“Everybody lies”. At least that is the opinion of one Gregory House, the fictional doctor on the popular medical drama that bears his surname. In one episode of the show, he and the writers seem hell bent on proving it.
House especially wants to prove that his boss and love interest, Lisa Cuddy, can lie with the best of them. He has gotten himself in trouble with her in recent shows because he lied to her about his process in healing a patient.
To House, he was just doing what he needed to do to get the job done. To Cuddy, he violated her trust.
She tells House she can’t compartmentalize like he can. A relationship is a relationship she says, even though they work together.
After a failed attempt to get Cuddy to lie about liking his attire for a wedding they plan to attend , House scores big at the wedding itself. He catches Cuddy in a lie.
Cuddy tells House that when she gets married, it will be the first time for her. House knows full well she was married for a few days in the 80s and confronts her with his knowledge. “Well played”, she tells him, and walks away with hurt feelings.
House’s best friend, Dr. James Wilson, encourages House in his world view of lies. Wilson tells House to make it up to Cuddy and “pretend to apologize”.
House replies,”You want me to lie?” Wilson tells him,”There’s a lovely symmetry to it. A lie got you into it. A lie gets you out of it.”
Wilson has his own dilemma involving lies. He asks House to examine some files for his girlfriend, Sam Carr, who also happens to be his ex-wife.
She works at another hospital and is soon to be audited by her boss. Sam had asked Wilson to look over her files to make sure everything was in order.
House looks over the documents. After doing so, he tells Wilson,”You’re woman is fudging the facts.”
In telling Wilson that Sam is altering data about terminal patients, House says to him that she did it in a last ditch effort to save lives. Since this falls right in with House’ own philosophy of medicine, he tells Wilson that Sam is perfect for him.
Wilson proposes to Sam at the same wedding where House confronts Cuddy with her lie. While doing so, Wilson tells Sam he admires her handling of the files, inferring he especially appreciates her noble motives.
Instead of accepting Wilson’s proposal marriage, Sam gets upset and tells him, “I told you the truth”. She storms out of the wedding.
It is not clear whether House is mistaken about the files, or Sam is deluded. In any case, she leaves Wilson for good because she believes he doesn’t trust her.
To House, the biggest lie out there is that there is a God. In addition to proving to his love that everyone lies, he also seems to relish trying to disprove the idea of a Supreme Being.
In this episode full of lies, he attempts to make God out as the biggest liar to a patient who is full of faith. In fact, this fellow called Ramon is so devout that he has a bargain with his Maker.
It seems a few years ago, his daughter had cancer. In order to save her life, Ramon tells God he will crucify himself ever year that she is alive. She is now cancer free, and Ramon gets himself nailed to a cross once a year as part of his deal with God.
House is incredulous over Ramon’s explanation for his daughter’s healing. He tells Ramon, “We are hardwired to need answers. When we don’t find a logical answer, we settle for a stupid one.”
As is common for House, he mocks his patient for his beliefs. While examining Ramon with other doctors, he orally makes notes: “a 33 year old carpenter presenting with narcissism with delusions of grandeur and hallucinations.”
One of the other doctors says in response, “He’s not having hallucinations.” House tells his colleague that he was referring to Jesus, not Ramon.
Typically, House pulls a ruse on Ramon to get him to take medicine that will heal him. He shows him a scan which reveals his daughter still has cancer. House says,”Looks like God broke your deal.”
Later, House admits his trick to Ramon. Ramon believes God will punish him now that he has succumbed to House’s “tempation”.
House shows him an MRI that proves he is getting better. He then shows Ramon one of someone he says is “dead as a doornail.”
When Ramon asks House “who is that?”, House tells him it is God. He tells Ramone that his improvement despite breaking his “deal” proves that there is no God.
House does have one caveat, though. He tells Ramon that if his daughter gets struck by a meteorite, he will have egg on his face.
Ramone laughs. He realizes something that his daughter told him earlier, that God is love, was right. Ramon tells House that his own healing is proof of God’s mercy, not of His nonexistence.
House sardonically replies,”Punishment is proof of God and no punishment is proof of God. Ingenious argument.” Ramone tells House,”Faith is not an argument.”
Ramon’s comments about faith gives House an idea in his relationship with Cuddy. He meets her in her office and discusses his lying.
“I’ve been an idiot, he tells Cuddy. “I got this argument in my head that if everybody lies that trust is not only unfounded but pointless, it’s fictional. But trust is not an argument that can be won or lost. Maybe I just have to suspend my cynicism and believe. Maybe it’s time to make a leap of faith.”
House apologizes to Cuddy for his lying and she accepts. However, he later admits to Wilson that he lied to her when he apologized. There is no sudden “leap of faith” for the not-so-good doctor.
Indeed, House hasn’t changed his views at all. The show ends with House and the writers presumably proving their point that everybody lies.
If House’s world view is correct, that we all lie, one should ask why this is the case. The Bible has an answer to this question.
The Scriptures say that at one time in history mankind fell under the control of a supreme liar. His name is Satan.
The nature of Satan and his effect on us was explained by Jesus in the Bible: “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).”
We were corrupted when we left our true Father, God. Dr. House is right one respect: we all at least have the capacity to lie.
Indeed, Satan is a murderer and wants us all to spend eternity with him in hell, away from God. Since we fell under his domain, that’s where we in fact are all heading, unless we accept the remedy God has provided.
Jesus offer us the truth that he bought us back from Satan with his death over 2000 years ago. He rose again from the dead and lives today, offering life to us instead of death.
While he was here, Jesus told us how to claim the life he offers. He said, “Now this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent (John 17:3).”
Jesus is our salvation from the lies of Satan. He said this about Himself: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).”
Satan would have us believe there is no God, as the fictional Dr. House does. If he can’t do that, he will gladly seek to convince us that there is some other way to God besides Jesus.
There was once a people in ancient Europe who were told by a man named Paul the truth about Jesus. They didn’t accept what he said at face value.
They eagerly studied the Bible for themselves to see if what Paul was saying was true. After doing so, many of these people, called Bereans, put their faith in Jesus as their savior from the lies of Satan (Acts 17:1-12).
Christmas is the appropriate time to decide if Satan and Dr. House are lying, that there is no God, or Jesus is. I believe Jesus told the truth. Why not examine the Bible , as the Bereans did, and find out for yourself?
Slow News Day 