When is a fabrication a lie?

Thursday, August 31, 2017

As a child I learned about the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and Santa Claus. As an parent I taught my children about them. And as a grandparent I have done the same. Did I get scarred for life because I believed in these folktales? No. Are my children secure in their adulthood because I advanced the myths? No. Somehow it is all a part of our culture to incorporate these characters into our children's growing up. 

And what about little practical jokes? Are they harmless or somehow sinister?

I'm pretty sure if I saw this picture of a shark in Houston on Twitter, I'd know pretty quickly that it wasn't real. But even if I fell for it, what harm is there in it?

Where, really, do we draw the line? When does it stop being funny and start being wrong?

Take, for instance, this picture that was posted on social media purportedly of a Houston airport -- complete with airplanes totally covered with water. 

This is actually a mock-up of LaGuardia Airport in New York City as it might look after a flood due to climate change. It was first published in 2013. Might this cause needless panic or anxiety for those in the throws of Harvey's devastation?

Or take this clip from a news agency which claims to show protesters in Houston. 

It is really a photo of protesters in Atlanta in 2016 with false headlines. That is just despicable. 

But in my Internet search yesterday, this one was my favorite non-truth. It claims to show President Obama serving food to the people of Houston affected by Harvey and speaks disparagingly of President Trump.

Notice the long sleeves in the picture. That's because it was taken at Thanksgiving in Washington, D.C. (in 2015). I don't get it. Why would anyone try to disguise this very warm gesture by our former president as happening in a different place and time? And at the expense of our sitting president? Why?

Where do we draw the line?

Is there a line to be drawn?

Have we drifted so far away from absolutes in our country that we can't even see right and wrong anymore?

Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” ‭‭John‬ ‭14:6‬ ‭NIV

We can only find absolute truth in the Word (Jesus) and in the Word (the Bible).

You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.  ‭‭
Exodus‬ ‭20:16‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices.
Colossians‬ ‭3:9‬ ‭NIV‬

Followers of Christ must stand firmly on truth and protect it at all costs. We must expose the lies and the liars for what and whom they are. 

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.  ‭‭
John‬ ‭8:44‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Satan is a liar and the father of lies -- there is no truth in him. 

Jesus, on the other hand, is truth. (See John 14:6 above.) He is incapable of lying. 

"But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.... But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."

‭Joshua‬ ‭24:15‬ ‭NIV‬