Exception-Based Christianity

One year, after introducing the concept of probability to my junior high math class, students began quizzing me about the lottery. We first calculated the astronomically small probability of winning with one ticket. The next idea was that of purchasing enough tickets to insure a win. After two days of exploring the investment in time, labor and money to pull off such a feat, we all agreed that it was next to impossible. And yet, we all marveled that local and national lotteries announced winners. In each case, the winner appeared to be an exception.

The big take-away for my students was that if you really expect to win the lottery, you are boldly (or foolishly) asserting that you think you will be the exception to the huge improbability.
(I don’t think my mathematical proof for the foolishness of speeding was as great a success.)

Young people often live as if they will be the exception. They will not be the one to...

• Get caught (shoplifting/speeding);
• Get hurt (diving into dark water);
• Lose money (on risky investments); or
• Fail (at an unlikely endeavor).

Life seems to be full of exceptions. Just look! People are winning the lottery all the time.

Let me insert here that the marketing of the exception (intentionally or otherwise) can easily skew one’s sense of reality. So, a person’s keen skills of observation might be based on incomplete or inaccurate information.

So, what does all this have to do with Christianity? Some people carry over into Christianity the same exceptional mentality. In other words, some Christians live as if they will be the exception to the clear teachings found in Scripture.

Let me continue with an example…

Have you ever read Bible verses about lying?

• Is lying ever approved? Is lying good?
• A lying tongue is found on a list of things that God hates. (Proverbs 6:17)
• “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord.” (Proverbs 12:22)
• “A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who tells lies will perish.” (Proverbs 19:9)
• God’s people believed the false prophets but called Jeremiah a liar when he spoke God’s word. (Jeremiah 27, 28, 29, 43) God held them accountable for their foolishness.
• Jesus referred to the devil as the father of lies. (John 8:44)
• Lying is explicitly condemned three times in the book of Revelation (21:8, 27; 22:15).
• It is impossible for God to lie (Hebrews 6:18); it is against His nature.

So, how strong is a defense for lying by pointing to Rahab the harlot who lied about hiding the Israelite spies at the time of Joshua? (See Joshua 2:1-7) Does Rahab the exception teach us that there are times when lying is justified?

Even if we think we can justify Rahab’s lie, it does not justify your lie. Lying is sin. That is the consistent teaching in Scripture.

To teach our children that it’s ok to lie (even sometimes) would be no different than teaching that there is no right and wrong, that life is full of moral exceptions. An exception-based approach to Scripture would inevitably call for a whole new branch of moral instruction on how and when to apply exceptions.

We must not go beyond what is written in scripture. 

Would you risk your soul on a perceived exception???

Think...In what other areas would this kind of reasoning apply?


Mark Stinnett

November 6, 2022