Yes or No

Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's word.

Heavenly Father, you are the God of truth.

! Heavenly Father, you are the God of truth.

!

That we might be transformed to be more Christ-like in our truth-telling and in our bearing witness to the truth of the gospel.

So, Lord, now meet with us and give us the humility that we need and the faith that we need to hear your word.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

If you are able, please stand for the reading of God's word to honor God who has spoken to us in his word.

Matthew 5, 33-37.

Again, you have heard that it was said to those of old,

You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.

But I say to you,

Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king.

And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.

Let what you say be simply yes or no.

Anything more than this comes from evil.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

Please be seated.

Just to remind you, we've been on a three-week hiatus from the book of Matthew,

but we are returning to the series, and we are in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount,

which is the largest block, or the first block, of Jesus' five major bodies of teaching in the book of Matthew.

And this passage comes on the heels of Jesus' teaching about murder, and adultery, and divorce.

And after talking about such heavy topics, the topic of breaking an oath or swearing falsely may seem,

or in short, to summarize it, lying, might seem somewhat trivial to many of us.

After all, don't we all take it for granted that whoever tells you that he never lies is lying?

But this is no trivial topic.

Revelation 21.8 tells us that as for all liars,

their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.

It is a matter of life and death, what we talk about.

It's a matter of heaven and hell.

Well, God takes lying very seriously because he describes himself as the God of truth in Isaiah 65.16.

He says the sum of his word is truth in Psalm 119.160.

He says he never lies in Titus 1.2.

In contrast, John 8.55 calls the devil a liar and a father of lies.

So people who lie are acting like the devil and not like God.

They are betraying their true paternity.

That they belong not to God the Father, but to the father of lies.

That alone is enough reason to pay utmost attention to this passage.

But there are still more reasons why Jesus' teaching on this subject matter is so important.

A few weeks ago, when we were talking about verses 27 to 32,

we addressed how pervasive adultery and divorce are in our world and in our society.

And how they are eroding the foundation of our society by breaking and destroying marriages.

And breaking families apart.

That's all true.

And that's still a very pervasive sin.

But I would argue that breaking oaths and swearing falsely is an even more pervasive sin.

Because if you think about it, every single instance of adultery,

every single instance of divorce is an instance of oath-breaking.

Because a man and a woman enter into the covenant of marriage by making vows to one another.

In the name of God,

I shone, take you, Hannah, to be my wife,

to have and to hold from this day forward,

for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer,

in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish,

until death do us part.

This is my solemn vow.

If everyone kept their marriage vows,

there would be no adultery.

There would be no divorce.

I have a friend who is in the middle of

pursuing a wife who is in ongoing adultery.

And even though it is well past the point

where most men would have abandoned the project altogether,

he continues to pray for his wife and pursue reconciliation.

Why?

He often repeats the same words.

I made a vow.

I made a vow.

It's not a coincidence that this passage comes immediately

after the passage about divorce.

But breaking oaths and swearing falsely

goes far beyond marriage vows.

How many witnesses have gone to court

and have said with their right hand up in the air,

I do solemnly swear that the testimony I shall give

is the truth, to be the truth, the whole truth,

and nothing but the truth.

Only afterward to perjure themselves

and bear false witness against their neighbors

so that the innocent are punished and the wicked are freed.

How many healthcare professionals

have taken the Hippocratic oath,

swearing that they will do no harm,

and yet have over-prescribed opioids,

performed unnecessary procedures for profit?

How many of them have played God

in taking life and not merely saving life?

How many of them have abused sedated patients

who are entrusted to their care,

as some of our own members have experienced?

How many politicians and public servants,

after taking an oath to uphold the Constitution

and faithfully execute their duties,

invoking the name of God,

saying, so help me God,

have violated those very commitments

and been impeached

or have been forced to resign?

How many journalists have signed on

to the journalist's creeds,

affirming that the public journal

is a public trust,

and that they are trustees for the public

and agree to pursue accuracy and fairness

in all their work,

only to spread willingly or unknowingly

or unknowingly false

or misleading information to the public?

It's no wonder that in 2018,

the Edelman Trust Barometer reported

a record-breaking 37-point drop

in public trust across all U.S. institutions.

According to 2024 reports,

60% of people in the U.S.

worry that journalists and reporters

are purposely trying to mislead people

by saying things they know

are false or gross exaggerations.

60%.

70% of them worry that government leaders

are doing the same.

