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Many many years ago, I was faced with the situation where my boss wanted me to lie to some auditors. Perhaps many of you have faced similar situations.

My job at the time was to train people how to pass audits. Sometimes that meant teaching them how to explain discrepancies. I had and still have absolutely no qualms about that because I wasn’t teaching them to lie, I was teaching them how to use words that communicate to people from another “culture” in a way that didn’t raise red flags. Having previously been an auditor, I knew that even the most sincere auditor understands that it is their responsibility to look for red flags and pursue those areas to determine if there are discrepancies. My training consisted of teaching engineers generally that “when you say “A”, I hear “B” and it makes me think something may not be right.” Another way of saying what you’re trying to say is “C” – it’s the truth put in words that assure me, the auditor, that you understand and have properly implemented the program. Now there were always times when the program wasn’t implemented properly. At those times, my job was to teach the engineers to speak the truth in a way that was least damaging to my employer. At least that’s how I saw my job. When faced with a particularly bad mistake, my boss wanted me to outright lie to the auditors, and to teach others how to do so.

I was still a fairly new Christian. I knew lying wasn’t consistent with the way God did things (seems like I’d heard it was one of the Big Ten), but I didn’t want to lose my job. I liked my job most of the time, my employer was the only one in the area who used my specialized knowledge, and I was providing half the income to our household budget. As I struggled with the issue, I remember reading the following verse during my morning devotions:

¹⁶ There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him:
¹⁷ haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,
¹⁸ a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil,
¹⁹ a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.
Proverbs 6:16-29

Wow! I think that was the first time that Scripture I was reading in my daily devotions directly related to my current life situation. Scripture clearly says that a lying tongue is detestable to God. Detestable is a strong word. I don’t want to do anything that God finds detestable. I decided on the spot to not do what my boss asked. The decision led to my resignation and the finding of a better job! Isn’t God good? He chose that moment to grow my faith in His ability to provide when I am obedient to His Word.

In my business reading today, I came across this article entitled “Why White Lies are More Dangerous Than You Think.” It’s a good article, full of secular wisdom about the danger of even those lies we call “white lies.” (God doesn’t differentiate between the white lies and all other lies, of course.) I love it when secular wisdom “discovers” Biblical Truth. I don’t know if the author realizes he’s confirming Biblical Truth, but I commend him for publishing such an article.

Back to real life – may I encourage you to view white lies the way God does – as detestable. Avoid them just as you would avoid many of the other sins you find listed in Scripture. I know they’re not always easy to avoid. Doing so sometimes requires that we have difficult conversations we’d prefer not to have. Avoiding the white lies also means, however, that we are not doing what is detestable in God’s eyes. That’s always a good thing!

This entry was posted on Monday, October 5th, 2009 at 3:47 pm and is filed under Christian Living, God's ways, Trusting God. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.