Jesus was, like the snake, lifted up on a cross, and now we look to Him and His mission and we will not perish. The OT is sometimes just a shadow of things to come. Like John the Baptist, it points to the Way!
People on the ASD spectrum are far more likely to speak the factual truth. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22065242/ FTR I have an official ASD diagnosis! As a child it didn't take me long to figure out that I was being lied to about religion. The Xtofascists are by far the worst LIARS of all because they LIE about the factual truth all the time.
Just remember that being lied to about something, doesn't make that something a lie. In the end religion itself is not a lie, and due to it's nature it mostly consists of interpretation of the tenants. Further, simply because there are members of a group that are arses, that doesn't make the whole group arses.
Yes, like the Nazis for example. Just because some of them wanted to kill all the Jews doesn’t mean they were all bad. Some just wanted to steal their property and disenfranchise them.
I would qualify that with 'THEIR' religion. I created my own. Its your own self governance, its not possible for it to be a lie if in fact the person lives according to their own guidelines.