One of two categories.

[Running Gator]

20 minutes ago, shiloh357 said:

Rahab was not a Christian and didn't' have the knowledge we have today.   So, it is not really a fair question to put a Christian.   We could never be in her position because her "position" includes the fact that she was a Canaanite, a pagan, a prostitute, and someone with barely any knowledge of the true God. 

Armed with what we know about God today, we strive to have a faith that obeys God, something Rahab couldn't do at the time. God used her in spite of her character flaw.   God didn't use her lie for His purposes because God is never party to sin. God didn't need Rahab to save the lives of those spies.   He didn't need to her in order to conceal them from the men searching for them.   Of course, she didn't know God and did not yet have that level of faith.   So the outcome is really in God's hands.   If God could part the Red Sea and rain down manna and perform all of the wonders recorded in Scripture, then God was more than able to save His faithful spies without Rahab's lie.  

Rahab was just starting to have faith in God.  Even Christians far more mature than Rahab still struggle with sin and their own personal character flaws as they strive to serve God and be obedient to Him.   Her flaws didn't diminish the faith that she had at the time.  And so it is possible to dismiss her life for the sin that it was and at the same time honor her for faith and hospitality that she demonstrated. 

The Scriptures never justify doing the wrong thing for the right reasons.  The ends never justify the means.

Rahab is not the only example we are given by God of this sort of thing.

The mid-wives lied about killing the male babies, the Jewish people mislead(lied) when they asked to “borrow” gold and riches from their Egyptian neighbors, Elisha lied when he told the soldiers struck blind by God that “this is not the road and this is not the city”...

 

[Running Gator]

1 hour ago, enoob57 said:

I don't understand why you are letting externals in this world that is passing away sway you from letting God's Word form you into Christ likeness...
A better question for you is would Jesus lie?

When the walk of God is placed in a comparative to the world we are in this
1 Corinthians 4:10 (KJV)
[10] We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.
[11] Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace;
[12] And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:
[13] Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.
[14] I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you.
[15] For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.
[16] Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.

1 Corinthians 11:1 (KJV)
[1] Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

Why do we appear this way (above)because we are following Jesus... If we let the persuasion of this present world guide our walk with God we shall miss the mark! The Christ warned us what our lives would be like here (if we follow after Him)
John 15:8 (KJV)
[8] Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
[9] As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
[10] If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
[11] These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
[12] This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
[13] Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
and we and those around us shall suffer for it
John 16:33 (KJV)
[33] These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
The goal is to be like Christ (no sin) and any philosophy that comes against this reality is earthy and not of God!

 

I am a practical person, not a deep thinking philosopher, I try to live in the reality of the situation. 

In the Bible God himself directed Gideon to use deception to overcome an enemy.   How could it be wrong for me to do so to save the lives of innocents?

[enoob57]

there was no deception... God instigated tactics to overwhelm the enemy. 

10 hours ago, Running Gator said:

I am a practical person, not a deep thinking philosopher, I try to live in the reality of the situation. 

In the Bible God himself directed Gideon to use deception to overcome an enemy.   How could it be wrong for me to do so to save the lives of innocents?

What I have is not a philosophy of human origin but a Biblically formed mind by intense study in obedience to 2Tim 2:15... if a man will humble himself to the emptiness of all he began in and replace with Scripture … he will in fact join with God in reason and an excellent s/Spirit will ensue...

[Running Gator]

13 minutes ago, enoob57 said:

there was no deception... God instigated tactics to overwhelm the enemy. 

What I have is not a philosophy of human origin but a Biblically formed mind by intense study in obedience to 2Tim 2:15... if a man will humble himself to the emptiness of all he began in and replace with Scripture … he will in fact join with God in reason and an excellent s/Spirit will ensue...

Most tactics that overwhelm an enemy involve deception, especially when the enemy has superior numbers.

[Guest shiloh357]

11 hours ago, Running Gator said:

The mid-wives lied about killing the male babies, 

The Bible doesn't sanctify their lies, either.

Quote

the Jewish people mislead(lied) when they asked to “borrow” gold and riches from their Egyptian neighbors,

The word for "borrow" in Hebrew refers to asking for recompense, or back wages.   It doesn't mean what "borrow" means in our modern verbiage.

Quote

Elisha lied when he told the soldiers struck blind by God that “this is not the road and this is not the city”...

So what?   Do you see a "go and do thou likewise"  anywhere in there?  The Bible simply tells you what happened.  It is not sanctifying every single thing that was done.  It is not making a doctrine out of what happened.