Strawman Arguments and Paper Tigers

Strawman Arguments, Paper Tigers, and the Enemy of Our Souls.

Are you familiar with the terms, Strawman Arguments or Paper Tigers?

A strawman argument is when someone misrepresents an opponent’s argument to make it easier for others to attack them. These types of arguments are meant to mislead or cloud the truth, to keep someone from making positive progress or change. A planned strategy to gain an advantage in a discussion or manipulate public opinion. They are flimsy constructs without a foundation, but their success is in slanting the truth and muddying the water. They use anything to delay an opponent’s progress and success.

Paper Tigers is an ancient Chinese phrase meaning a person is weaker or not all the person he (or she) is portraying themselves to be. A similar but more urban term is “poser.” I first heard the term  “poser” when I encouraged my son to purchase a pair of tennis shoes he liked. He used to wear the brand all the time, so I didn’t understand his reluctance to buy them. “Mom, if I wear those shoes, the kids will think I’m a poser. Skateboarders wear those shoes, and I don’t skateboard anymore.”

Who knew the brand of shoe you wear tells people what sport you are into? I’ve worn tennis shoes all my life and I am a lousy tennis player. But in my defense, I was a great racquetball player in my day. My weakness in tennis, breaking my wrist, was my racquetball strength. But I digress.

A Name is Just a Name

There are many names for satan in the world’s thesaurus. Some call him a toothless lion, ole’ slewfoot, the devil, the short man behind the curtain with a megaphone. But whatever words we think of when thinking about the enemy of our souls, we know he is a big fat liar!

John 8:44 (NIV) offers us a peek at the character of our enemy when John addresses the religious leaders of the day: ^“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.” Sadly, their response was to say that Jesus, the son of God, was demon possessed.

Lies Come in all Shapes and Sizes

Spining lies is our enemy’s superpower. There are the outright lies that are easy to spot and then there are the lies that contain some element of truth (think of our strawman) or capitalize on our insecurities.

Did you know that our spiritual enemy knows us like a book? He has a file cabinet filled with information he has gathered on us. … he is aware of “the sin that so easily entangles” each of us (Hebrews 12:1). In fact, he knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows what triggers us, what makes us sad and breaks our hearts, and what brings us joy. And he knows the lies that have been spoken over us as children or impressionable young adults.

All of this information makes it easy for him and his minions to pull our strings. He sets a trap and we relapse into our old way of thinking. The enemy hisses, Who do you think you are, and we drop the dream we carry, believing his lie that the dream is too big or ill-suited for us. He dips his claw into our mind’s file cabinet and drags up our list of failures. We whimper as he spits them at us like darts then scamper to our cave of isolation, the bottle, or some other self-sabotaging default.

There is a Method to his Madness

The origin of the above phrase is thought to be a line from William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, spoken by Polonius, the king’s advisor, in Act II, Scene 2: “though this be madness, there is method in’t.”

But I believe the origin is much older. Second Corinthians 2:11 refers to satan’s schemes. The Greek word used here is the word methodeia: an orderly, logical, deliberate planning with a systematic approach, and the use of clever methods or strategies to attain a desired end. NOTE: The Scripture always uses methodeia in a negative connotation.

Back to the Beginning

Since his fall from heaven, satan’s end goal has been to discredit God, destroy His children, and to claim God’s throne for himself. In order to accomplish this, satan devised an organized systematic plan and back at the beginning, in the Garden, began the overthrow of God’s kingdom. And ever since there is a method (methodeia) to his madness.

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

Awards line satan’s bookshelves. Best at Deception, World Champion Spinner of Truth, Trap Expert- Singlehandedly led the most people into a trap in 2024, Social Media Capitalist – boasting a trillion + followers on Instagram, Best Fake News Distributor, 200-2024. The list goes on…

Diabolos “slanderer” – one who speaks maliciously about a person or makes false statements to harm their reputation. Translation? He doesn’t play fair. But the devil is a POSER!

Hundreds of scriptures tell us God loves and cares for us. God repeats himself over and over because he knows the enemy of our soul will never stop hurling arrows at us. He might try to tell you you are nothing but garbage, but don’t you believe it!

But to you who fear My name, The Sun of Righteousness shall arise. With healing in His wings… Malachi 4:2 (NKJV)

Is there a Balm?

Growing up we sang a song, an old spiritual titled, There is a Balm in Gilead that is taken from Jeremiah 8:18-22. Israel was going through a tumultuous time. Their King and their people’s bones were scattered due to their rebellion and backsliding. Their pain was great and verse 22 asks the question;

Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
So why has the healing of my dear people
not come about?
—Jeremiah 8:22

The Israelites sought relief from their pain. Though much of their suffering was due to their sin and rebellion, they were God’s people. Jeremiah reminds them of this, and that their healing will come from the Lord.

Mercy

Like the Israelites, some of our pain is because we entertain satan’s lies, make bad decisions, or sin out of rebellion. Regardless of the source of our pain, Jesus is our healing balm. “By His wounds, we have been healed of all our sin.” (1 Peter 2:24).

The Truth is Our Best Defense

God’s word is the best defense against satan’s lies, and every strawman argument and Paper Tiger defense. God is who he says He is, and He can do what He says He can do. This is important because if we do not know what God says about us we are vulnerable to the enemy’s lies. But if we know the truth–we can blow the strawman away!

Foundational Truths

Truth: God thinks you are pretty awesome. So much so that he went to great lengths to remove the obstacle that separated us from him–our sin!

Truth: God has promised to give us everything we need for a good life.

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 2 Peter 1:3 NLT

Truth: When we become a Christ follower, we become a new creation, or are born again. We start a new life with God as our Father.

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 2 Corinthians 5:17

Armor Up

God doesn’t expect us to fight our battles alone and unprepared (read Ephesians 6). Memorizing God’s word is our number one defense against the lies of our enemy. This is the way to answer the accusations of our enemy.

God’s Bookshelves

Do you know what lines God’s bookshelves? Bottles of our tears. Yes, God captures our tears and places them in a bottle. He takes note of every tear we cry, every hurt we carry, and every wrong path we stumble down. He has a file on us as well and in his, our debt has been paid by Christ. Paid in FULL.

God …blotted out the charges proved against you, the list of his commandments which you had not obeyed. He took this list of sins and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ’s cross. Colossians 2:14 (NIV)

The Struggle is Real but Christ has Overcome

Yes, as long as we are in human form we will have struggles, but be of Good Cheer, Christ has overcome the world (and all the evil in it) and He will help and encourage us. Though we will be “Human ’til we Die” it is possible to live a victorious life.

 

Additional resources: God is trustworthy