Home Evening Object Lesson

Hard-Boiled Deception

By David Dickson

Church Magazines

Using some eggs, you can teach your family and friends about truth.

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This morning, you decide, is an omelet morning. You hop out of bed and chop the veggies. You heat the frying pan. You crack the egg … and your little brother cackles with laughter.

“You did it again!” you groan. Yes, he boiled some eggs in their shells and then snuck them back in with the fresh eggs. It’s his favorite trick. If only there were a way to tell the difference between fresh eggs and hard-boiled ones. Why, that’d be almost as useful as being able to discern between “real” and “fake” information.

Object lesson time!

Supplies

• Fresh, uncooked eggs, still in shell

• One or more hard-boiled eggs, still in shell and uncracked

• Scriptures

What to Do

1. Set out some eggs, with at least one hard-boiled and one uncooked egg. Discuss with your family the problem of all the false information in the world today, especially online.

2. Explain that in this lesson, uncooked eggs represent truth and the hard-boiled eggs represent deception. Now ask if anybody can tell, just by looking, which eggs have already been cooked. (Probably not.)

Pause and Chat

Read the following scripture and quote with your family. Discuss how to avoid being deceived.

“And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom, seek learning even by study and also by faith” (Doctrine and Covenants 109:7).

“If most of the information you get comes from social or other media, your ability to hear the whisperings of the Spirit will be diminished. If you are not also seeking the Lord through daily prayer and gospel study, you leave yourself vulnerable to philosophies that may be intriguing but are not true.”

President Russell M. Nelson, “Make Time for the Lord,” Oct. 2021 general conference (Liahona, Nov. 2021, 120).

3. Time to show the difference a little extra knowledge can make. Attempt to spin each of the eggs in front of you. Spin them on their ends vertically, like a top. The fresh eggs will fall over almost immediately, but the boiled eggs will keep on spinning! Once you know this simple truth, you’ll never be fooled again.

4. Explain that the scriptures, the prophets, and the Holy Ghost can guide us to other truths that are just as useful in spotting deception in all areas of our lives. As you live the commandments and pay attention to the Spirit, you’ll be able to know “things as they really are” (Jacob 4:13) and spot truth among deception. This also allows you to study from the “best books” (and also to find the best websites, and news sources, and on and on) throughout your life.