The Good News is stifled when Christians spread conspiracy theories

mcarans

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"Perhaps the internet is not the best place to find truthful witness and genuine humility but I find it particularly disturbing when self professed Christians abandon these virtues in their posts and comments. To be clear, it is not for me to judge individuals, but what I want to highlight is a negative trend in which honesty and humbleness cease to be regarded as essential attributes for practicing Christians, instead being seen as things that can be set aside when inconvenient, most notably when trying to “score points” in a debate or argument...

One of the most common forms of bearing false witness on the internet is the inventing and distribution of conspiracy theories. From the first verse of Exodus 23, it is absolutely clear that this is contrary to God’s Will: “You shall not spread a false report”...

How can we spread the Good News if we are devoting our efforts to manufacturing and distributing conspiracy theories? And even if we do manage to squeeze in some time for God’s work, who will listen to the words emanating from a tongue they just saw bearing false witness a few moments before?"

What are your thoughts about conspiracy theories? Are they a means to an end - a way to "beat" the other side who must be overcome at any cost?

For the full article see:
What does the Bible say about false reports and conspiracy theories? : cruciformity
 

Norbert L

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"Perhaps the internet is not the best place to find truthful witness and genuine humility but I find it particularly disturbing when self professed Christians abandon these virtues in their posts and comments. To be clear, it is not for me to judge individuals, but what I want to highlight is a negative trend in which honesty and humbleness cease to be regarded as essential attributes for practicing Christians, instead being seen as things that can be set aside when inconvenient, most notably when trying to “score points” in a debate or argument...

One of the most common forms of bearing false witness on the internet is the inventing and distribution of conspiracy theories. From the first verse of Exodus 23, it is absolutely clear that this is contrary to God’s Will: “You shall not spread a false report”...

How can we spread the Good News if we are devoting our efforts to manufacturing and distributing conspiracy theories? And even if we do manage to squeeze in some time for God’s work, who will listen to the words emanating from a tongue they just saw bearing false witness a few moments before?"

What are your thoughts about conspiracy theories? Are they a means to an end - a way to "beat" the other side who must be overcome at any cost?

For the full article see:
What does the Bible say about false reports and conspiracy theories? : cruciformity
Maybe sometimes a conspiracy theory is detrimental towards the message of the gospel yet at times it's also another place to spread the gospel.

Case in point is Dr. Michael Heiser's work debunking Alexander Stichen's ideas about planet 9 Nibiru and space aliens and related theories. The people who believe in that kind of stuff are also interested in finding out what the Bible has to say about it and as a side effect are introduced to the gospel.

Paleobabble Archives - Dr. Michael Heiser
 
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mcarans

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Just a reminder...and their are more examples out there if one wants to research the topic

12 crazy conspiracy theories that actually turned out to be true | Reader's Digest Australia
The important thing is evidence. For example on the industry knowing tobacco is harmful, there would have been growing evidence from non-industry scientists that tobacco is harmful so reporting the evidence would not be spreading a conspiracy theory. Spreading something for which there is little or no evidence or even where the evidence actually points the other way is another matter.
 
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Amittai

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It's so tragic when history and science are dumbed down, bad for the health of our entire society let alone Christians.

Thank you for drawing my attention!

Nibiru by the way is Akkadian for ferryman and was a usual name for Jupiter though it was occasionally given to other heavenly bodies. (Our word "planet" means "wanderer" and not long ago it was considered beyond mind blowing that Earth was also a planet!)

Anunnaki were just like you and me. Nephilim or Nibelungs lived in a land and a time where and when the climate was foggier and cloudier. A mental blockage because a teacher told you that ordinary things were impossible is not disproof of the ordinary. Indra and Parashurama were blokes. The "invasions" are completely different from what we are usually told. The Greek characters are composite.

Motifs in stories usually encode either phenomena in nature, or political and religious reformations. (Nursery rhymes are similar.) Think satire and think ways of avoiding censorship. THEIR WORLD WAS THE SAME AS OURS, fluctuations in this or that phenomenon are constantly being rediscovered. Most science was set back by the destroying of the Alexandria library and many other disasters and spells of wickedness.