Public trust has eroded so much

that we now have dedicated fact-checkers,

PolitiFact, FactCheck.org,

Snopes, Reuters, FactCheck.

But because these fact-checkers

also tend to be biased

and share misleading information,

now we have fact-checkers

of fact-checkers.

Like Media Bias slash Fact Check,

International Fact-Checking Network,

AllSides.com,

which I am sure does not include all sides.

Yeah.

In such an age,

Jesus teaches us to be set apart

from the world.

He tells us to be simple truth-tellers

who need no oaths.

I'm going to talk about this important passage

in three parts.

First, keep your oath.

Second, take no oath.

And then third, remember God's oath.

First, Jesus addresses the Old Testament command

to keep the vows one makes to God

in verse 33.

Again,

you have heard that it was said

to those of old,

you shall not swear falsely,

but shall perform to the Lord

what you have sworn.

Many Old Testament passages

deal with this subject

of swearing by God's name.

It's connected to the third

of the Ten Commandments

in Exodus 20.

It says,

You shall not take the name

of the Lord your God in vain,

for the Lord will not hold him guiltless

who takes his name in vain.

Jesus is here addressing two related issues.

First is making a vow to God.

Second is swearing an oath.

We see the distinction of those two things,

a vow and an oath,

in Numbers chapter 30 verse 2.

Numbers 30:2

It says,

If a man vows a vow to the Lord

or swears an oath

to bind himself by a pledge,

he shall not break his word.

He shall do according to all

that proceeds out of his mouth.

When you make a vow,

you make a solemn promise to God

saying that you will perform

a certain action.

When you take an oath,

you're making a solemn promise

or a statement to someone else,

to another person,

while invoking the name of God

and to undergird your statement,

to basically boost and bolster your statement.

I vow to give half of my possessions to you,

oh God.

That's a vow.

You're promising to God

something that you will do.

When your professor is questioning

the authenticity of your paper,

and then you say,

I swear to God that I wrote this paper

and not ChatGPT.

And if that's not true,

then I can fail all my classes.

That's swearing an oath,

invoking the name of God

to prove the veracity of a statement

that you are making.

So technically,

these two things are distinct,

swearing an oath

and making a vow.

However,

Jesus is addressing both of those things

because they're intimately related

and at the heart of it,

they're the same.

The Old Testament repeatedly taught

that one must pay what one vowed.

It says,

it is better that you should not vow

than that you should vow and not pay,

Ecclesiastes 5, 4 to 6.

In fact,

Deuteronomy 23,

21 to 23 says,

that the Lord your God

will surely require the vow of you

and you will be guilty of sin.

Why does God take oaths so seriously?

Isaiah 65, 16

specifically commands us

only to swear by the name of God,

by the God of truth

because his name,

he's the unchanging God,

he's the eternal God,

he's the God who is truth itself

and therefore his name is the only one

that can really undergird an oath.

So Leviticus 19, 12 says,

you shall not swear by my name falsely

and so profane the name of your God.

I am the Lord.

To take an oath in God's name

and to not keep it

is to declare by your actions

that God is a liar.

To make an oath and to not keep it

is to declare by your actions

that God does not keep his promises,

that God's name,

that his reputation

is now marred by that sin.

And that's why the Old Testament saints

took swearing

and keeping their vows so seriously.

Psalm 15, 4,

I've mentioned this in Ecclesiastes,

describes the person

who walks blamelessly before God

as one who swears to his own hurt

and does not change.

Meaning that this person,

a godly person,

a righteous person

would rather suffer personal loss

than break his word.

not keep his word.

How many people like that do you know

in this day and age?

More often people break their promises

and say,

oh, I'm sorry.

My circumstances changed.

And by those statements,

we betray the reality

that our words are only as good

as our uncontrollable,

ever-changing circumstances.

But God delights in the person

who swears to his own hurt

and does not change.

And for that reason,

it's also a grave mistake

and a sin to swear

and to take an oath rashly

in a circumstance

where you should not be taking an oath.

The Bible includes

several cautionary tales for us,

perhaps most notoriously

in Judges 11, 30 to 39.

Jephthah, a judge,

an Israeli judge,

makes a vow to the Lord saying,

if you help me defeat the Ammonites,

you know,

when I return home to celebrate,

whatever comes out the door

of my house first,

I will offer to you

as a burnt offering.

Man,

I don't know what the guy was thinking.

What was he expecting,

I wonder,

to come out of his house

to greet him?

I hope he had a dog.

