Lying in Christianity

To find the Christian missionaries accusing Muslims of exemplifying lying is totally amusing, to say the least, as the doctrine of taqiyyah is exclusively a Shi’ite doctrine which is held onto by a mere 8% – 10% out of the total 1.3 billion Muslim population around the world, the majority of whom are overwhelmingly Sunni. A refutation of the doctrine of taqiyyah from the Sunni perspective is to be noted here.

Moreover there is ample evidence from the hadith traditions which invariably negates the missionary claims that Islam permits lying.¹ All the missionaries can do to include orthodox Muslims in their allegations is their tendency to quote from The Reliance of the Traveler (Umdat as-Salik), an unofficial and sub-standard fiqh manual, specifically geared towards Egyptian society of Sufi persuasion and translated into English by an extremist heterodox Sufi. Sayyid Sabiq’s Fiqh as-Sunnah is the authoritative orthodox source covering all four Sunni schools of thought and this work is available online.There is no ammunition for the bankrupt missionaries in such orthodox sources, so it is no wonder that they resort to heterodox material.

Nevertheless, we have decided to play their game, and would like to ask: “What about lying in Christianity?”

The answer: it was Paul, the self-confessed “apostle” from Tarsus, who was the first person to rationalise his actions by holding that there was no link between the period in which Jesus (P) had lived and the period in which he himself now lived. Times were changing and conditions that prevailed were such that the ethic of Jesus(P) was out of date and could no longer be applied. It was with such a view that Paul took stock of the situation which existed then and taught what the Gentiles seem to require him to believe:

“All things are lawful unto me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.” (1 Corinthians 6:12)

During the ministry of Jesus(P), Saul (Paul) was a dedicated member of a powerful, exclusive Jewish sect called Pharisees (Acts 26:5). Their pretensions to sanctity had labelled them as hypocrites. When these overbearing vain-glorious Jews confronted Jesus(P), he called them:

“You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” (John 8:44)

Saul, a zealous persecutor of the devoted disciples of Christ, became the first Christian missionary and an apostle to the Gentiles after converting himself to Christianity by a “vision”, which he claims he had, while on the road to Damascus. The missionary changed his name from Saul to Paul and became the biggest contributor to the Books of the New Testament. From the above verse, Jesus(P) like many of his predecessors condemned lying, deceit and hypocrisy. Lying is condemned several times throughout the Bible, and deceit by its own nature, is sinful and can only lead to hazardous consequences. What does Peter say in regards to guile²?

“For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that speak no guile.” (1 Peter 3:12)

The verse speaks for itself. One of the factors that hinder man’s success in this world and eternal life in the hereafter, is the use of guile. But on his own admittance, what does Paul say?

“But be it so, I did not burden you: nevertheless being crafty, I caught you with guile.” (2 Corinthians 12:16)

On his own admission, Paul is saying that he uses deception in his modus operandi. In all the new versions of the Bible, the more common term of “deceit” is replaced instead. This statement is made long after his conversion to Christianity, in the phase when he supposed to be blessed and righteous, and most importantly of all, being guided by Christ. Paul was not only a rejector of the Mosaic Law and the Jesus Ethic, he also asserted that he was a law unto himself. Many people, obviously, could not accept this. Thus Paul responded with:

“For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto His Glory; why yet I am also judged a sinner?” (Romans 3:7-8)

It can be ascertained from this statement that although Paul knew that he was lying, he felt that the means justified the end, but it was not understand how truth would abound through a lie. According to this reasoning, if the man Jesus was equated with God, then what objections could a follower of Jesus have?

Guile is certainly deception. Flattery is simply rather shameful. And they lend themselves nicely to each other. But, deception (especially for the sake of proselytizing) was started by Paul and became the raison d’etre of those who laid the foundation of the European church. And the missionaries of today seem to have no qualms in utilizing it. Deception is the name of the game, and this is obvious when the missionaries start substituting exclusively Muslim phrases such as insha’allah (God willing) for “Lord Jesus willing”, subhana Allah (Praise God) with “Praise Lord Jesus”, “Wa Allahu a’lam” (God knows best) with “Jesus knows best”, i.e. in their articles which openly berates Islam. Another attempt at guile is the Christian missionary activity of “church-planting” in Muslim nations where they openly state their desire to convert Muslims “by hook or by crook”.

Perhaps the missionaries in their “pick-and-choose” religion had suffered from amnesia and forgotten the following:

“Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.” (Psalms 32:2)

And only God knows best!

1. The Prophet Muhammad is quoted to have said: “Let he who truly believes in Allah and the Last Day speak good or be silent.” (Sahih al-Bukhari). Moreover, he has specifically cursed the person who lies to make people laugh, he said: “Woe be on one who speaks and lies in order to make people laugh, woe be on him.” (Abu Dawud). See also the traditions in Abu Dawud (5004)/Musnad Ahmad and Sahih al-Bukhari (vol. 8, no 118). [back]
2. The Greek word is “dolos”, which means “bait” or “snare”, “deceit is rendered” (W.E. Vine, Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words, Thomas Nelson Publishers (1997), under the word ‘GUILE’, p. 515). See also Strong’s #1388 which defines dolos as “craft, deceit, guile, subtility” (p. 34) [back]

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Category: Christian Doctrines ,Christianity ,Paul of Tarsus