Question:
Telling a lie is never right, but what about a life-threatening situation? Suppose a man is threatening to rape me. Is it okay to say that I have AIDS or something like that in hopes he will leave me alone?
Answer:
The Bible never gives justification for telling a lie. One should never prepare for dangerous situations by planning to tell a lie if necessary. Rather, if one feels they need to rehearse in their minds what they would say if confronted by a robber, rapist, etc., it would be far more appropriate to prepare to speak the name of Christ or to call out to God for help than to prepare to tell a lie. It would also be well for that person to begin praying that the Lord would keep him/her from such a situation. “Lead us not into temptation [or trial)” (Matthew 6:13).
(1) A Christian man, when confronted by three armed robbers, looked them in the eye and said, “You can’t touch me; I am a child of God.” The robbers fled.
(2) A Christian teen-age girl was jogging in a park in Minneapolis when a man came up from behind and grabbed her and threatened to kill her. She had the presence of mind to say to him, “The Lord is protecting me; Jesus loves you,” whereupon he released her and disappeared. (3) Three teen-age brothers, all Christians, were swimming at a lake when challenged to a fight by three slightly older boys. The Christians refused, and when asked why they wouldn’t fight, the oldest brother responded, wisely, “Because we are afraid of you.” The trouble-makers left in disgust. The point of the last story is that it is no disgrace for a Christian to be called “sissy,” “scaredy-cat,” “yellow,” or the like, for behaving like Christ. They called Christ worse names than that and He responded meekly without retaliating, or with silence (Isaiah 53:7; Matthew 26:60-68; 1 Peter 2:23).