Ben Zartman
Puritan Board Junior
While I've never been offered a job as a government spy, I know some who are in "Intelligence", and I wonder, given the 9th commandment, how I am to regard those who must dissemble in service of their country. Could a Christian be a secret agent? Reading history, it seems that the gathering of information by deceptive means is a huge part of battles won or lost, and I wonder: "would God bless with victory the government that did not engage in lying?"
We have spies in the OT: the Angel of the Lord went to Sodom and Gomorrah to check things out, and twelve were sent to spy on Canaan. Rahab saved the skins of two others at Jericho, and she lied to do it!
Next question (related): is dissembling ever innocent? Was it wrong for McDuff to disguise his men as trees so that Dunsinane could come to Macbeth's castle walls? Is it wrong to have a camouflage net to hide your equipage from prying eyes? Should the guy who stabbed the fat king in his palace garden not hidden his sword? The head spins thinking about it.
We have spies in the OT: the Angel of the Lord went to Sodom and Gomorrah to check things out, and twelve were sent to spy on Canaan. Rahab saved the skins of two others at Jericho, and she lied to do it!
Next question (related): is dissembling ever innocent? Was it wrong for McDuff to disguise his men as trees so that Dunsinane could come to Macbeth's castle walls? Is it wrong to have a camouflage net to hide your equipage from prying eyes? Should the guy who stabbed the fat king in his palace garden not hidden his sword? The head spins thinking about it.