Acts2.XYZ: New Reality. Real Change.
Deception: What Is Its Source? (Part 2)
November 15, 2022
Deception, especially within a marriage, can tear it apart. While both parties can deceive the other and be deceived, we can't ignore the fact that Eve was the one deceived in the Garden and what the implications are. Perhaps we can look at the underlying source to help us manage deception of ourselves, of each other, and by the culture.
  1. What is Deception?
    1. Starts with fundamentally disagreeing with God's truth out of the gate.  This is different from wrestling and trying to understand.  It's a heart posture.
      1. Examples: I would have conversations with my wife, for example, about the Bible's different roles between man and woman, including this one about deception, and the response is something many of you may relate to: "It's not true."
      2. It can begin with just not wanting to believe it.  And never wrestling the truth such that the Truth wins.
    2. Make strawmen from extremes: It's not always true....(therefore it's not true).
    3. Assign ill-intent behind the truth
    4. We can see this dynamic in our own relationships, as well as with the Word of God.
  2. Where does it start?
    1. The heart is deceitful above all things,
          and desperately sick;
          who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
    2. Thus says the Lord:
      “Cursed is the man who trusts in man
          and makes flesh his strength,[a]
          whose heart turns away from the Lord. (Jeremiah 17:5)
    3. Who typically is moved by their heart more than by their head?
      1. Again, cautious of stereotyping and generalizations....there do exist purely rational women, and there do exist emotional, relational men...but we can dive deeper into whether Scripture has some guidance on this at a later time.
      2. But, if we look at the nature of deception, it's through the heart, in fact, it's the means by which life comes,  "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (Proverbs 4:23) -- a case can be made that the one who leads and brings forth life through their heart is woman.
    4. Now, let's go back to what deceives the heart back in the Garden:
      1. When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. (Genesis 3:6)
        1. Are these things primarily of a rational and reasoned nature, or emotional and of the flesh?
        2. "Good for food": survival and pleasure
        3. "Pleasing to the eye": vanity and pride
        4. "Desirable for gaining wisdom" -- emphasis on desire to gain
  3. What does this mean for a marriage?
    1. This doesn't mean woman are deceivers all the time (meta here, right, the common form of deception against a truth is to make it extreme, therefore it's not true)
    2. Man's role is NOT easy because he can be both deceived and must correct deception
    3. Woman's role is to respect the man's attempts to not be deceived and correct potential deception
    4. "Happy wife, happy life" is a deception: it says the woman's point of view must reign to achieve happiness.
    5. So in the next time, we're going to start looking at pragmatic situations, but put your comments on what you think as well.
About Acts2.XYZ and Jonah Jeremiah:

Acts2.XYZ is about Real Change. New Reality.

We focus on leadership, Christian men, marriage, faith in the workplace, and innovation in the church.

Check us out at https://acts2.xyz