In the book I’m currently working on (Thinking Critically about the Resurrection of Jesus: The Resuscitation of the Swoon Theory) I examine several objections to the Swoon Theory (roughly the skeptical view that Jesus was crucified but survived his crucifixion and that this led to the belief that God raised Jesus from the dead). One of those objections is Objection #11 “Deceptive Jesus”. According to this objection presented by the Christian apologist William Craig, the Swoon Theory implies that Jesus was a deceiver and a charlatan. A key premise of this argument is this:

Jesus was a deeply religious person.

This premise is used to argue against the idea that Jesus was a deceiver or charlatan. Contrary to the thinking involved in Objection #11, I argue (in Chapter 6 of my book) that even deeply religious persons can be deceivers.

In this post, I will consider one likely response to my critique of Objection #11.

DOESN’T THE BIBLE TEACH THAT DISHONESTY AND DECEPTION ARE WRONG?

It might be objected that, at least for Christians and Jews, their scriptures teach that it is wrong to lie and to deceive others.  Both Christians and Jews embrace the Ten Commandments as being basic rules of morality commanded by God, and one of those rules prohibits lying.  So, highly religious Christians and Jews believe that God commands them to be consistently honest and truthful.  It is reasonable to expect this belief of highly religious Christians and Jews to have a significant influence on their behavior.

However, even if highly religious Christians and Jews are more likely than moderately religious or non-religious people to be consistently honest and truthful, the facts show that there is a significant portion of highly religious Christians who are frequently dishonest or deceptive. 

Furthermore, it is far from clear that the Bible teaches that God commands people to be consistently honest and truthful.  Here are three reasons that go against this view:

• The Ten Commandments do NOT prohibit all lying or all deception, any more than they prohibit all killing.
• Paradigm figures of religion are sometimes dishonest or deceptive, according to the Bible.
• God himself is sometimes dishonest or deceptive, according to the Bible.

If these points are correct, then it is DUBIOUS that the Bible teaches that God commands people to be consistently honest and truthful, and it is DUBIOUS that Christians and Jews generally believe that God has commanded that they be consistently honest and truthful.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS DO NOT PROHIBIT ALL LYING

First of all, the Ten Commandments do not state that “Thou shalt not ever lie to or deceive another person.”  Here is what the relevant commandment actually says: 

¹⁶ “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 

(Exodus 20:16, NRSV Updated Edition)

²⁰ “ ‘Neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbor. 

(Deuteronomy 5:20, NRSV Updated Edition)

This commandment prohibits Israelites from giving false testimony against a fellow Israelite who has been accused of wrongdoing or a violation of the law.  This is to ensure that convictions and punishments for wrongdoing or crimes are not based on lies and exaggerations told by someone out of anger or spite.  In a modern context, the command means one should be truthful and honest when testifying in court trial (either criminal or civil).  Being truthful and honest in that specific context does NOT mean that one must be consistently truthful and honest in all contexts.

The view that the Ten Commandments prohibit all lying and deception is similar to the clearly mistaken view that the Ten Commandments prohibit any and all killing.  The Ten Commandments do not state that “Thou shalt not ever kill any person or creature.”  Here is what the relevant commandment actually says:

¹³ “You shall not murder.

(Exodus 20:13, NRSV Updated Edition)

 ¹⁷ “ ‘You shall not murder.

(Deuteronomy 5:17, NRSV Updated Edition)

The context clearly indicates that it is NOT wrong to kill non-human animals, because God commanded the Israelites to kill and sacrifice various animals as part of their worship of God (Exodus 20:23-25, Deuteronomy 18:1-5). 

The context also clearly indicates that is not always wrong to kill humans, since God had commanded the Israelites not only to wage war against certain tribes, but to kill every man, woman, and child among a number of tribes who lived in Palestine (Deuteronomy chapters 2, 3, and 7). 

Also, God assigned the death penalty as the punishment for violations of many of the laws of Moses (Exodus 21:12-29, Deuteronomy 17:5-7, 21:20-22, and 22:21-24).  There are many exceptions where killing a human being was allowed by God and even commanded by God.  It is clearly an oversimplification to say that the Ten Commandments prohibit any and all killing.  Similarly, it is clearly an oversimplification to say that the Ten Commandments prohibit any and all dishonesty or deception.

PARADIGMS OF FAITH & RELIGION ENGAGED IN DISHONESTY AND DECEPTION

Paradigm figures of religious faith and piety have engaged in dishonesty and deception, according to the Bible.  Whether the stories about these figures in the Bible are historically true and accurate or not, the fact that Christians and Jews read and cherish these stories and view these paradigm figures of religious faith and piety with admiration implies that Christians and Jews believe that engaging in dishonesty and deception does NOT show a person to be less than deeply religious.   In other words, Christians and Jews in general, acknowledge that deeply religious people can be dishonest and deceptive.

