying. For instance, in the Book of Job, Job asks why he, a righteous man, is suffering so much. However, God’s response is a series of questions that highlight the vast difference between God’s sovereignty and Job’s limited understanding, ultimately leading to Job’s humility. While what God says is truthful, He does not directly answer Job’s question, and we know that the reason behind Job’s suffering is rooted in the wager between God and Satan in Job 1-2 (which would answer Job’s question).
This is akin to a situation that we may commonly observe
- Employee: why haven’t I been promoted?
- Employer (politically correct answer) : because you didn’t fulfill the criteria of …
While the politically correct answer would be answering the question, it could also distract the employee from the main contributing reason, such as discrimination based on protected characteristics (like race, gender), favoritism or being threatened by your competency.
However, it may be unfair to draw such a conclusion in Job’s case (or any other case pertaining to God). God’s intentions may be pure, and His response wasn’t meant to obscure the truth in the same way that human misdirection might.
The Amazement of the claim
Most of us have lied at some point, whether for nefarious, benign, or noble reasons. If someone claims they’ve never lied, we might assume they’re lying again.
Considering God’s eternal nature, He has had far more opportunities to lie than we have. To claim that God has never lied in His entire existence is an extraordinary statement. This claim carries profound implications—it suggests that we can fully trust His words and promises, a cornerstone of the Christian faith.
Investigating the claim
While Christians believe that God doesn’t lie, there are counterexamples presented by critics to argue that God may have lied—expressed something false or did not fulfilled a promise.
Counterexamples can come in the form of:
- Internal critique: cross-examine within the Bible
- External critique: compare the Bible against what we know outside of the Bible
The detailing of the counterexamples and defense would be my focus for the upcoming articles and wiki entries.
See Did God lie?
First investigation: Genesis creation accounts
My approach will be chronological, beginning with Genesis, then moving through the Old Testament and into the New Testament, to identify key topics for further investigation.
The first issue I want to explore is whether there is a contradiction between the two creation accounts in Genesis. A superficial reading of Genesis 1 and 2 might suggest a contradiction in the order of creation—particularly with the creation of animals, plants, and mankind. However, upon closer examination, many of these apparent contradictions can be reasonably resolved.
What I’ve learned from this investigation is that understanding the context and language of a passage is essential for interpreting its meaning accurately. Unlike other books, the Bible was originally written in Hebrew and Greek, and its translation into English may result in some nuances being lost. Even different translations of the same verse can reveal different interpretations.
See Do the two Genesis creation accounts contradict?
In my next article and wiki entry, I will be looking at another commonly discussed external critique: Science contradicts Genesis creation accounts.
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