Postscript: The Golden Rule, Lying to Nazis, Correcting a Small Mistake

The blog project "Where does Jesus Get His Authority? Where do His Followers Get Theirs?" was finished two (now three) posts ago. Since then I ran into some special issues from The Fundamentals of Ethics. They were in the chapter on Kantian ethics and deontology (this wasn't an argument against God). 

Do unto others...?
Is the golden rule, the claim "Do unto others as you would want them to do to you," really objectively true? This is, after all, a vital component and sometimes even a name for Christianity. But one day, many months ago, I wondered about those who are self-hurting. Why would God command anyone to hurt others? "The golden rule licenses [any] extremism because it makes the morality of an action depend entirely on what you want and what you are willing to put up with." (1)

But the Christian answer is obvious. "Jesus replied, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:37-40) 

Exactly! He quotes Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Leviticus 19:17-18 says, "Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt. Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord." The sixth chapter of Deuteronomy is a very staunch, zealous monotheistic passage.

The first five books of the Bible, called the Torah or law of Moses, are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Leviticus and Deuteronomy have a great number of laws coming from God. People are supposed to learn from God and value themselves as He does. Only then do we morally carry that over to others.

This shows the Biblical truth that in order for someone to truly love God, they must be willing to love their fellow human being. When people learn of God's love for them, they need to grow in Him and let it spill over into wanting to help others. God in His wisdom made it explicit that we are to treat everyone as if He loves them as much as us, because He does.

Is it okay to lie to Nazis?

This is another big question for the Christian(2). If God cannot tell a lie (Hebrews 6:18), and Christians are supposed to be like Him, wouldn't we have to do the unthinkable and allow people to be hurt just to tell the truth?

I am so thankful for classic apologist Paul Copan's work in When God Goes to Starbucks: A Guide to Everyday Apologetics(3). He presents that all lying is deceiving, but not all deceiving is lying. We are only supposed to tell the truth when it would otherwise harm reality. What stood out me the most in his chapter (it is much more elegant than what you are reading now) is the explicit Biblical examples. Exodus 1:15-21 has God blessing Hebrew women who lied to Pharoah to save a baby (keep in mind these are His smallest image-bearers). Rahab of Jericho exercised the same principle (Joshua 2) and was praised for it (Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25). God even commanded Samuel to deceive an evil king (1 Samuel 16:1-5). In warfare, ambushes were commanded, and once directly caused, by God (Joshua 8:2; 2 Chronicles 20:22). 

There is explicit parallels to the idea of harboring Jews and denying it to malicious Nazis. The Bible is clear that giving it away should not happen.

The mistake

In part 1 I said that al-Qaeda was the man who founded 9/11, and thought I learned about the torture he received from The Fundamentals of Ethics. Unfortunately I mixed up Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the organization he worked for(4).

Citations:

1. Russ Shafer-Landau, The Fundamentals of Ethics, ed. 5 (Oxford University: New York, NY. 2018), 170.

2. Ibid., 179-80.

3. Paul Copan, When God Goes to Starbucks: A Guide to Everyday Apologetics (Baker Books: Grand Rapids, MI. 2008), 28-36.

4. Shafer-Landau, Fundamentals, 234.