You know,

I'm sorry if you love dogs

because what happened

is much,

much worse.

Out comes his daughter,

his only daughter,

his only child,

a virgin maiden.

And this guy,

he's the judge of Israel,

being the proud man that he is

and being a bad father that he is,

actually sacrifices her.

If you break the oath,

you break the third commandment.

If you keep the oath,

you break the sixth commandment.

He should have never

put himself in that situation.

In Joshua 9,

the Israelites bind themselves

with an oath

not to go war

against the Gibeonites,

not knowing that Gibeonites

are actually

a neighboring

nation

in the land of Canaan

that God has commanded them

to drive out of Canaan.

So now,

if they keep the oath

that they made,

they

sin,

break the commandment of God.

If they break the oath,

they also sin.

And break the commandment of God.

A lose-lose situation

that they should have never been in

if they had not made a rash vow.

1 Samuel 14,

24-30,

King Saul is leading the Israelites

in charge against the Philistines.

And his son,

Jonathan,

leads the charge

and wins the dim,

the lone bright spot

in their long war.

It was Jonathan's victory

over these Philistines.

But Saul,

in his overzealousness

and foolishness,

makes a vow saying,

anyone who eats anything

before I avenge myself

on my enemies

shall die.

And they are surrounded

by the spoils

from their enemy

that they could feast upon

and to strengthen themselves

and to go on to war.

Honey is dripping out of trees

and they're just,

everybody's just staring

and not eating.

And they are faint

and they are unable

to win a great victory

because of that rash vow.

And not only that,

Jonathan is unaware

that his dad

has made such a vow

and then he takes some honey

and eats it

so that Saul nearly kills him

until it says

in 1 Samuel 14, 45,

that the people of Israel

ransomed Jonathan

with their own oath

saying,

as the Lord lives,

there shall not one hair

of his head

fall to the ground

for he has worked

with God this day.

It was an oath

that Saul should have

never taken.

All that to say,

Old Testament takes

taking oaths

very seriously

and it does not

prohibit oath taking

but it does demand

oath keeping

once it's taken.

Why then does Jesus

command us

in the following verses

not to take an oath

at all?

That's my second point.

Take no oath.

Jesus once again

contrasts his own

teaching from that

of the traditional

Jewish understanding

of God's word.

In verses 33 to 34,

he says,

Again,

you have heard

that it was said

to those of old,

you shall not swear falsely

but shall perform

to the Lord

what you have sworn.

But I say to you,

do not take an oath

at all.

Jesus is again

positioning himself

as the divine law giver

because after all,

who can give such

a definitive,

authoritative take

on the law of God

overturning

millennia of legal precedents

and theological tradition.

Remember in chapter 5,

verse 17 to 20,

Jesus gave a definitive judgment

of the Old Testament law.

He said,

I have not come

to abolish the law

but to fulfill the law.

For I tell you,

unless your righteousness

exceeds that of the scribes

and the Pharisees,

you will never enter

the kingdom of heaven.

And then,

as we've been in,

as we've been seeing

in the following six passages

after that,

Jesus gives a series

of six contrasts.

You have heard

that it was said

to the people of old

but I say to you,

contrasts,

six illustrations

to show

the inadequate righteousness

of the Pharisees

and the scribes

and to show

the true righteousness

that God demands

that exceeds

that of the Pharisees

and the scribes.

But this still raises

the question,

doesn't God actually

command his people

to take an oath

in the Old Testament?

He does.

In Exodus 20 to 11,

in Numbers 5,

19 to 22,

he commands his people

to take oaths

in certain situations.

So then,

isn't Jesus contradicting

and abolishing

the law of God?

I don't think

that is the case.

The situation is similar

to the preceding passage

about divorce

in verses 31 and 32.

God did make

a provision

in the scriptures

for divorce

in the Old Testament

but as Jesus teaches

later on

in Matthew 19,

Matthew 19:8

verse 8,

this was a concession

to the people's

hardness of heart.

It was not

God's original idea

for people to divorce.

God's standard,

his ideal,

is that a man

and a woman marry

and they're married

for life

until death

do them part.

Divorce is only

a temporary provision

for a broken

and fallen world.

It's intended

to mitigate

human evil,

to constrain

human evil,

not to establish

the divine standard.

In our country,

disclosing classified

information is illegal

if you work

for the federal government.

however,

at the same time,

there is

the Whistleblower

Protection Act

which allows

federal government

employees to disclose

classified information

as long as

it is intended

to expose

government corruption.

