The Christian and Conspiracy Theories

Update: Below is a sermon by our friend David Whitla (RPTS) who deals with some of the most recent conspiracy theories, including QAnon:

With conspiracy theories in the news more than ever - how should Christians respond? The following article appeared in the RPCI’s Messenger Magazine a few years ago:

Carl Trueman speaking about conspiracy theories in the wake of the 2006 film The Da Vinci Code

Conspiracy Thinking (James McCullough)

We all love mysteries. Story writers know how we are enticed by a tale where the true causes of an event lie hidden in complex plans devised by powerful institutions. You are drawn in as you follow the hero’s discoveries, and all is put right once the evildoers are exposed and vanquished. The present popularity of conspiracy theories reaches far beyond the world of entertainment. Their influence is illustrated by President Trump who built political popularity by promoting conspiracy theories about his predecessor’s birth certificate and in office has used the term “fake news” to depict media outlets as conspiring against him. This type of thinking is not new and appears on all sides of the political spectrum but we ought to be aware how conspiracy theories are affecting how our society thinks.

Conspiracy theories are increasingly attractive because they make us feel more powerful and important. There is a feeling of power in believing you understand what really happened when most people have been deceived. Seeing hidden patterns helps us feel in control and assigning blame to external forces convinces us that many problems could be simply solved if others just had our understanding. They make us feel important as we’re convinced sinister forces are determined to deceive us and that we have a unique perspective to share with the world. This means conspiracy theories strongly appeal to those who feel they should be more important or powerful than the reality of their present circumstances. In a world where people feel at the mercy of globalisation, economic meltdown and climate change their popularity is unsurprising. There is also a particular temptation, as Christianity loses public influence, for believers to be attracted by conspiracy theories.

Conspiracy theories share common flaws in how they treat evidence and cheapen the concept of truth. Social media click-bait often revolves around headlines such as “5 things that the US government can’t explain about (insert event).” The casual browser can miss the subtle twist which distorts an unexplained aspect of an event to appear as evidence that the truth has been suppressed. Sometimes it is less sophisticated and the absence of evidence (e.g. “Isn’t it strange how there was no CCTV footage of…”) is presented as proof of a conspiracy. Such logic is fundamentally flawed. For example, my father’s slight resemblance to former England football manager Fabio Capello and the suggestion that it is strange that they are never seen together is not sufficient proof that they are the same person. Or if I were to claim a government conspiracy took place and everyone who took part in the event but couldn’t be trusted to conceal it was killed off so the truth cannot be known, it would be very difficult for you to prove my assertion was false as every time you locate someone involved who says that nothing unusual happened, I’ll merely assert that they are part of the conspiracy. We ought to demand independent, precise evidence which can be tested and corroborated to understand the world around us. If a piece of evidence cannot be tested or if it is impossible for it to be proved false then it is not sufficient proof. 

Conspiracy theories commonly revolve around sensational explanations for important events. Proportionality bias is one of the mental shortcuts we use to understand the world around us. We assume that small events have minor causes and big events have significant causes and most of the time this is a useful way to think. However it can leave us searching for more and resorting to conspiracy theories whenever we’re confronted by a big event with seemingly insignificant causes. This helps us explain why some find it difficult to accept the mundane account that Diana Princess of Wales died because of a drunk driver, excessive speed and an unused seatbelt. Conspiracy theories show that many are unable to accept that we’re not in control of the world around us and that we’re entirely dependent on God.

Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” (John 18v37,38).

As Jesus referred to himself as “the truth” and described his followers as people “of the truth”, it is unbecoming of a Christian to be sucked in by conspiracy theories. Thinking like a conspiracy theorist undermines our understanding of what truth is by depending on flawed logic and evidence. Conspiracy theories are also damaging to our witness as to be Christ-like we must to be people characterised by truthfulness. How do you expect the watching world to differentiate between your claims that Christ is risen and that the moon-landings were fake? Scripture contains powerful examples of the folly of conspiracy theorists such as the Jewish leaders’ plans to “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep’ ” (Matthew 28v13). The serpent’s words to Eve bear striking similarities to a conspiracy theory as he presents a cunning question to distort what God said before suggesting that the truth has been hidden from them. Conspiracy theories are tools used by the father of lies to distract, distort and undermine the truth.

