Lying for Jesus
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Lying for Jesus is a form of pious fraud which happens when some Christians believe that falsifying information is acceptable if that brings people to Jesus or somehow supports his historicity, saintliness or supposed godliness.
The practice has a long and venerable history in the Christian religions.
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[edit] Eusebius
Eusebius, Emperor Constantine's bishop, was one of the earliest active advocates of the process:
“”How it may be lawful and fitting to use falsehood as a medicine, and for the benefit of those who want to be deceived.
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Eusebius is considered the most likely perpetrator of the claimed mention of Jesus in Josephus.
[edit] Martin Luther
As well as his documented belief that reason is faith's greatest enemy [2], the founder of Protestantism also noted:
“”What harm would it do, if a man told a good strong lie for the sake of the good and for the Christian church ... a lie out of necessity, a useful lie, a helpful lie, such lies would not be against God, he would accept them.[3]
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[edit] Sectarianism
Different Christian sects are also quite often prepared to distort the position of other Christians whom they consider heretics. Wingnut Protestant claims about Catholicism are a common recent example.
[edit] More recent Christian deceit
It is common for American evangelical Christians to claim the United States was founded as a Christian nation. The book "Liars for Jesus" by Chris Rodda details and refutes these claims.
Dishonesty by creationists, particularly young Earth creationists, is well known and documented elsewhere; even at least one Christian acknowledges that it happens. YEC dishonesty simply demonstrates the lack of honest evidence for the YEC position. [4] There was a large amount of deceit surrounding Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.[5]
Misleading statistics were and are used by some conservative Christians to argue that gay men have shorter life expectancies than they really have. [6]
The photograph of Phan Thi Kim Phuc. Reverend John Plummer made a ton of money and was able to bring many, many people 'to Christ' by publicly claiming to have been involved in the attack shown in the famous picture. His story tended to change depending on who he was talking to about it - Sometimes he was the pilot who dropped the napalm, sometimes he was the officer at headquarters who ordered the attack, sometimes he was the communications officer who coordinated the attack.... and so on. He actually had nothing whatsoever to do with the incident which occurred after most American forces had already left Vietnam. The attack was actually ordered and prosecuted entirely by the South Vietnamese military.
Cassie said, "Yes!" The book, "She said "Yes"" is still being sold and generating money as much as twelve years after the claim was discovered to be false. Initially, the claim could be perceived as an honest mistake, but repeating it after the truth behind the incident became known to the public is dishonest. The lie is so deeply entrenched in some peoples' minds that believers will sometimes go as far as threatening violence towards those who try to tell them what really happened.
[edit] See also
- Liars for Jesus (a book on the subject)
- Quote mining
- Taqiyya
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ Translation by Gibbon, who really didn't like Eusebius.
- ↑ Martin Luther - Reason - faith's greatest enemy
- ↑ Sissela Bok, Lying: Moral Choice In Public and Private Life, New York: Pantheon Books, 1978, p. 47
- ↑ Creationist Lying for Jesus?
- ↑ Lying for Jesus?
- ↑ Lying about Gays for Jesus