We should intercede that the world should use learning wholesomely and not destroy data we all need.

There were numerous forerunners of Atlantis.

Not only Plato but later Old Testament writers may have (sometimes) for rhetorical effect swopped political names e.g Athens for Lydia, Medes for Assyrians.

Numbers were built into texts as an accuracy check when copying, not as a basis for "numerology".

Sitchin and von Daniken on the heels of the Theosophists, and some of the less critical strands in dispensationalism, have fried the brains of billions.

Passivity combined with incurious laziness to seek an alternative to literalism, leads certain cynical orientals to peddle one or two dimensional exoticism. (I'm sincerely trying not to "Flame".)

There are still irregularities in orbits. Think of orbit changes as springs and relative stability for periods in between as the dampers.

As there has always been bad planning, there has always been the need for bad planning hypotheses. The motive of these is not paramount. Most organisations tolerate inattention and inconsistency. That's essentially what those things flow from. This is why Scriptures call us to beg God for our rulers in the interest of just government.

Those most of us with little knowledge of spiritual affairs have got to get a grip and teach ourselves critique of anything we come across at all levels. What is the moral integrity God expects of church members in understanding His gospel for us to act out towards our fellows and "husband" our own faculties responsibility!

Any church leader that tells you to eschew self-home schooling, I say why do they hate humanity.

It's my world and the world's people are my people and I insist on taking a cherishing curiousness into all (as was my desire from infancy).

A wonderful book (of dry humour) that I discovered is Logic by Stanley Jevons.

The tools are in the box. God will ask us if we misled our fellows by not using them.

CASUAL CHRISTIANS ARE NOT A GOOD WITNESS. Regardless of lack of prior qualifications, just START ANYWHERE.

Hypotheses, notions, inference - these are in Popper, Newman, Peirce, Husserl, Gilson (especially good starting point), countless other helpful people. Baggini & Fosl co-wrote excellent little handbooks.

"New" and "Short" chronologists have light to add, which we can somewhat dovetail into almost all the findings of the "conventional" ones.

Stephen Oppenheimer explains James Frazer's Golden Bough in his wonderful Eden From The East. (It wasn't so much of an Eden, more like one of several Babels.)

The world needs everyone now, to join the cutting edge of informal scholarship. Don't let anyone hook into the traumas of our student years to re-trigger shame as I had for most of my life. Everyone has a flair for something. Learn a few phrases of a language. Write the odd poem.
 
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Francis Drake

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"Perhaps the internet is not the best place to find truthful witness and genuine humility but I find it particularly disturbing when self professed Christians abandon these virtues in their posts and comments. To be clear, it is not for me to judge individuals, but what I want to highlight is a negative trend in which honesty and humbleness cease to be regarded as essential attributes for practicing Christians, instead being seen as things that can be set aside when inconvenient, most notably when trying to “score points” in a debate or argument...

One of the most common forms of bearing false witness on the internet is the inventing and distribution of conspiracy theories. From the first verse of Exodus 23, it is absolutely clear that this is contrary to God’s Will: “You shall not spread a false report”...

How can we spread the Good News if we are devoting our efforts to manufacturing and distributing conspiracy theories? And even if we do manage to squeeze in some time for God’s work, who will listen to the words emanating from a tongue they just saw bearing false witness a few moments before?"

What are your thoughts about conspiracy theories? Are they a means to an end - a way to "beat" the other side who must be overcome at any cost?

For the full article see:
What does the Bible say about false reports and conspiracy theories? : cruciformity
But who determines what is conspiracy theory and what is conspiracy fact?

Do governments, scientists, theologians, teachers, police forces etc. have ownership of the truth?

History shows that all these authorities and many more bend the truth to obtain certain objectives.

When I was young, I always believed that governments were benign, then I woke up and saw how much deception of the people was going on, how much propaganda, even in times of peace. I saw how both left and right wing governments manipulated truth in order to change society.

So, in answer to your OP, we should always check the truth as much as possible by considering what the opposition says.
The Lord freely gives wisdom to those who ask, but how many bother to ask? I know that the Holy Spirit has been the first to alert me to many deceptions that have gone on.

