A new definition of 'teamwork'--cheating

The subject was ethics, the students were pastors, and the classroom was in Uganda.

I asked the students, “Are you a liar, a cheater, a thief?” After defining terms, we discussed numerous biblical instances of dishonesty, from Jacob’s numerous manipulations to Rebekah’s craftiness and Judas’ hypocritical sympathy for the poor. The discussion was lively and all agreed the behavior we deliberated was sinful.

Then things got personal. Cheating at the seminary was relatively common. In Uganda, sharing everything in a village is common practice, so the idea of sharing an answer on an exam was easily accepted. Eyes freely roamed during exams. They’d never thought of an exam as a singularly personal exercise and not a communal activity.

I asked the very pointed question, “When you take an exam, and you glance at a neighbor’s paper to get an answer, what are you doing?” I expected the answer, “Sinning.”

The room became very quiet. I could tell the students were thinking, the point was being made, but no one wanted to say their behavior was sinful. Finally, one very confident, mature pastor raised his hand and said, “Professor Newton, in Uganda, when we look at another student’s paper during an exam, we call that teamwork.”

Everyone laughed out loud, including this professor, breaking the tension in the room.

The discussion that followed clearly challenged each pastor to examine the cultural norm he had come to accept as OK. Placing your neighbor’s answer on your test was all three: lying about what you really knew, cheating by averting the proper process of the test, and stealing the learned answer of a fellow student. It was sin.

Most of us have been guilty of these sins at one point or another. We too have cultural rationalizations. Pastors are not immune, and our excuses are legion. We preach someone else’s sermon or use a poignant quote and fail to give credit to the author. We copy a CD or DVD unlawfully and justify it because it is non-profit Kingdom work. Surely God would approve. Or better still, go to a conference and listen to pastors answer the question, “How many people are in your church?” The answers would convince you that pastors know neither math nor how to count.

This is not a new problem. God instructs Jeremiah to, “Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem … search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city” (Jeremiah 5:1, NIV). Most Jews did not consider themselves dishonest, but God did. They had learned to rationalize their sinful behavior with contemporary cultural norms. We share the same frailty and are equally blind.

That means we should think carefully, pray sincerely, and ask God to search us, test us, and see if there is any rationalized lying, cheating, or stealing in us. It’s dangerous to play around with even small, subtle sins.