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Not really, no, because pretty much every instance of deliberate fabrication is a rendering of testimony.
It's hair-splitting when you are still treating people with a dishonest heart without vocalizing a fabrication.
Is it really your position that God commanded Moses that we should not make specific vocal fabrications, rather than people of honest hearts?
If I say that I like a haircut that I really don't like, then that is not bearing false witness against anyone, but it is lying.
So you're saying that I'm wrong for saying it's sometimes appropriate to allow people to jump to the wrong conclusions.
While at that same time you are saying that it's sometimes appropriate to allow people to jump to the wrong conclusions, and on top of that, it's sometimes appropriate to flat out lie to them. That doesn't make sense.
You are the one arguing that it is sometimes appropriate to lie. If the mouth is speaking lies, then the person doesn't have an honest heart.
I'm saying you are inconsistent in your philosophy, and criticizing people for a so-called "moral relativism" that also comes out in your own way of thinking.
Paul said that the law does not exist to make men righteous, but to present a standard to show us that it is our hearts first that need mending, and righteous actions will flow from that.
I admitted a long time ago that the difference between the arguments here is that one side parses when lying is wrong, and the other side parses what classifies as lying. I think the second is more logical because it is objective and fits with scripture.
Saying something that isn't true is often condemned and never praised in scripture.
But Jesus was adding there, not taking away.
This makes the application in fact SUBjective
To kill people...
I'm beginning to have a real problem with this fixation on assigning ill motives to every aspect of an opposing viewpoint...as it would never even occur to me to think these things of you.
Let me explain what I mean by objective. I mean that you can write the rule in a way that a computer can understand it.
You just keep trying
I do not think that your (or Matt's, or anyone else's) motivation for your interpretation of lying is evil.
You guys have been able to navigate your subjective approach to scripture in a way that stays within orthodox Christianity.
I just think it is dangerous to tell someone that Biblical commands such as "you shall not lie to one another" don't really apply all the time.
In that case, mine is also objective. You just consider mine subjective because you apply fewer conditional statements.
You think that we're trying to supplant God's law with ours...
QuoteI just think it is dangerous to tell someone that Biblical commands such as "you shall not lie to one another" don't really apply all the time.That's the world that we live in! It doesn't! God Himself has not applied..."don't lie" in every circumstance!
In your infamous and well-recycled hiding-the-Jews scenario, what you are faced with is a dilemma.
OK, then help me see it. How would you write the computer program?
No I don't think that YOU are trying to do that. I just think that your line of reasoning can and will be used by OTHER people to do that.
But my point is that God has applied it in every circumstance as long as you define lying to mean "saying something that isn't true". So why not use that definition and have a consistent rule, instead of making up a broader definition and an inconsistent rule?
I don't lie to the Nazi's (by telling them something that is NOT true), and I also don't help them kill the Jews.
Why would I want to redefine words to be so broad that situations like them force me to choose something wrong either way? You're not making your side sound very appealing to me.
However, my heart knows what is right and wrong and I trust my actions to flow from my faith.
Jeremiah 17:9 (New Living Translation) 9 “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?
Should we really rely on our hearts (I'm sure you meant the leading of the Holy Sprit instead of your own heart)?
Quote from: Ironica on October 22, 2009, 03:27:26 PMShould we really rely on our hearts (I'm sure you meant the leading of the Holy Sprit instead of your own heart)?If you know what I meant then there's really no need to ask the question, is there?
Quote from: Prof Underwood on October 22, 2009, 11:56:23 AMLet me explain what I mean by objective. I mean that you can write the rule in a way that a computer can understand it.In that case, mine is also objective. You just consider mine subjective because you apply fewer conditional statements.
I cannot foresee every circumstance. However, my heart knows what is right and wrong and I trust my actions to flow from my faith. And let me stop you right there, no, that's not subjective.
I could also say that your philosophy works for you but could lead another person down a dangerous path.
Well, I said that my actions flow from my faith, not from temporal, irrational emotional outbursts.
First of all, you claimed that you could write a computer program (with more conditions) that would be objective. Now you say that you can't,
And those people will use that as a license to create their own private morality based on whatever their heart tells them.
You are right that my philosophy could lead someone down a path to legalism.
But if I have to choose between encouraging someone to live too close to what scripture seems to say, or too far from what scripture seems to say, I think the former is a better way to go.
Am I the only one that finds this statement humorous?
Anybody else want a shot? So cheap they're practically free today! Come on down!
I was making a joke, but you instead proved it to be true.
I used the rolleyes to make sure it was construed as a joke. Perhaps a smiley would have worked better for you.
However, your ensuing rant only proves that you are taking anything said to you as a personal attack. That is what makes your response irrational.
Is this really the first time that I have interjected a thread that was having a heated discussion with an attempt at lighthearted humor?
If you seriously cannot see how your last few posts on this thread have all included irrational comments, then I fear you may never see what hinders you.
There's no perhaps about it. Rolling one's eyes is a sign of condescension, contempt, boredom, or exasperation. I have no logical grounds to assume that a sign of condescension or contempt in response to something I said should be construed as being of humorous intent.
The two reasons this is wrong...
No, and neither is it the first time that someone has taken a discussion in which I happen to be involved and use it as a referendum on my character. So arguing from past experience gains you no ground.
You are welcome to provide me with something I said which has no logical support. My posts are my evidence and I am happy to defend them, especially if it means they are being read with consideration rather than casual dismissal.
Wrong again. Rolling eyes are also used when someone is being mischievous.
It is a rant because you your initial presuppostion was wrong.
So you can argue that it was personal from past experience, but I cannot argue that it was a joke from past experience.... and that's not irrational?
Your idea of "logical support" is my idea of "rant" since you were wrong about my intentions.
Quote from: YourMathTeacher on October 22, 2009, 07:25:04 PMWrong again. Rolling eyes are also used when someone is being mischievous.I'm not sure where you picked up that interpretation but I have never used it in that situation - particularly face to face - nor do I know anybody who has.
You've never seen the little mischievous boy, who is caught doing something he wasn't supposed to, standing with his hands behind his back and rolling his eyes (sometimes accompanied by a soft whistling)?
If Rolling Eyes are only negative and condescending, then why in the world do we even have them on a Christian message board? Wouldn't that fall under the same category as having a smiley giving the finger?