In Moral Philosophy we must often face moral dilemmas …situations where all the choices on the table have some negative aspect… yet you are forced to choose one option.
They are represented via the Thought experiments called… ‘ The trolley problems‘.

The Pharoh and the Midwives.

Being forced to choose the lesser of two evils is never a pleasant experience for an Idealist.
Though done for the right reasons, there is still a sense of compromise with evil.

Yet when I consider certain Moral dilemmas, which at times God allows us mere mortals to face, I am forced to admit that sometimes I would tell a lie rather than tell the truth, esp to protect others from tyranny or other dire evils… Trusting in God’s understanding and Grace.
Up until today I had no literal scriptural vindication for this position, only a trust in God’s Goodness, and Grace.

Yet it is with gratitude to the face book page called ‘if libertarians are crazy, who wants to be sane?… that I can now say a very important scripture in Exodus (Ex1vs15-21) actually vindicates making such a choice, by describing a Historic event whereby some Midwives were forced to choose between obeying a Murderous decree from a tyrant…which they knew was a morally evil command/’Law’, or instead doing what they believed was right… and disobeying it, and covering their tracks with a lie.

15” And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah:
16 And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.
17 But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.
18 And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive?
19 And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them.
20 Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.
21 And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.”
(Exodus 1vs15-21)

This portion of scripture is pregnant with Libertarian Ideals!
It is exactly the sort of vindication for my conviction that If I was a Christian Libertarian living in the Netherlands during the 1940’s Nazi occupation, that I would have been fulfilling my Christian duty by Disobeying the Official/ Legal obligation to turn in all the Jews, and instead to help hide them from the Demon Swastka… like many brave Christian Netherlanders actually did during the war… for example those who helped hide … Anne Frank and her Family.
I believe those Good souls were Christians because after the War her Father Otto,who survived the death camps, and though being a Jew, set up a charity to help poor European Christian’s with the money he received from his murdered Daughters dairy… the best selling ‘Diary of Anne Frank’.

Anne Frank.

There can be no doubt that the Exodus story of the Egyptian Midwives, and the story of those whom hid Anne Frank, are perfectly matched, and that God blesses those brave enough to resist evil tyrannies for the sake of doing what is right, and He is prepared to forgive such things as telling lies under these curcumstances.

This does not make these lies ‘Good’. It only makes them ‘better’/ lesser evils than betraying innocent people to murderers, and because the world does throw such moral dilemma’s at us, and we sometimes have little or no time to think of perfect solutions, that God pours out his grace and mercy upon us… exactly as I hoped and trusted he would do… before I became aware of the Libertarian principles in this scripture.

The Apostle Peter before the Sanhedrin.

I have always believed as Peter said when he disobeyed the Authorities command to cease preaching the Name of Jesus… that there is a limit to the obedience the Christian owes to any Human power, Law, or command.

Act’s 4…
13 “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
14 And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.
15 But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves,
16 Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it.
17 But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.
18 And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
19 But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.
20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.
21 So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men glorified God for that which was done.”

And again in Act’s 5 vs 29

29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

There are plenty of verses throughout the Bible which demonstrate this principle, yet Peter did not tell any lie to the Authorities, and was prepared to suffer for his forthright profession.
And this is clearly a different moral circumstance to the one in Exodus or the one facing the Christians in the Netherlands… as these circumstances involved the safety others…
*Oppressed Jews* under Satanic Attack.
God actually promised Abraham that He would “Bless them which bless thee and curse them which curse thee” … the Jew having a special relationship with God.
And the situation of Anne Frank and her family relied on their helpers not being found out or arrested, so that they could continue to aid them, thus Subterfuge is essential.
In such circumstances I am glad to know that God is not an uncompromising Moral Tyrant, but will have mercy upon the Brave soul who makes such a difficult moral decision.
He is indeed Full of Grace, understanding, and mercy.
I would also think this sort of grace is applicable for the Stratagems of the Righteous Commander in the deception required in warfare to overcome the Armies of Evil…eg Operation Mince Meat.

Today has been a great day!
I love it when I learn New Libertarian insights are buried in the Scriptures!
We now have another arrow in our Bow to shoot at those followers of Satan who preach that the Christian cant be a Libertarian, and must slavishly obey all Government decrees no matter how wicked, or that in warfare he must disregard common sense and march straight into cannon fire without devising cunning ways to fool the enemies into error.

In this fallen world in which Moral dilemmas are a reality.
We see God’s grace is sufficient to sustain us when faced with difficult choices.

Tim Wikiriwhi
King James Bible Believer, Dispensationalist, Libertarian, Christian.