Lies the World Tells
by Sarah Jimenez
You can probably think of some lies the world tells, things you might hear around you – maybe from TV, from other people, as you go about your daily business. These are ideas like there is no right or wrong. It is almost as if these lies are in the air! These ideas are not true, but a lot of people assume they’re true. And the more we hear them, the more people believe them. Lies told often enough sometimes gain the force of truth. First let’s remind ourselves where lies come from. The Bible says that the Devil is “the father of lies,” meaning that lies ultimately come from him. So they are dangerous, and we need to be aware of them.
Lie #1 There is no truth.
There is just “your truth” and “my truth” and they’re both equally good.
False! This is a dangerous lie that leads to more lies. Of course, there is “the truth”! In the Bible God is called “the God of truth.” He is the Creator of all things, and He gets to decide what is true and what is false! He created what we call the laws of nature, really the laws of creation. Even if “my truth” is if I drop this pen it is going to go up, not down, it is still going to go down. It is the truth! God says that in order to be saved, we must not only know the truth, but love the truth! See 2 Thess. 2:10; 2 John 1-4 – how many times is “truth” mentioned here?!
Half-truth #2. “Do not judge.”
This is used to mean “What anyone chooses to be and do is fine. There’s no right or wrong.”
Of course, half-truths are the most dangerous lies, because they are very believable. In fact, this half-truth “Do not judge” comes from Scripture – it is half a verse. But don’t forget that even the Devil can quote Scripture. He quoted quite a lot of Scripture when he tried to tempt Jesus in the wilderness! Let’s look at this verse and other verses:
Matthew 7:1: Jesus said, “Do not judge so that you will not be judged.”
John 7:24: Jesus said, “Do not judge according to appearances. Judge with right judgment.”
So how can we understand these 2 verses? In the first one Jesus tells us not to judge. In the second one he tells us to judge with right judgment. The first one must mean “Do not condemn” or decide someone’s ultimate end. Do not judge unfairly. But we are to judge rightly. We need to judge or decide between what is right and wrong, because there definitely is right and wrong! We have to discern!
As it says in Romans 12:2:
“Do not be conformed to this present age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern [decide] what God wants — what is good and pleasing and perfect.”
Hebrews 5:14: We “are trained by practice to discern good and evil.”
There’s that word “discern” again. As you grow, you are training to discern or decide between what is good and what is evil. It’s like playing piano or football – the more you train and practice, the better you get at it!
Lie #3: There are more than two genders.
False! This should be a simple one. In Genesis it says that God created people “male and female.” Two genders – no more!
Listen to Jesus:
“Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator made them male and female?”
I would like to ask the world: “Have you not read?” And if they haven’t read, have they not seen? Look around at the natural world, or I should say the world of creation. There are 2 genders – male and female. You are what you are – either one or the other.
Lie #4: The world is getting better and better!
This is maybe another half-truth. You could say some things are getting better – technology is improving (although what some people use technology for is more and more evil). Or perhaps people are living longer – at least in some countries. But overall the Bible says the world is going to get worse before it gets better – that is, before Jesus comes back to fix it!
2 Timothy 3:13 “Evil people and charlatans will get worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
Notice that it’s evil to be deceived! So, the world is getting worse, not getting better. But I don’t want to end with bad news.
Philippians 2:15: “Be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in the midst of a crooked and perverted society, in which you shine like stars in the world.”
So even though the world is getting worse, we are not supposed to be like them. We are supposed to shine even now like stars in the world. And you’ve heard the saying, “It’s always darkest before the dawn.” The Kingdom of God will be the ultimate dawn, when things will really get better!
