Counterfeit

Counterfeit: an imitation to be passed off fraudulently or deceptively as genuine; forgery.

The term counterfeit has been used recently in many areas of my life. The definition above gives us the meaning of the word and can be used to determine is something is counterfeit or not. First it's important to understand that for something to be counterfeit there has to be a recognized authority that creates the original. This authority can be government, nature, God, etc.

Now if an authority as created (or defined) something, then by definition, anything that is an imitation of the creation is counterfeit. So let's look at a couple examples:

1. The U.S. Government has created and defined the standards for currency and where it is created. Counterfeit currency is then anything that imitates this currency and is passed off as the original.
2. In my faith God has defined marriage as between a man and a woman. Counterfeit marriage would then be anything that imitates this definition and is passed off as the original.

So something is counterfeit when it creates an imitation to be passed off fraudulently or deceptively as genuine. Using this definition there are a lot of things in life that could be considered counterfeit based on the acceptance of the proper authority. For me that means if God has defined something, then anything that imitates that something and tries to substitute pieces for the defined entity is counterfeit.