Should Missionaries Intentionally Lie?
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - Pastor John, we have an increasing amount of questions
00:00:07.760 | coming in from missionaries out in the field,
00:00:10.000 | and this is one from Brent, who's in China.
00:00:12.440 | He asks, quote, "Can a missionary lie
00:00:14.940 | "in order to do ministry in a closed or persecuted country?
00:00:18.360 | "For example, can he sign a statement saying
00:00:20.420 | "he agrees to obey the laws of that country
00:00:22.440 | "when he actually plans to break some of them,
00:00:24.740 | "particularly religious-based ones," end quote.
00:00:28.360 | What would you say to him, Pastor John?
00:00:30.260 | - I would say no.
00:00:33.600 | I don't think you should lie
00:00:37.080 | in order to get into a country,
00:00:41.400 | especially something as blatant as signing a statement
00:00:46.400 | that you intend to do what you don't intend to do.
00:00:50.020 | Now, having said that, the reason I say that
00:00:54.840 | is because I think that kind of distortion of reality
00:00:59.840 | and manipulation of the facts
00:01:04.440 | will undermine your witness,
00:01:06.760 | it will undermine your courage,
00:01:08.480 | it will undermine the Lord of truth that you serve,
00:01:12.120 | and will probably backfire pretty profoundly.
00:01:15.760 | However, here's the less clear part.
00:01:19.100 | There are other issues in how a person describes
00:01:24.840 | what they're doing in a country,
00:01:28.660 | because unbelievers cannot grasp entirely
00:01:34.520 | the real meaning of gospel grace,
00:01:38.620 | the real meaning of what you're there for,
00:01:41.680 | so that there are things that you're gonna say
00:01:44.960 | they're not gonna be able to grasp,
00:01:46.680 | and in a sense, then, you're not telling them
00:01:50.280 | all that's true because they can't grasp all that's true.
00:01:53.800 | If you say, "I am here to bless your people,
00:01:56.920 | "to love your people, to do good to your people,"
00:02:00.200 | you mean both the physical things
00:02:04.960 | and the spiritual realities,
00:02:08.000 | and they may not be able to grasp that whole package,
00:02:12.040 | and I don't think it would be wrong
00:02:13.920 | to say something like that.
00:02:16.720 | So I don't want to be naive
00:02:22.040 | about the kinds of things that need to be said
00:02:26.360 | by missionaries that are true,
00:02:28.760 | and yet not able to communicate the whole truth
00:02:32.520 | to an unbeliever who, even if he used different words
00:02:36.720 | about salvation, wouldn't even know
00:02:38.680 | what you were talking about.
00:02:39.940 | They wouldn't be able to grasp that.
00:02:42.120 | - Thank you, Pastor John,
00:02:42.960 | and thank you for listening to this podcast.
00:02:44.360 | Send your questions to us via email
00:02:45.680 | at askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org.
00:02:47.600 | Please include your first name and your hometown.
00:02:49.640 | You can find thousands of other free resources online
00:02:51.960 | from johnpiper@desiringgod.org.
00:02:54.240 | I'm your host, Tony Reiki.
00:02:55.280 | Thanks for listening.
00:02:56.440 | (upbeat music)
00:02:59.020 | (upbeat music)
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