H.C. Trumbull was a prisoner of war during the Civil War and his captured cohorts devised a plan to escape that hinged on him lying to the guards. They put their confidence in the wrong man since he refused to go along with the plan because he said it is always wrong to lie. Needless to say, he was not the most popular man in the hoosegow and his cell mates failed at their attempts to persuade him that sometimes it is justifiable to lie, especially to Confederates and especially when lying would free you from said Confederates. Trumbull, at the time, felt it was wrong but wasn't settled that he had done the right thing, so he determined if and when he was released from prison, he would devote himself to coming to the conclusion of the matter.
The title gives away the ending. You know his conclusions going in but get to benefit from his search as he goes as deep into the subject as a person probably could and quite frankly, deeper than most people really want to go - down to if it is possible to lie to a fish if you are using artificial bait. There are all sorts of scenarios he goes over, i.e. is it a lie to leave lights on in your home to pretend you are home, is it a lie to throw a change-up, deceiving the batter (I think that is the illustration, but I could be mistaken - which, by the way, wouldn't be a lie would it?). There are several others, that gave me a chuckle, but I got the point when he asked if you can lie to your horse, and if you can, should you?
Trumbull gives some interesting anthropological information concerning tribes and peoples and religions all over the world, looking for a group that did not believe that lying is wrong. According to his research, he couldn't find a society that accepted lying in their morality. He also gives the Christian history of the argument and that this has been debated since the days of the early Christians, which I thought was very interesting.
His point is basically since God cannot lie, neither can you. He addressed the common objections such as Rahab (brother Proctor jogged my memory of the book) and the lying spirits in I Kings 22 and gives a sufficient answer, in my opinion. However, he does make distinctions by defining what actually constitutes a lie. For example, if you have no right to the information, I don't have the obligation to give it to you. If you are deceived by your lack of information, it is not my duty to make sure you are not deceived by telling all I know. If you are the goodman of the house, you don't have to make sure to reveal when you are going to be the most vulnerable to theft. So it is vital to tell the truth, but it is not vital nor wise to tell all the truth in all situations in a pearls before swine sort of way.
If you are interested in reading his position, there are reprint editions available or you can get it on you favorite e-reader for free.
Grace & Peace,
Doug
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