Welcome to the Hotel Rwanda: "Such a lovely place?" Part II

Continuing the thoughts on Hotel Rwanda. This is the 2nd part in the trilogy, destined to become as famous or nearly as famous as Lord of the Rings. In the movie, the main character and hero Paul, regularly makes use of bribes. But these bribes actually turn out to help save both his family and those staying at the Hotel.

So the question was raised in our movie discussion about what God might have thought about these bribes to save the lives innocent folks. In other words, can we do things like lie in such desperate times of war and cataclysms? The unanimous answer was "Yes," and people were quick to point out the scripture passages which included people lying to save God's people such as Rahab and the Hebrew midwives. There are several other similar instances which need not be pointed out.

Probably none of us would have a problem lying to the Nazi's in denying we knew of any Jews hiding in our guest rooms or lanais. We wouldn't think twice about it, and we really shouldn't. In times of Holy War and attempted genocide, we see that lying sometimes becomes the righteous decision. We are to uphold life before truth in certain times when God's commands are pit against each other.

However, in the NT we don't see ANY examples of righteous lying of which I'm aware. And even in the OT, we see righteous folk lying to save their own butts. And there is no sense of approval from the writers. Abraham passed his wife off as his sister to save his own tail. The purpose of his lie was primarily self preservation.

In the NT we see that we are supposed to speak truthfully to our neighbors (which may be enemies-Eph 4:25). Since I'm not involved in war (I would have NO problem lying to a Taliban man to save my fellow soldier's lives) or in any genocidal activity, I don't know that I've ever had the right to lie. I'm not sure that any of us have been in that situation.

Most lying is simply a case of self preservation. It wasn't wise for Abraham, and it still isn't wise for today except in VERY few circumstances. But I doubt that any of us have ever been in one. If you think you have, feel free to post a response. You can literally remain anonymous when you do so by clicking that box.