Andy Griffith
I’ve previously shared my admiration for the old “Andy Griffith Show” and have written a few devotions incorporating plot concepts from it. If you enjoy watching old episodes on TV Land, you may wish to skip this devotion.
I like the show because Andy Griffith required each episode to end on a positive note and, in general, be uplifting. The characters didn’t curse and generally were positive toward each other in a way I miss. The characters expressed happiness with the simplest of meals. (Andy Griffith’s character, Andy Taylor, would say, “Mmm, mmm” when told he was getting a tuna salad sandwich.)
The epiphany I recently had was that Andy Taylor spent almost every episode bending the truth, misleading, or, in general, tricking others to get to that positive point at the end of the show. For example, the episode I’m watching now (S4E5, “Briscoe Declares for Aunt Bee”) is centered on Briscoe Darling deciding to marry Aunt Bee after he is invited to Andy’s house, and she makes them a meal. The character, Briscoe, is a mountain man who rarely visits the city. In this episode, he takes Aunt Bee to his cabin, and Andy must rescue her.
Briscoe, misunderstanding that he “kidnapped” Aunt Bee, defiantly declares they are getting married. Andy has to decide whether to try to talk his way out of the situation or forcefully rescue Aunt Bee.
He comes up with a plan to talk Aunt Bee into accepting the marriage proposal, then make the Briscoe family clean the cabin, take baths, and use “city manners” at the table, or get swatted with a spoon. Briscoe eventually calls the wedding off, realizing he would have to change his ways if he married Aunt Bee. The scam of conspiring with Aunt Bee to require Briscoe to make significant changes in order to get him to abandon his plan is repeated in similar ways in almost every episode of the series.
“And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab the king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’ Now therefore behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these your prophets. The Lord has declared disaster concerning you.” - 2 Chronicles 18:18-22 ESV
“I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less? But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit. Did I take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you? I urged Titus to go, and sent the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps? Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? It is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ, and all for your upbuilding, beloved. For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced.” - 2 Corinthians 12:15-21
In my assessment, tricking others is wrong.
“Whoever hates disguises himself with his lips and harbors deceit in his heart; when he speaks graciously, believe him not, for there are seven abominations in his heart; though his hatred be covered with deception, his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly. Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling. A lying tongue hates its victims, and a flattering mouth works ruin.” - Proverbs 26:24-28
As humans, we accept deception when the outcome is good, such as is displayed on the “Andy Griffin Show.” We abhor deception when the outcome isn’t good, such as cheating and stealing from one another. As sinful humans, we are horrible at deciding between the two.
The end does not justify the means.
