Compromising Morality

Awarded the Newbery Medal, the children’s book “Shiloh” is a touching story about a boy’s love for a dog, and that love, which compromised his morality, puts him in loads of trouble. This narrative is set in the beautiful state of West Virginia. Living with his family in the hills above the little town of Friendly, eleven-year-old, Marty Preston, is enjoying another laid back summer. When a beagle follows Marty home one day, everything drastically changes for the young boy. Apparently, Shiloh (the name Marty bestowed upon the dog) ran away from his home, because his owner was abusive. The dog’s master happens to be Judd Travers. Although it’s against the law, Travers hunts deer out of season; he drinks, and beats his hunting dogs. Nobody likes him. Marty despises him. That’s fine with Judd. Consequently, Marty decides it’s necessary for him to take action. Instead of returning the dog the second time he runs off, Marty hides him away from Judd, where he’ll be safe. He mustn’t tell anyone. If the boy wants to hang on to Shiloh, it’s essential he remain a secret. But this secret is too big for Marty to handle, and his lies seem to grow every day, like a cookie monster on a feeding frenzy. Tragically, not only do his lies cause a bunch of trouble, they also create distrust within his family. How far will Marty’s determination to save Shiloh push those he loves away, and end up affecting his morality negatively in the process?

In this book, Marty rescues Shiloh through lies. What would have been a different approach to the situation? He could’ve bought Shiloh. Within the story, the main character tries to gather some change by collecting cans. Unfortunately, this is a terrible way to earn money, because it takes so long to acquire a reasonable amount! Although Marty was willing to do extra work around the house for change, his family had little to spare and the neighbors didn’t have any jobs he could do. That eliminates two options. Still, he could have been more creative. Since animals were his passion, he could have offered to take care of people’s pets, bathe them, feed them, and walk them for pay. Here are some other suggestions: yard work, watering plants, watching kids, delivering groceries, cleaning, taking out trash; the list of jobs could continue further. Ultimately, Marty’s first mistake was not asking his parents for help. Hiding his true feelings from his parents, Marty missed out on the opportunity of receiving ideas and much needed advice, which could have saved him much grief. Another of Marty’s down falls was his impatience to wait for God’s timing. He selfishly took control of the situation instead of trusting in the Lord. If you desperately desire something, most likely you’ll be willing to wait and even work for it. In the end, there were several possibilities Marty could’ve taken, and they all would have been more rewarding than lying.

Common knowledge is that it’s never ok to lie, because it’s a sin, right? At first our reaction is, “Of course it’s never alright to lie”, but then we start second guessing ourselves. “Is it ever right to lie?” After thinking it over for a bit, you’re still unsure. It’s a tricky question.

Thankfully, the Bible, which is the word of God, tells us the truth about lying. Presented to the Israelites on Mount Sinai, the Ten Commandments were God’s way of instructing his people on how they should live. In Exodus 20:16 the law states, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” Truth in relationships is divinely commanded. So does that mean we’re not to lie ever? Well, the first thing we need to recognize is that there are worse sins than others. Compare coveting your friend’s new toy compared to murdering your friend! Which is the greater sin? Now, all sin is a serious offence to God, “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23) But there are lesser and greater sins. Throughout scripture, we have examples where God treats different sins with different degrees of punishment. Logically, we can see when a sin dealt with distinctly. For example, take a toddler stealing a cookie from the cookie jar, then lying to his mom about it. Trying to escape punishment, the disobedient child tells his mother a falsehood. In this kind of instance, it’s wrong to lie for a number of reasons. Now suppose Corrie Ten Boom, who is hiding Jews behind her wall, is asked by a Nazi if there are Jews in the house. It would be an abomination to God for her to allow the German to spill the innocent blood of the Jews. So she lies. When Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, the whole world was thrown in depravity. As Christians, we have been saved by grace through Christ’s justifying work on the cross. The word justified means just as if we hadn’t sinned and just as if we obeyed perfectly. Does this mean we can sin all we want now? Absolutely not! Paul speaks of this in Romans 6:15, where he asks, “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” We are new creatures in Christ. Basically, lying is a sin, but there are lesser and greater sins, and we must be careful that our morality doesn’t succumb to our sin.