Why would God kill someone for lying?

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Question: I was reading a story in the Bible in ACTS where a couple lies about how much they sold their field (or house) when they are making their contribution to the disciples. Paul knows they have lied about it and confronts the husband, Ananias, and he continues to lie and then dies right there. Paul says that God punished him for this. And then the wife comes in and the same happens to her.

What I don't get is why would God kill somebody for lying? It just does not make sense to me. Maybe I am missing something, but if this is true, I don't know if I want to worship a God who treats people in this way.

Answer: It isn't fair to judge God by one incident in the Bible, especially before knowing more about the nature of God, and WHY He did what He did.

In reading the Bible in its entirety, we see the overall picture of God, and what He is really like. You cannot understand much about Him by just reading a brief passage. It is easy then to judge "out of context."

In Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Jesus explains and demonstrates what God is really like. He spent a life of doing good, healing the sick, delivering people from the bondage of their sin, mending broken hearts, helping people who were down, and lifting them out of their misery. When Philip asked Jesus, "Show us the Father, Jesus answered, "He that has seen Me, has seen the Father." Thus the Son of God came to earth to show humanity that He loved them.

But Jesus also showed that God is holy, and that He hates sin. After all, it is sin that has caused all the misery that we see in the world. If it had not been for the sinfulness of the human race, there would have been no need for Jesus to come here, and to die on the cross for our sins, and to deliver us from our sinfulness.

By His very nature, God, as the Ruler and Judge of the universe, MUST punish people for their sin, which is willful disobedience to His laws. Even in our human society we have laws and judges who deal out punishment. If there were no laws or law enforcement, look what chaos there would be. God, however, knows each person completely and can judge more fairly than any human judge.

Sin must be judged, whether in this world or on the future day of judgment. All must stand before God at that day and give an account of what evil they have done (Hebrews 9:27).

The love of God is demonstrated in that He sent His Only Begotten Son into this world to take the punishment that we deserve as sinners. If we accept what Jesus has done for us, our sins are judged now, and we are delivered from our well-deserved condemnation through the mercy of God. If we reject this sacrifice Jesus made for us, then our sins will follow us on the future day of judgment. That means an eternal separation from God, and an existence of misery.

Now, to come back to your question about the fairness of God. The overall picture of God that the Bible presents is that He is good, merciful, kind, long-suffering, and is love itself. It also shows Him as dealing severely with those who deliberately defy Him. God does not lose His temper, as we often do. All His actions are righteous. What He does, He does for good reasons.

There are at least two incidents in the Old Testament that come to mind, when god took the lives of offenders on the spot. One incident was when two young priests offered strange fire on the altar of God (Leviticus 10:1-2), and the incident of the rebellion of Korah and others (Numbers 16). Both of these incidents reflect a brazen, willful defiance of God. God had to make an example of them before the Jewish community, lest others should be emboldened to sin against God.

In the case of Ananias and Sapphira, we see two people, husband and wife, living in an atmosphere where God was working in a mighty way. Their sin was not merely lying, though that was bad enough. Their sin was that they coveted praise that they did not deserve, and that their work was altogether hypocritical. The church was at this time in its infant stage, and God was working mightily. Deliberate sin against light could not be overlooked at this time. God wanted to teach the Church from the start that Christians are to live holy lives, because He had given them the Holy spirit to dwell in them individually, and to be in their midst collectively.

The result of this seemingly harsh dealing with this hypocritical action was that great fear fell upon the people, and that the revival spirit continued among them. It is also to be applied to us now living, that God is not to be trifled with. He will have mercy on the humble and contrite, but He resists the proud and arrogant.

I would ask the writer, have you accepted God's offer of love and mercy? Jesus died in your place for your sins, if you will receive Him. The consequence of rejecting God's offer of pardon is that you must then be judged for your sins on the day of judgment.

I hope this clarifies this matter. Remember, God is love, but if His love is spurned, then God must deal with the sin in judgment.

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