As Christians, we should be the first to understand these things, but when I look at what is posted in this forum, it's obvious that Christians are completely oblivious to the wiles of Satan.

Despite some being complete flat earth fools, I personally thank God for conspiracy theorists, because without them, many great evils would continue.
 
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Brian Mcnamee

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"Perhaps the internet is not the best place to find truthful witness and genuine humility but I find it particularly disturbing when self professed Christians abandon these virtues in their posts and comments. To be clear, it is not for me to judge individuals, but what I want to highlight is a negative trend in which honesty and humbleness cease to be regarded as essential attributes for practicing Christians, instead being seen as things that can be set aside when inconvenient, most notably when trying to “score points” in a debate or argument...

One of the most common forms of bearing false witness on the internet is the inventing and distribution of conspiracy theories. From the first verse of Exodus 23, it is absolutely clear that this is contrary to God’s Will: “You shall not spread a false report”...

How can we spread the Good News if we are devoting our efforts to manufacturing and distributing conspiracy theories? And even if we do manage to squeeze in some time for God’s work, who will listen to the words emanating from a tongue they just saw bearing false witness a few moments before?"

What are your thoughts about conspiracy theories? Are they a means to an end - a way to "beat" the other side who must be overcome at any cost?

For the full article see:
What does the Bible say about false reports and conspiracy theories? : cruciformity
Hi is the UN going to be the new one world government which will be in place when the antichrist is revealed? Psalm 2 is quoted in Rev relating to the time that Jesus comes and it says the nations have taken counsel together against the LORD and his annointed trying to cast off their bonds from them. There is some wild stuff out there but if we truly are just about to enter the end times and tribulation then would not lies, theft and murder be part of the agenda? What theories are you talking about as some are outlandish and others have merit.
 
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Albion

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One of the most common forms of bearing false witness on the internet is the inventing and distribution of conspiracy theories. From the first verse of Exodus 23, it is absolutely clear that this is contrary to God’s Will: “You shall not spread a false report”…

How can we spread the Good News if we are devoting our efforts to manufacturing and distributing conspiracy theories? And even if we do manage to squeeze in some time for God’s work, who will listen to the words emanating from a tongue they just saw bearing false witness a few moments before?"

:amen::clap::oldthumbsup:
 
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Albion

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What theories are you talking about as some are outlandish and others have merit.
Wouldn't that depend on what is considered to "have merit?"

Almost all conspiracy theories that have a significant following depend upon hearsay, including sensationalist websites, You Tube videos, and etc. People actually think that if something is in print or a lecturer claims some inside knowledge...then that's it. :sigh:
 
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Maria Billingsley

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"Perhaps the internet is not the best place to find truthful witness and genuine humility but I find it particularly disturbing when self professed Christians abandon these virtues in their posts and comments. To be clear, it is not for me to judge individuals, but what I want to highlight is a negative trend in which honesty and humbleness cease to be regarded as essential attributes for practicing Christians, instead being seen as things that can be set aside when inconvenient, most notably when trying to “score points” in a debate or argument...

One of the most common forms of bearing false witness on the internet is the inventing and distribution of conspiracy theories. From the first verse of Exodus 23, it is absolutely clear that this is contrary to God’s Will: “You shall not spread a false report”...

How can we spread the Good News if we are devoting our efforts to manufacturing and distributing conspiracy theories? And even if we do manage to squeeze in some time for God’s work, who will listen to the words emanating from a tongue they just saw bearing false witness a few moments before?"

What are your thoughts about conspiracy theories? Are they a means to an end - a way to "beat" the other side who must be overcome at any cost?

For the full article see:
What does the Bible say about false reports and conspiracy theories? : cruciformity
Unfortunately newspaper eschatology has entered into the core belief of Christianity through many false teachers and prophets since the nineteenth century. We can turn to the events famously named as the "great disappointment". Spreading the "Good News" is sticking to the message Jesus Christ of Nazareth gave us. The Sermon on the mount.
Blessings
 
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Brian Mcnamee

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Wouldn't that depend on what is considered to "have merit?"

