An article of faith for many believers is the assumption that their god or gods do not lie to them. I realize this doesn't apply to all gods but for the ones assumed to be good and honest and forthright, how would you know if anything they told you was a lie?
Most con artists offer just enough of the truth to make their lies sound right, and many of the best never lie outright but are instead selective with the truth in order to lead you to a false conclusion. They'll tell you things you want to hear and use that to lead you to an assumption that follows their agenda. If they can they'll try to control the information available to you and make you dismiss any information that contradicts what they want you to believe. They rely on you having faith in them, to gain your confidence so you won't turn on them. Notable examples of con artists include Jim Jones, Peter Popoff and of course Charles Ponzi.
Is it acceptable to jump into a confidence scam because it gives you hope? I don't think so. Con artists rely on our willingness to trust and count on embarrassment making us unwilling to admit a mistake. Hoping that we've been given all the information we need isn't enough, and it's impossible to calculate the amount of harm that can be caused because we believe in lies that tell us what we want to hear.
There some very famous tropes focusing on lies, such as the greatest trick the devil ever pulled and its counterpart God is really the devil. So the question I think everyone really needs to answer is if you disregard the same faith invoked by the followers of Buddha, David Koresh, Jesus, Mohammad, Sun Myung Moon and Joseph Smith, how would you know if your god or prophets have lied to you? I submit that if faith is your only justification then what you believe is actually a lie.