Two seemingly

contradictory laws

exist.

One says you cannot

disclose

classified information,

one says you can

and should disclose

classified information.

why do those

laws exist?

Not because

it's good

or it's right

that you should be

leaking classified

information,

but because it's

taking into account

the fact that

humans are fallen

and some officials

are corrupted

and so there needs

to be some provision

to account for

that reality.

Similarly,

oaths were

instituted by God

to contain

and minimize

the damage

done by human

failure and lies.

humans are

deceptive

and untrustworthy

so often

that it was

necessary

to create

the oath

system

to ensure

that in certain

very dire

grave circumstances

people

tell the truth.

Vows and oaths

therefore

are concessions

to the hardness

of the human art

not commands

or the ideals

that capture

God's ultimate standard.

So Jesus is here

bringing us back

to God's

original

ultimate standard

in verses 34

to 37.

But I say to you

do not take an oath

at all

either by heaven

for it is the throne

of God

or by the earth

for it is his footstool

or by Jerusalem

for it is the city

of the great king

and do not take

an oath by your head

for you cannot make

one hair

white or black.

Let what you say

be simply

yes or no

anything more than this

comes from evil.

Because the Jews

of Jesus' day

took rightly

took oaths

very seriously

they were hesitant

to invoke God's name

directly when they

were making vows.

However

they wrongly believed

that by taking oaths

by sacred things

that are not quite

as sacred

as the name of God

they could get themselves

off the hook

without consequence

from oaths

that they have made.

I swear

by heaven itself

that this snake oil

that I'm selling

to you

will heal you

of all your diseases

because it was

blessed by the priest.

Some

faithful

well-meaning

layperson

buys the snake oil

applies it

and it does nothing.

and he comes back

to the religious leader

and says

you swore

by God's name

that this thing works

and then he says

oh no

you see

I did not swear

by God's name.

Actually

if you might recall

accurately

I swore

by heaven

which is not

the same thing

as swearing

by God's name.

Same difference.

No, no, no

you see

I'm the teacher

of the law

and there's

a very big difference.

Heaven is part

of God's creation.

God is the creator.

Have you ever heard

of the creator

creature distinction?

No, no, no, no, no.

That's heresy

that's blasphemy.

Get out of here

you have no case

to make against me.

Jesus gives an example

of this kind of

specious rationalization

by the religious leaders

in Matthew 23

16 to 17.

He says

woe to you

blind guides

who say

if anyone swears

by the temple

it is nothing

but if anyone

swears by the gold

of the temple

he is bound

by his oath.

You blind fools

for which is greater

the gold

or the temple

that has made

the gold sacred.

It's really no different

from the social swearing

that people engage

in nowadays.

If you go hang out

at the playground

where the kids

are playing

you can overhear

things like this.

I swear

that I have

that super rare

Pokemon card.

I swear

I can do

a cartwheel.

I'm just

not going to do it

right now.

because I'm injured.

And then

when they're exposed

to be a fraud

they say

I bet you didn't know

that I had my fingers

crossed in the back.

It doesn't really work.

It's not binding.

That's

essentially

what these religious

leaders were doing.

The Jews

were swearing

by heaven

by Jerusalem

and by their own head

thinking that they could

break these oaths

with indemnity

while still

using them

to manipulate people

into believing them

and trusting them

and doing what they

want them to do.

And Jesus

tells them

no

heaven

is the throne

of God.

And if you swear

by heaven

you swear by heaven

and the God

who sits

on his throne.

if you swear

by the earth

it is God's

footstool

as it says

in Isaiah

and you swear

by the footstool

and the one

who rests

his foot on it.

If you swear

by Jerusalem

it is the city

of the great king

the Lord's anointed

and you swear

by the great city

and the king

the anointed

and the Lord

in whose name

he was anointed.

in fact

don't even swear

by your head.

You know people think

with my own head

at least I have

responsibility for this

I can swear

by my own head

and Jesus says

no

you cannot even make

one strand of hair

white or black.

Dyeing doesn't count.

Yes.

You think

you're responsible

for your own head

no you are not.

God is responsible

for your life.

God is responsible

for your head.

God is the one

who has every hair

on your head

numbered

and when you swear

by your own head

you swear by your head

and the God

who makes it

and sustains it.

In other words

don't think

that you could

wiggle your way

out of the promises

you make

and the oaths

you make.

Keep every oath

you make.

