Articles
Can You Spot the Lie?
It is one thing to say that we need to be alert to falsehood; it is another to actually do it. Lies don’t openly declare themselves; they slither through the grass, hide in rotten tree stumps, lurk in the shadows, camouflage themselves as reasonable observations about life, religion and morality. Can you spot the lies in the following passages from Bible sources? (Answers at the end … no peeking.)
1. T/F – “If you were pure and upright, surely now He would awake for you, and prosper your rightful habitation.”
2. T/F – “An angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’”
3. T/F – “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, surely, as soon as you depart from me, a lion shall kill you.”
4. T/F – “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil.”
5. T/F – “‘I will let them remain in their own land,’ says the Lord, ‘and they shall till it and dwell in it.’”
6. T/F – “And you have also appointed prophets to proclaim concerning you at Jerusalem … ‘There is a king in Judah!’”
7. T/F – “I have peace offerings with me; today I have paid my vows. So I came out to meet you, diligently to seek your face, and I have found you.”
8. T/F – “This crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”
9. T/F – “Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel …”
10. T/F – “‘How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?’ And he said, ‘Because the Lord your God brought it to me.’”
11. T/F – “Go, say to him, ‘You shall certainly recover.’ However, the Lord has shown me that he will really die.”
12. T/F – “Then let the Lord be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not do according to everything which the Lord your God sends us by you.”
13. T/F – “But on this condition we will consent to you: If you will become as we are, if every male of you is circumcised, then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to us; and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people.”
14. T/F – “For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish.”
15. T/F – “Nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few.”
16. T/F – “May the good Lord provide atonement for everyone who prepares his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he is not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary.”
17. T/F – “All is well, My master has sent me, saying, ‘Indeed, just now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the mountains of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of garments.”
18, T/F – “Call to me all the prophets of Baal … and all his priests. Let no one be missing, for I have a great sacrifice to make to Baal.”
19. T/F – “Yet a man has risen to pursue you and seek your life, but the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God; and the lives of your enemies He shall sling out, as from the pocket of a sling.”
20. T/F – “‘Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; do not fear.’ And when he had turned aside with her into the tent, she covered him with a blanket.”
21. T/F – “And it happened as the gate was being shut, when it was dark, that the men went out. Where the men went I do not know; pursue them quickly, for you may overtake them.”
22:T/F – “Therefore I urge you to take nourishment, for this is for your survival, since not a hair will fall from the head of any of you.”
23. T/F – “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”
[Note: Someone may respond to this little exercise: “You gave us these verses without any context.” True, and that is the point. In order to separate truth from error we need context: Who said it? Are they trustworthy? What were the circumstances? Some believed lies that sounded plausible and died for it. Others heard truth but rejected it because it didn’t resonate with their worldview. Discerning truth and falsehood is not an easy task, but it is one our spiritual welfare depends on.]
1) F – Bildad condemns Job, 8:6; 2) F – The lying old prophet, 1 Kgs 13: 18; 3) T – 1 Kgs 20:36; 4) T – Jer 13:23; 5) T – Jer 27:11; 6) F –Nehemiah’s enemies , Neh 6:7; 7) F – Words of a harlot, Pr 7:14-15; 8) F – Sanhedrin, Jn 7:49; 9) T – 2 Kgs 7:1; 10) F – Jacob,– Gn 27:20; 11) T – 2 Kgs 8:10; 12) F – Jer 42:5; 13) F – Sons of Jacob, Gn 34:15-16; 14) T – Esth 4:14; 15) T – 1 Sam 14:6; 16) T – 2 Chr 30:18-19; 17) F – Gehazi, 2 Kgs 5:22; 18) F – Jehu, 2 Kgs 10:19; 19) T, Abigail, 1 Sam 25:29; 20) F – Jael, Jud 4:18; 21) F – Rahab, Jsh 2:5; 22) T – Ac 27:34; 23) T – Mk 16:16. |
