What is a lie?

Some friends recently asked me ``What does the Bible say about lying?" A quick survey of the whole Bible showed how the issue of lies and lying goes far beyond "telling fibs".

Furthermore, I feel that hypothetical questions such as "If a Nazi soldier came to your door and asked if you were hiding Jews in your basement, would you lie?" derail the discussion.

Lies are in contrast to truth and faithfulness, qualities that are integral to the character of God and Jesus. Here are my notes.

What is "double listening"?

This phrase was coined by John Stott in a book, The Contemporary Christian: An urgent plea for double listening, published in 1992.

Double listening concerns Christians listening to what the Bible says while also listening to what the world says. The world is interpreted, affirmed, and critiqued in terms of what the Bible says, while the Bible is interpreted in light of what learns from the world. Everyone does this, whether or not they acknowledge it. However, the challenge is to do it consciously, intentionally, humbly, diligently, creatively, consistently, and constructively.

The idea is helpfully reviewed by Alister McGrath in this lecture.



Here is some of the key text from the Contemporary Christian (p. 27-9).

How, then, can we be both conservative and radical simultaneously, conservative in guarding God’s revelation and radical in our thoroughgoing application of it? How can we develop a Christian mind, which is both shaped by the truths of historic, biblical Christianity, and acquainted with the realities of the contemporary world? How can we relate the Word to the world, understanding the world in the light of the Word, and even understanding the Word in the light of the world? We have to begin with a double refusal. We refuse to become either so absorbed in the Word, that we escape into it and fail to let it confront the world, or so absorbed in the world, that we conform to it and fail to subject it to the judgement of the Word. Escapism and conformity are opposite mistakes, but neither is a Christian option. 

In place of this double refusal we are called to double listening, listening both to the Word and to the world. It is a truism to say that we have to listen to the Word of God, except perhaps that we need to listen to him more expectantly and humbly, ready for him to confront us with a disturbing, uninvited word. It is less welcome to be told that we must also listen to the world. For the voices of our contemporaries may take the form of shrill and strident protest. They are now querulous, now appealing, now aggressive in tone. There are also the anguished cries of those who are suffering, and the pain, doubt, anger, alienation and even despair of those who are estranged from God. I am not suggesting that we should listen to God and to our fellow human beings in the same way or with the same degree of deference. We listen to the Word with humble reverence, anxious to understand it, and resolved to believe and obey what we come to understand. We listen to the world with critical alertness, anxious to understand it too, and resolved not necessarily to believe and obey it, but to sympathise with it and to seek grace to discover how the gospel relates to it. . . . 

‘Double listening’, however, contains no element of self-contradiction. It is the faculty of listening to two voices at the same time, the voice of God through Scripture and the voices of men and women around us. These voices will often contradict one another, but our purpose in listening to them both is to discover how they relate to each other. Double listening is indispensable to Christian discipleship and Christian mission. 

Two other books by John Stott that McGrath mentions are Issues Facing Christians Today and Christian Mission in the Modern World.

Looking forward to the party

I recently shared with some friends some thoughts on The Parable of the Great Banquet in Luke 14.
Here is the outline.

Politics, farming, science, and culture

On a flight, I enjoyed watching the feel-good Bollywood movie Basmati Blues. On the serious side
 it looks at a significant modern problem: wealthy multi-national corporations use scientific research to develop technologies that the companies market (in deceptive manners) in the Majority World and disregard the culture and needs of local communities. The fictional story reminded me of real controversies involving Monsanto and Nestle.
Unfortunately, the movie does fit the white saviour trope.

An excellent book on Christian apologetics

Apologetics concerns discussing intellectual questions or objections that people, both non-Christian and Christian, have about Christianity. The field has a long history, and there are a plethora of books, particularly from the USA on the subject. From my perspective, the books vary significantly in quality and some have quite narrow perspectives or offer simplistic answers and strategies.

The introductory book that I highly recommend is Mere Apologetics by Alister McGrath. He presents quite a balanced approach with regard to different apologetic methods. He also has an emphasis on the audience and tailoring approaches, methods, and arguments to them, particularly when the audience is postmodern. Following C.S. Lewis, McGrath highlights the value of appealing to the imagination and emotions, not just the intellect. Because of this audience sensitivity, the book is relevant and useful in non-Western contexts, unlike many Western books. This is the view of some of my non-Western friends who also say it is particularly accessible and clear as an introductory book.

I quite like this lecture McGrath gave where he discusses the importance of C.S. Lewis for apologetics.

Government regulation can be important for free markets

Free markets can be a wonderful thing, creating prosperity and a better life for many. Consequently, there are some who oppose any sort of government regulation of business. However, if you visit a country where there is no such regulation (or laws are not enforced) one inevitably sees corruption, monopolies, exploitation of workers, pollution, and environmental destruction.
The grand challenge is to find a balance.

In this TED talk, MargretheVestager, makes a compelling case for why regulation, particularly of large corporations is important. Part of the issue is that many of these companies are actually not committed to free markets but rather to protecting their market share.
I found it interesting that she started with a Biblical view of human nature, referring to Genesis, and also emphasised values such as trust and community.

Dirty political tricks

On a recent flight I watched the movie Our Brand is Crisis. It chronicles the inward and outward battles of a burned out American political consultant who is drawn into a presidential election campaign in Bolivia. It is inspired by a documentary of the same name about the real election in 2002. On the one hand the dirty tricks, cynicism, and immorality are depressing. On the other hand, I fear it is pretty close to the truth.