Better yet

as Jesus says

in verse 37

let what you say

be simply

yes or no

anything more than this

comes from evil.

Vows and oaths

like I said earlier

are concessions

to the hardness

of the human heart.

If we

if all of humanity

practiced

transparency

and simple honesty

in all of our speech

and dealings

then vows

and oaths

would immediately

become obsolete.

That is

God's

ultimate

standard.

This is why

I think

Jesus' teaching

here applies

far widely

to all forms

of deception

and manipulation

because why

do we

swear falsely?

Why do we

make promises

and vows

and then break them?

Why do we

exaggerate

and embellish

our stories?

Why do we

flatter people

and say things

we don't really mean

to gain their

confidence

and trust

and favor?

Why do we

betray people

who have

entrusted to us

their confidence

and secrets?

Why do we

tell half-truths

or half-truth

told as a

whole truth

is a whole lie?

We do it all

to gain a selfish

advantage.

To get people

to believe us.

to get people

to like us

and not them.

To get people

to do what

we want

them to do.

And all of this

God says

is evil

in his eyes.

Instead

be simple

truth tellers

who need

no oath

to verify

his or her

speech.

Let what you

say be simply

yes

or no.

this raises

two questions

that require

some

qualification.

First question

is there ever

a situation

where it is

okay

not to be

fully factual?

Second

is there ever

a situation

where it is

okay

to take

an oath

say in the

courtroom?

First

is there ever

a situation

where it is

okay

not to be

fully factual?

I think

the Bible

demands

that we

answer

yes

to that

question.

Because there

are numerous

examples

in scripture

of godly

saints

being commended

for misleading

speech.

The Hebrew

midwives

in Exodus

Exodus 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1

misled

Pharaoh.

The Pharaoh

commands them

to kill

every Jewish

son that is

born.

And they're

like oh

no no no

we can't

why aren't

you guys

killing them?

And they're

like oh

no no

these Jewish

women are

so vigorous

they give

birth before

we can get

there to do

anything about

it.

you know

and it

says that

God

blessed

them for

that

and gave

them their

own families

because they

feared God.

Rahab the

prostitute

shelters

and hides

the Israeli

spies in

Jericho

and deceives

the king

of Jericho

about their

whereabouts

in Joshua

Joshua 2:1–7

chapter 2

verses 1

to 7.

you might

wonder

well

God

doesn't

command

that

does

he?

Was that

still

the

wrong

thing

to do?

No

because it

says in

Hebrews 11

31

it commands

her for

that very

act

and calls

her a

woman of

faith.

There are

contexts

During the

conquest of

Canaan

when God

orders an

ambush

which is a

form of

military

deception

jail

deceives

the Canaanite

general

Sisera

in

judges

God

develops

a cover

story

for

prophet

Samuel

to tell

King

Saul

because

he

knows

that

King

Saul

is going

to try

to kill

him

if he

knows

that

Samuel

is going

to anoint

David

as king

to replace

him.

David

uses deception

on a number

of occasions

to protect

himself from

enemies who

are trying

to kill

him.

