As the dad of two teens, I love learning to play the games my kids and their peers are playing. It’s a way for me to stay connected with Joelle and Koen while also taking out a bit of pent-up frustration on my opponents in Fortnite and Madden ‘24. Recently, however, I’ve noticed a troubling trend: many of today’s most popular games seem to reward the art of lying.
One game called Among Us gained popularity in recent years, and in order to win, you have to be able to convince the other players that you’re telling the truth when you’re not. The better you are at lying, the more you win. The same goes for other sought-after games like Mafia, Werewolf, and Kindergarten. Even much older games reward lying – or bluffing, at least – like poker, Axis vs. Allies, and my personal favorite, Clue.
Why do so many of the games people play reward the art of deception? Perhaps it’s because that’s our perception of how real life works. All too often in this fallen world, the better someone becomes at lying, the farther ahead they get. Learn to convince yourself and others that something is true when it’s not, and you’ll be more likely to succeed academically, professionally, and socially.
Or so it seems. As Christians, we know that lies can only get you so far. Deep down, we know the idea that liars win in the end is itself a lie because, sooner or later, the lies people tell will chase them down.
Nevertheless, the world we’re in, and the people living in it, seem to be getting more adept at deception with each passing day. We can’t even trust the news because, anytime a story breaks in our society, the competing networks report the same event through the lens of their own deceptive bias.
And where truth and deception are concerned, the news media may be the least of our worries. Artificial Intelligence, with its capacity for deepfakes and intentional misinformation, holds the power to persuade more people than ever to believe the lies that feel true.
For these reasons and more, following Jesus faithfully in the 21st Century will require believers to grow in maturity and discernment. If we’re going to represent Christ well in our day and age, we must learn to distinguish between God’s simple Truth and the world’s convoluted lies.
Three thousand years ago, the fortified city of Troy was the home of the mighty Trojans, who were at war with the armies of Greece. For ten long years, the Greek forces attempted to conquer the city, and they failed miserably. Finally, after exhausting all their resources, they waved the white flag and surrendered to the Trojans. As a symbol of their defeat, the Greeks offered a gift to the people of Troy. It was a massive, wooden horse –
This gift made sense under the circumstances because the Trojans were known for their love of horses. They left the horse at the city gate, and then the Greek armies retreated beyond the horizon in defeat.
The Trojan people were so ecstatic that they immediately started celebrating, and the city leaders sent soldiers out to fetch the horse, which was on wheels, rolling it into the city square.
When they opened the gate, the entire Greek army, which had marched back to Troy under the cover of night, marched triumphantly into the city. Before anyone in Troy knew what was happening, their city was fully occupied by their enemy. All the men and boys were slaughtered, while the women and girls were taken as slaves.
This is what’s known as the Trojan Horse phenomenon today. It’s when something that seems good – like a gift of surrender – is actually just a vessel used to smuggle in something that has the power to destroy an entire civilization of unsuspecting people who let their guard down.
It’s precisely what can happen to us when we fail to see the difference between God’s Truth and the world’s persuasive lies. On several occasions, the Apostle Paul refers to these persuasive lies as “fine-sounding arguments,” such as in this passage from Colossians:
My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is. – Colossians 2:2-5
“Fine-sounding arguments” are the ideas that sound fine at first – beliefs that feel and seem true at first – but upon closer examination, it’s clear they’re just lies in disguise. Some of today’s most common fine-sounding arguments might be:
- “Do whatever makes you happy!”
- “You deserve to be happy!”
- “Follow your heart!”
These sound like good ideas, right? Following your heart seems like a great goal, until you spend a few years following your heart and you see for yourself all the dark places that your heart wants to lead you. Gluttony. Greed. Lust. Pride. And especially selfishness. No matter who you are, if you spend your life following your heart, you’ll end up living for yourself. And Christians have a word for the self-centered life: it’s called Hell.
Thousands of years ago, the prophet Jeremiah warned God’s people: The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
Fine-sounding arguments like “follow your heart” feel true, but in the end, one way or another, they will be exposed as the false Trojan Horses that they really are.
Consider this yard sign that one of my neighbors has in his front yard:
But when discerning people began to look deeper at the roots of the BLM movement and organization, they discovered that many of the founders of the BLM organization were self-avowed Marxists and secular atheists who sought to disrupt and dismantle many of the things that God loves, including marriage, the nuclear family, and traditional sexual ethics. So while the statement “black lives matter” is true and important, many of the ideals propagated by the BLM movement are sinister.
Are women’s rights human rights? Yes, of course. Women are made in God’s image and deserve equal rights. But when you make this proclamation in this way in our culture, what else are you unwittingly agreeing to? Typically, it’s the assumption that “women’s rights” include the right to take the lives of unborn babies at will – and not just in extreme instances when the mother’s life is at risk – but in any circumstance whatsoever. The statement is technically true, but it often smuggles in a sinister lie.
The same is true for the rest of these. No human is illegal, right? Technically, yes. Migrants and refugees are human beings, made in God’s image, worthy of dignity and respect. But many of the people who put this mantra forth are also calling for open borders where anyone and everyone can come through, unchecked, with no rule of law whatsoever. But we serve a God who loves order and implements boundaries for our good, and we know it’s impossible to have a functioning society with no borders and no accountability.
Is science real? Of course. But the people who push this mantra tend to believe that faith in God is anathema to a scientific worldview. We believe that it was God who made the world in such a way that science is possible in the first place. God is the reason that science is real!
Is love, love? Well, yes, logically speaking. But is all love equal? Is all love good? I love donuts, but are they good for me? You can imagine all the ways that “Love is love” can be used to smuggle in all sorts of deception.
Is kindness everything? Well, no. Of course it’s good to be kind most of the time, but what about when you happen to stumble across someone who is doing something awful to someone else – especially to someone who can’t defend themselves? Should you just be kind and move on? No – there’s a time to be kind, and there’s a time to aggressively defend those who can’t defend themselves!
As Christians, we always have to be on our guard against the lies this world will spin. Our enemy Satan is the father of lies, and he hides most of his lies behind ideas that seem good and feel right – just like the Greeks did with their infamous Trojan Horse.
Don’t be deceived, brothers and sisters. Now more than ever, hold on to Jesus and to his word. Cling to the Truth as though your life depends on it. Because it does.