Abraham is a paradigm figure of religious faith to both Christians and Jews, but Abraham engaged in dishonesty and deception, according to the Bible.  Abraham lied about his wife Sarah being his sister on two different occasions because he was afraid of being killed if others found out that Sarah was actually his wife (see Genesis 12:10-13 and 20:1-2).

Moses was the greatest prophet of Israel according to Jews, and  Christians believe that Moses was the greatest prophet until Jesus came along.  But Moses sometimes engaged in dishonesty and deception, according to the Bible.  Moses went to the king of Egypt to request that the Israelites be allowed to leave Egypt and go into the wilderness for a three-day journey so that they could worship their God without interference from Egyptians.  Moses said nothing about the Israelites continuing to travel into the wilderness and never returning to Egypt, but that was the whole point of the Israelites heading into the wilderness, to escape from slavery in Egypt.  Moses was dishonest and deceptive to the king of Egypt to make an opportunity for the Israelites to leave Egypt, and their slavery to the Egyptians, for good (see Exodus 8:25-29).

King David is also revered as a man of great religious faith and piety by both Jews and Christians and yet David was sometimes dishonest and deceptive, according to the Bible.  David pressed his friend Nathan to lie to King Saul about where David was going and what David was doing, to see what Saul’s reaction would be, to determine whether Saul still wanted to kill David (see 1 Samuel 20:1-7). 

When David was on the run from Saul and needed food and weapons, he asked Ahimelek, the head priest at Nob (a colony of priests and their families) for food, and persuaded Ahimelek to give him food by making up a false story about how king Saul had sent David and some other men on a secret mission.  David also lied to Ahimelek to obtain a weapon (see 1 Samuel 21:1-9).  David also fled to Gath to avoid being harmed or killed by Saul, but David was afraid of King Achish (of Gath), so David deceived Achish by pretending to be insane and thus was able to avoid being killed or harmed by Achish (see 1 Samuel 21:10-15).

According to the Bible, three great paradigm figures of religious faith and piety sometimes engaged in dishonesty and deception: Abraham, Moses, and King David. Thus, Christians and Jews believe that a person who is deeply religious can also engage in dishonesty and deception.

GOD SOMETIMES ENGAGES IN DISHONESTY AND DECEPTION

Finally, God himself engages in dishonesty and deception, according to the Bible.  Surely, if God himself sometimes engages in dishonesty and deception, then how could a Christian or Jew believe that no deeply religious person would ever engage in dishonesty or deception? 

God lied to Adam and Eve about the Garden of Eden, according to the Bible.  God told them that if they ate the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge that they would die that day (Genesis 2:17).  But they ate the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge and yet they did NOT die that day.  Adam lived to be 930 years old, according to the Bible (Genesis 5:5).  So, in the very first communication from God to humans, God lied to the humans, according to the Bible.

God wanted to motivate King Ahab to go to war with the king of Aram, so that King Ahab would be defeated and killed in that war.  In order to motivate King Ahab, God sent a “lying spirit” to the prophets of King Ahab to tell him that he should go to war with the king of Aram and that he would be successful in that war.  Thus, according to the Bible, God intentionally had King Ahab deceived, in order to get King Ahab to go to war with the king of Aram (see 1 Kings 22:19-23).

God spoke through the prophet Ezekiel and warned the Israelites that those who persisted in worshipping idols would be deceived by false prophets because God himself would deceive those false prophets.  In other words, God would deceive idol-worshiping Israelites by means of deceiving false prophets (see Ezekiel 14:6-11).

According to Jesus, God prevented some people from understanding important teachings of Jesus, so that those people would not be enlightened and thus would face eternal damnation:

¹⁰ When he [Jesus] was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables. ¹¹ And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything comes in parables, ¹² in order that

‘they may indeed look but not perceive,
    and may indeed hear but not understand;
so that they may not turn again and be forgiven.’ ”

(Mark 4:10-12, NRSV Updated Edition)

According to Jesus, it was God’s plan to HIDE important truths from some people, to prevent those people from obtaining eternal salvation.

The apostle Paul, who wrote much of the New Testament, also implied that God would be dishonest and deceptive towards certain people:

⁹ The coming of the lawless one is apparent in the working of Satan, who uses all power, signs, lying wonders, ¹⁰ and every kind of wicked deception for those who are perishing because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. ¹¹ For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion, leading them to believe what is false, ¹² so that all who have not believed the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness will be condemned.

(2 Thessalonians 2:9-12, NRSV Updated Edition, emphasis added)

According to the New Testament, God is planning to send “a powerful delusion” to people who have not believed the truth (of the Gospel), in order that those people would be condemned to eternal punishment.

Both the Old Testament and the New Testament of the Bible agree that God sometimes engages in dishonesty and deception.  Therefore, no reasonable  Christian or Jew who is familiar with their scriptures can maintain that deeply religious persons never engage in dishonesty or deception.

Therefore, this attempt to rescue Objection #11 does not work, and we may confidently conclude that Objection #11 (Deceptive Jesus) by William Craig against the Swoon Theory FAILS.