Almost all conspiracy theories that have a significant following depend upon hearsay, including sensationalist websites, You Tube videos, and etc. People actually think that if something is in print or a lecturer claims some inside knowledge...then that's it. :sigh:
The scriptures are full of warnings about deception being prevalent in the end times so lets throw a big one out there such as man made carbon is killing the planet and causing climate change. Is this real or a tool to bring in Global government?
 
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Albion

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The scriptures are full of warnings about deception being prevalent in the end times so lets throw a big one out there such as man made carbon is killing the planet and causing climate change. Is this real or a tool to bring in Global government?

IMO, that's one that can stand or fall on actual evidence.
 
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mcarans

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IMO, that's one that can stand or fall on actual evidence.
Yes indeed. It's important to distinguish evidence which is a genuine reason for questioning and conformance to one's ideology which is not.
 
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Richard T

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An interesting topic. Conspiracy theories are simply alternative hypotheses. Most are impossible to really know. Proof for the accepted theory generally has some lack. Adding to the problem is that sometimes government lies on purpose I do like the scripture on a false report. Alternative theories though are not false reports unless the person really knows with certainly that it is false. For instance, presently, I do believe the virus was man-made. While I have no proof, the circumstances are suspect. Can we believe the Chinese and American government on this? Perhaps. Yes, I know that some leading researchers say it would be improbable to make in a lab. They however can not way with absolute certainty, neither are they certain how it progressed from animal to human in their own theory. Time hopefully will tell us more, in the meantime I keep an open mind.
 
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Francis Drake

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The justification for the invasion of Iraq was given that Sadaam Hussain was building weapons of mass destruction. Bush and Blair went overboard to convince the public of this "righteous war."

So after countless lives lost, and mass destruction of property, did they find these weapons. No.

But certain weapon manufacturers got filthy rich and the geography of the middle east was changed forever.

If ordinary men and women can't challenge commonly accepted norms, then governments and scientists will get away with anything they like.
 
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Francis Drake

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During the middle ages, governments and church leaders spread the rumour that Jews used the blood of Christians in their ceremonies. Riots against Jews soon followed, Jews were killed, raped, property confiscated, and in many cases, thrown out of the country, again.

Many times, the riots were started by those who owed the Jews money. It simply enabled them to escape paying their debts.

The Jewish blood libel is obviously a conspiracy theory, but because it was taught at the highest levels of church and government, it became historically true in their eyes.

Ultimately, whether something gets labelled mere theory, or absolute fact, depends on who controls the narrative.

In modern times, it is the media that controls the narrative, and whenever I see them all singing from exactly the same hymn sheet, I am immediately suspicious!
That's when I start looking.
 
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Albion

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The justification for the invasion of Iraq was given that Sadaam Hussain was building weapons of mass destruction. Bush and Blair went overboard to convince the public of this "righteous war."

So after countless lives lost, and mass destruction of property, did they find these weapons. No.
However, It's not certain that this one even amounted to a conspiracy theory, since a conspiracy theory has to have a conspiracy! It wouldn't be much of a "conspiracy" for the President simply to lie to the public about the reason for his decision. Same for those who accused him of having done so.

But if we look at the evidence...the intelligence services of the USA, UK, Israel, several other nations we trust, and the United Nations Organization itself all agreed that Hussein had had WMD. What's more, the fact that they were not later found doesn't in itself mean that there never had been any, especially since convoys of trucks were seen taking large amounts of something across Iraq's border in advance of the American troops.
 
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Richard T

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On the Bush and WMD, you have to give the whole scenario context. Wolfowitz, Rumsfield and Cheney were influenced by the teachings of Leo Strauss. Basically they agreed with the concept of a "noble lie." That as leaders of a country, it was imperative that you lie for the sake of the nation. I figured they were lying, it was an easy read. Iraq's military budget was miniscule for what they were proposing he had. The plan to invade Iraq and much of the Patriot Act was there before 9/11. They never gave the UN inspectors a chance. "Days before the Iraq invasion, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) voiced serious doubt on the authenticity of the documents to the UN Security Council, judging them counterfeit.[3]" (wiki) Never let a good crisis go to waste though. We need to learn from this for how this crisis is managed. No way should we have any permanent lasting changes from this that would reduce our liberty.
 
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