God

himself

speaks

of deceiving

false

prophets

in Ezekiel

Ezekiel 14:9

14

verse 9

he says

he sends

a lying

spirit

so that

false

prophets

prophets

side

lies

in

1 Kings

22

19

to 23

and

finally

in

2 Thessalonians

2 Thessalonians 2:11

chapter 2

verse 11

God

says

that

he sends

the wicked

who refuse

to love

the truth

and so

be saved

a strong

delusion

so that

they may

believe

what is

false

so

evidently

obeying

God's

commandment

not to

lie

is not

merely

about

being

factually

accurate

in this

regard

God

clearly

deals

with

the

wicked

differently

than

he

deals

with

the

righteous

and

sometimes

he

wants

the

righteous

people

to

mislead

the

unrighteous

to

thwart

their evil

but isn't that

a double

standard

how is that

okay

this is not

a double

standard

because

God

is the

standard

of truth

God

is the

Lord

God

declares

I

the

Lord

speak

the

truth

I

declare

what

is

right

God

says

God

is the

ultimate

standard

and

arbiter

of

truth

he

is the

ultimate

source

and the

measure

of

truth

because

he

is the

creator

and the

Lord

of

this

universe

we

do

not

measure

God

according

to

the

abstract

truth

no

God

is

the

truth

by which

we

measure

all

other

claims

to

truth

this

is why

Bible

declares

over and

over again

that

all

of

God's

word

is

truth

and

all

of

God's

deeds

are

in

accordance

with

the

truth

of

who

he

is

so

God's

concern

with

lying

is

not

merely

about

making

sure

that we

say

what

is

factually

accurate

but

making

sure

that we

live

and

speak

and

do

everything

in

accordance

with

God

who

is

the

truth

so

it

says

in

1

1 John 1:6

John

1

verse

6

if

we

say

we

have

fellowship

with

him

while

we

walk

in

darkness

we

lie

and

do

not

practice

the

truth

this

is

why

in

some

situations

even

truth

telling

can

be

sinful

1

Samuel

22

7

to

10

Doeg

the

Edomite

sees

David

being provided

for in the

temple by

the priest

and later

when King

Saul is

interrogating

his servants

nobody

speaks

to

betray

David

except

for

Doeg

the

Edomite

he tells

the king

the whole

truth

so that he

can find out

where David

is and

pursue him

and that

is not

portrayed

as a

godly

thing

it

is

sin

it

is

portrayed

in that

part of

scripture

as a

wicked

thing

why

because he

was going

against

the God

of truth

he's going

against

the will

of God

so what

is of

the essence

here

is not

merely

accurate

factual

reporting

but what

is it

that is

in your

heart

for out

of the

abundance

of the

heart

the mouth

speaks

out of

the heart

come

evil

thoughts

murder

adultery

sexual

immorality

theft

false

witness

slander

what

matters

what

God's

after

is

your

heart

where's

your

heart

in

your

truth

telling

one

can

say

something

that

is

100%

factually

accurate

yet

be

false

to

the

truth

because

of

his

evil

intent

you

can

be

100%

factually

accurate

about

what

you

tell

your

friend

about

another

friend

and

yet

be

100%

in

the

wrong

because

of

your

evil

intent

William

Blake

writes

in his

poem

Auguries

of

Innocence

a

truth

that's

told

with

bad

intent

beats

all

the

lies

you

can

invent

so

here

are

the

heart

searching

questions

that

you

ought

to

be

asking

yourself

that

we

all

ought

to

ask

ourselves

when

you're

trying

to

figure

out

am

I

justified

in

this

scenario

to

not

tell

the

whole

truth

ask

yourself

does

your

motivation

stem

from

the

fear

of

God

or

the

fear

of

man

if

you're

doing

it

not

to

please

God

but

to

please

men

you're

doing

the

wrong

thing

Proverbs

8

13

teaches

us

that

the

cure

for

perverted

speech

which

God

hates

is

the

fear

of

the

Lord

humility

here's

another

question

we can

ask

ourselves

does

it

stem

from

the

love

of

God

and

the

love

of

neighbor

I

think

it's

important

to

keep

those

two

things

hand

in

hand

because

sometimes

I

think

we can

deceive

ourselves

into

thinking

that

we're

actually

trying

to

love

our

neighbor

when

really

it

goes

against

God's

standard

revealed

in

his

word

and

we're

doing

it

out

of

fear

of

man

fear

of

God

and

the

love

of

neighbor

love

of

God

and

the

love

of

neighbor

is

that

at

the

root

of

what

you're

trying

to

do

or

is

it

coming

out

of

the

hatred

of

your

neighbor

a

classic

example

of

this

dilemma

is

found

in

Corrie

Ten Boom's

autobiography

Hiding

Place

beautiful

biography

I encourage

you all

to read

it

Corrie

Ten Boom

and her

sister

Betsy

Ten Boom

were sisters

members

of a

Dutch

Christian

family

that

boldly

sheltered

Jewish

refugees

during

the

Holocaust

when

they

were

fleeing

from

Nazi

Germany

and

when

the

German

Gestapo

came to

their

house

and asked

are you

sheltering

any

Jews

Corrie

Ten Boom

would

just

lie

and

say

no

we're

not

sheltering

any

Jews

because

she

thought

that

that

was

okay

to

do

I

think

Corrie

Ten Boom

is

right

in

that

situation

Betsy

Ten Boom

however

was a

very

principled

and

sincere

woman

Corrie

was

too

but

Betsy

had

the

conviction

and

made

a

resolution

many

years

ago

that

she

would

never

tell

a

lie

when

the

Corrie

wasn't

home

Betsy

was

the

one

who

was

answering

the

question

are

you

sheltering

any

Jews

in

your

house

she

said

yes

sir

we

are

they're

hiding

underneath

the

table

I

don't

think

she's

being

legalistic

in

this

situation

because

I