What Happens to Us When We Reduce History to Cause & Effect Stories
As Christianity declines in our world and culture we once again see the rise of casting aside the reality of Christ to be replaced by fictional and imaginary explainations for evil and suffering.
In our current venacular we call this "Conspiracism".
Many self-proclaimed Christians always affirm this way of thinking for various reasons. To begin with it's easy and requires no soul searching or reflection.
As we have grown increasingly biblically illiterate and our overall educational system has been dumbed down we seek the quick and easy.
Social media and the internet has played an outsized role in our deconstruction.
What is a conspiracy?: A secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful.
Yes Their Are Real Conspiracies!
Mankinds existence is filled with conspiracies real and imagined.
As sinners we find supicious everyone elses behavior and sometimes rightly so.
People sin and commit evil and they conspire to harm or mainpulate individuals and groups of people including whole societies.
Here is an article that discusses several conspiracies that were true: 12 Conspiracy Theories That Actually Turned Out to Be True
"Real conspiracies do exist. Volkswagen conspired to cheat emissions tests for their diesel engines. The U.S. National Security Agency secretly spied on civilian internet users. The tobacco industry deceived the public about the harmful health effects of smoking. We know about these conspiracies through internal industry documents, government investigations, or whistleblowers." from The Conspiracy Theory Handbook
God Operates Outside of Our Conspiracies
We often refer or reflect on the Book of Job as clarification of the ultimate reality that we ignore.
In America most people behave as if ALL that we do and think is dependent on our hard wrk and intelligence. God's providence in our lives and the world around is is discarded.
This unbelief factually results in our hearts being hardened and in turn God will turn us over to our delusions and sins.
The Book of Job alerts us to these realities.
"Satan" the unseen ruler of this world cannot bring destruction, illness or hardship upon us unless it is by God’s permission. God has power over what Satan can and cannot do in the world and in our lives.
It is beyond our human abilities to understand the "why’s" behind all the sufferingand evil in the world. Reality in God's world shows us the wicked will receive their punishment. Also we cannot always blame suffering and sin on our lifestyles. Suffering is sometimes be allowedby God to purify, test, teach, or strengthen our soul.
God is sufficient, and He deserves and requests our love and praise in all circumstances of our lives.
The Fear of Man Allows Conspiracies to Thrive
Men continue to sin, lie, cheat and conspire against other men.
When we fear men and not God we become part of the world, we are no longer set apart.
Our current politics in America reflects this fear of man.
The belief that only Trump can save us is folly, just as putting Biden on a pedestal is foolish.
Our unbelief has manifested itself in our lawlessness and our willingness to accept lies, deceit, violence and evil to further our goals.
Christianity and Conspiracies
"On account of such beliefs, David Robertson argues that conspiracy theories and Christianity are evidentially equivalent: “from a philosophical point of view, there is nothing inherently more irrational about any of these [conspiratorial] claims” when compared to Christian belief. The reason QAnon is deemed odd, but not Christianity, is purely contextual — the result of a developed acceptability over time...
..This general principle applies in the specific case of conspiracy theories: the ultimate, trustworthy source of truth — God — buffers the Christian from vulnerability to conspiratorial forces. This is because belief in in this trustworthy God does not cultivate naïve gullibility — quite the opposite. It fosters a healthy scepticism — not the postmodern impulse to “dismantle all certainties and leave us isolated choosing machines in a market-shaped wilderness” — but a kind of light detachment, a cautiousness about surrounding things and beliefs that amount to less than God." from the article: When it comes to conspiracy theories, is Christianity part of the problem or part of the solution?
Conspiracist Thinking Is Cultural Marxism
"Marx’s view of history powerfully shaped how we think about time and power, but it’s not the Bible’s view.
It’s been a heck of a month for conspiracy theories. My social media feeds have been inundated by warnings about impending COVID lockdowns and mandates, wild claims about 9/11, supposed revelations of alien corpses, and, after Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman (D) debuted a new mustache, a fresh round of speculation that he uses a body double to conceal ongoing health struggles.
Each outlandish story contributes to a broader ethos of conspiracism: a cynical and fearful mindset which frames everything around the assumption that the world is beset by a grand, secret evil and only a few know what’s “really” going on.
Neither conspiracist thinking nor belief in discrete conspiracy theories are anything new. But the social acceptability of such belief does seem to have grown in recent years. Some credit is due to the internet, of course, but I think there’s a much more fundamental source: human search for meaning within our place in history.
We’re living in a time when religion is in decline, social bonds are weakening, and the humanities are devalued. This leaves us with a dwindling canon of stories—shared histories, parables, myths, and folktales—that bind us together and inform a common moral vision. To cope, we’re retreating into ever-narrower interest groups, becoming more suspicious of one another, and searching for stories to make sense of evil, uncertainty, and suffering..." from the article: Conspiracist Thinking Is Cultural Marxism
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