john was being sophistry, if he was not lying.

1. He used sophistry to manipulate the audience into believing his false claims.
2. The politician's argument was full of sophistry, designed to deceive the listeners.
3. Sophistry is often employed in debates to make weak arguments seem stronger.

Sophistry is a noun and its definition is a subtly deceptive argument. Here is an example of usage by Carl Henry:

"Our professed love of freedom is increasingly shown to be a sophistry that replaces wisdom and righteousness with self-gratification"

The cast of The Sophistry Trilogy - 2002 includes: Peter Goode as Julius Bolognese Andrew Mackay as Werdna