Are deceptions wrong? (Are secrets wrong as well?)

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thefightinglamb

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#1
#1
Lying is definitely wrong...
but when it comes to deception that is very different..the Bible doesn't say 'Thou shall not deceive."

Example: sports

Deception of the opponent is the goal of sports, of they knew where you were going they would prevent it, so dekes in hockey and getting faked out or thrown off in basketball, football, baseball is a skill...is it wrong? I honestly stopped playing sports for a while because of this.

Jesus came to a celebration in secret, people did not recognize him at first...(not saying this in support of halloween--still considering what I believe on that holiday of dressing up)...the point being that they were deceived in who that person was that actually was Jesus...

Lastly, this last example also suggests that secrets are not evils unless they are...
So are secrets wrong? How about good secrets?

May the LORD be with all of you
(I do love good secrets...)
tony
 
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Baptistrw

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#2
#2
I guess it would depend on the situation. Military leaders are trying to deceive other nations during war. But if you're trying to deceive your wife for some reason you're wrong. Deception usually means you're trying to hide something sinful. As for secrets, God knows everything, so there's no such thing!
 
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lil-rush

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#3
#3
Some secrets are just personal business, and as such other people really have no need to know the secrets. Of course, there can be bad secrets, but that is the case for nearly everything. There can be good cases of something and bad cases of something. If a secret causes you to lie, than I'd say it is either not a particularly good secret, or a secret that might be better off in the open.

As for deception, in the realm of every day life deception is not good. It could be taken as the same thing as lies of omission, and a lie's a lie. As for deception in games or military strategy I think that is different.
 
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thefightinglamb

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#4
#4
Okay about deceptions...

My brother chipped off a part of my front tooth (pretending he was Jackie Chan), but you can't tell because the dentist made it look like a normal tooth..is this wrong? Sometimes it does feel wrong...

yesterday a neighbor came through the house and complimented the 'wooden floor'--they were actually laminate...I was going to correct him but forgot to...as he kept talking...

Is it wrong to make material that deceives the senses? If you tell people then it kind of loses its meaning...

Lastly, my mother bought two couches and my brother knew she went to Hanes to buy them...He asked me if she bought a couch from Hanes? I said She did not buy a couch from Hanes. He thought I sounded suspicous so he continued with what did she buy more than one? I said 'No: she didn't buy a couch.' Which he could have interpreted No. She didn't buy a couch...

I was trying to deceive him and be evasive because my mother didn't want him knowing about the couches until this weekend...

I have often deceived people in speech like this...

Kind of like the fools in Shakespeare, I like to toy with words some times...

God bless the truth
tony
 
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NazariteNation

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#5
#5
Personally, I believe that transparency and accountability are vital in the walk of every believer. Simply because in doing so, living a life without secrets, is to basically remove weapons that the enemy could potentially use against you in the long run.

Scripture tells us that we can not hide anything from God and that's there is absolutely nothing or nowhere that we can hide, even in the deepest most remote depths of hell, NOTHING can be concealed from the presence of God (unless He decides to wipe it away). Why then, would we want to live a life with something lingering in past which could cause potential problems down the road? The more you think about it, those secrets, by description, tend to share a lot of the same qualities as sin no matter how you try to rationalize them.

How's this for rationality / realism? TRANSPARENCY EQUALS FREEDOM! It may not always be the easy thing to do but it is always the right thing to do.

Mind you, I'm talking about your personal life and not matters or conversations concerning others that may have been shared with you in confidence. That is an entirely different matter all together.
 
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NazariteNation

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#6
#6
As far as deception is concerned.... Let's say that you decided to withhold certain details concerning a matter in order to avoid getting someone in trouble. Once the truth does come out, even though you did not lie, people may see you as untrustworthy or perceive you as a liar because you intentionally with held the truth from them when they came to you, a christian, someone who they felt could be trusted. Not only have you ruined your testimony with that person but also your actions could very well affect how that person perceives all christians in the long run.

Think about it like this guys. We should approach every exchange we have with another with this thought in mind: "Will my current behavior effect my ability to witness to this person five minutes from now if need should arise?"
 
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squidmike

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Jan 13, 2010
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First of all who is it you are decieving?did you keep certain information out of the discussion did you do this on a need to know basis ? Having said this , whenever someone says "that is none of your business " They will always have something to hide.if someone asks me a question i feel compelled to answer truthfully because i have nothing to hide.If you have given your life to God in the name of Jesus then you should have nothing to keep secret. I do not talk about doing this with strangers or even friends i am talking about your spouse, because you should never ever keep anything hidden to your spouse
 
resurrection33

resurrection33

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#8
Dec 19, 2009
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#8
Deception is okay in sports? Now you tell me! When I played football, I would always let the other team know what play we were running. I could never figure out why we never could score any points.
 
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Harley_Angel

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#9
#9
Are your deceptions and you secrets going to hurt someone? The reason God doesn't want us to lie is because it hurts people. Throwing a feint in fencing isn't hurting someone, I'm not covering up a sin, and I'm not keeping a great secret from someone. It helps the other fencer become better because they have to think about what my next move could be and it exercizes the mind. Now, if I my friend is wearing some atrociously revealing clothing and she looks...well...slutty, and she asks if it's okay and I tell her yes, then I am not doing my part of being a friend. I'm allowing her to believe what she is wearing is acceptable to God, and it's not.

Use your words and actions wisely. Don't let yourself become a stumbling block to other people. If your secret is that you know some child is being moleste or abused, then don't keep it, it's your place to get help. If your secret is that a friend of yours has an STD and is planning on sleeping with someone without telling them, don't keep te secret. If it's that someone's boyfriend is going to propose and he asks you not to tell, and you don't, even if she asks if it's going to happen, doubt that gets you a ticket to hell.

Remember, God knows our HEARTS. He knows if a secret or deception is done in malice, or to cause a brother or sister to stumble, he knows when a misdirection is a strategy. Like I said, be wise with your words ad actions.
 
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greatkraw

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#10
#10
lying is NOT wrong otherwise there would be no fiction and Christ would not be allowed to tell parables
 
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Harley_Angel

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#11
#11
It says you shouldn't be a false witness, it also says several times about not being a liar. Revalations1:8 says LIARS GO TO HELL. There is a difference in coming up with fantasy and something that isn't real, and something entirely different about earnestly getting people to believe it's real. I know dragons aren't real, if someone writes a book about dragons in a purely fantasy setting, no problem, we understnd it's not deception it's imagination. If someone graphs the bones of several animals together, takes pictres, and tells the world they've found a dragon...thats lying...that's a no no.
 
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charisenexcelcis

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#12
#12
Regarding the commandment, there appears to me to be a legal connotation--untrue testimony. The NT is more truly corresponding with liars or decievers. I think that when I pick up a novel there is an unwritten contract. I know and expect that what I will read will not be factual. If I put out a sign the says, "Doctor King, Podiatry" I have entered into an unwritten contract. If I mess up your feet, and then say, I just put the words together on the sign, it would be entirely factual, but deceptive. If you ask me how my day is and I say fine, even though it was terrible, it is not deception, because we both understand that your question was a courtesy.
 
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