One of the biggest problems with conspiracy theories is their flawed understanding of evil. It requires a very high level of competency to successfully carry out a secret plan whilst entirely concealing the truth. Evil is depicted as powerful, competent and as a problem found in powerful institutions rather than our own hearts. The reality found in Scripture is that evil is found in the desire of every heart to take the glory due to God for ourselves and find satisfaction in something or someone else (Jeremiah 2v13). The Bible depicts evil as powerful but fundamentally incompetent, failing to achieve its aims or conceal its identity. When Paul warns the Ephesians of our struggle against rulers and authorities he’s not referring to earthly governments or corporations; instead he writes of the spiritual battle waged against our hearts by our spiritual foes - not to make us fear the Devil’s fingerprints behind every event but so we remember our Saviour’s total victory and thorough equipping of his people. The Biblical pattern is that evil always overplays its hand. It is always restrained by God who sets the limits of what it can achieve and he has the power to subvert even the most evil plans to showcase his glory. The Egyptian Pharaoh, the Assyrian armies and the Babylonian state all sought to resist God but were all only able to accomplish their role in God’s eternal plan of redemption. At the darkest moment of history, when Jesus was nailed to the cross and evil appeared to have the upper hand, our Saviour dealt a death blow to the serpent and delivered his people. We ought to reject any understanding of evil as something more clever or competent than a futile rebellion against God.

Practically we ought to be careful with our words and thinking. Does the way we discuss homosexual lobby groups create unnecessary fear and stop us from seeing the futility of rejecting God? Can rightly trying to avoid sinful influences for us and our children slip into seeing evil as an external rather than a heart problem? Can we leap from exposing evolution’s flawed science to rejecting other scientific theories out of hand? Do we think of the big problems in the world as merely social issues rather than captivity to sin? As Christians we are called to think and communicate clearly and logically. We are to model ourselves on the Bereans who carefully tested everything by God’s Word, the perfect standard for truth. Remember you have a much greater purpose, a much greater truth to discover and a much greater truth to share than any conspiracy theory. Instead of engaging in foolish speculation let’s help each other focus on how the Bible defines evil, how Christ reigns on his throne and how one day he’ll return to expose all evil deeds.

Additional Resources

Why its hard to resist a good conspiracy theory

Apocryphal Gospels, Conspiracy Theories, and the Mainstream Media

What to read about Conspiracy Theory

William Symington (1795-1862) on the Christian Ministry

The 2020 edition of the Reformed Theological Journal features an article by Stephen about William Symington’s views on the Christian ministry. The article is based on an address Stephen gave at the RP Ministers’ Conference in 2019, marking 200 years since Symington’s ordination in Stranraer. It draws particularly on ‘Charges’ Symington gave to both minister and congregation at the ordination of Stoneykirk man James M’Gill at Hightae, Dumfriesshire, in 1829, halfway through Symington’s 20-year ministry in Stranraer.

You can read the article as a PDF or in ebook formats here.

For a list of previous content about William Symington, click here.

In 2010, Stephen contributed an article to the same journal entitled ‘“Houston, we have a problem”: Thomas Houston, Covenanter and Evangelical’, based on his MA thesis.

Online church?

Those of us who are blessed to have gardens have probably spent a record amount of time in them in 2020. After all, for a large chunk of the year we weren’t able to go anywhere else! Never have garden fences been in better order. Many of those trying to buy seeds found them backordered. And of course, we have been allowed to meet people in our gardens, when we haven’t been able to have them in our homes.

Even for those without their own gardens, Stranraer has some great communal gardens, such as the Garden of Friendship, and the community garden at the hospital.

One lockdown Sunday afternoon, at the Garden of Friendship (aka the Rock Garden), I noticed an inscription on one of the big rocks: 

‘The kiss of the sun for pardon
The song of the birds for mirth
One’s nearer God’s heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth’.

 That ties in with something I hear quite often as a minister: ‘I don’t need to go to church to worship God’. In fact, as churches began to reopen after lockdown, some asked: ‘Can’t Christians just worship God at home?’. During the pandemic, broadcast and streaming services have reached people who wouldn’t normally come to church. One survey in May said that a quarter of UK adults had watched or listened to a religious service during lockdown. Perhaps those things should become the new normal? Maybe the coronavirus pandemic has simply brought Scottish churches into the 21st century?

Well certainly no-one would claim that you can only worship God in a building. The seventeenth-century Covenanters, unwilling to worship in state-controlled churches, took to the hills and moors across the south and west of Scotland. In fact, during July and August we as a church met outside in order to follow God’s command to sing praise in worship, while remaining within government guidelines for churches. Members of my own congregation also worshipped outside during the summer of 1825 when the old building was taken down and our current building erected.

So while we don’t need a building to worship God, it’s still vital that we meet together. In fact, it’s not just Christians who recognise that. In 2013, the first atheist church service took place in London. An article in New Humanist magazine promoting the idea said: ‘We are a tribal species. We need communal rituals, songs to sing together, not alone in our rooms’. As Christians, we have Jesus’ promise that he will be present in a special way when his church meets together. We also have a command ‘not to neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some’. In fact, the very word ‘church’ means ‘assembly’ – so ‘online church’ is an oxymoron.

One of the long-term effects of COVID-19 will undoubtedly be more people working from home – bringing both advantages and disadvantages. But even if working from home proved to be wholly positive, that wouldn’t make it a good model for church; church isn’t a business – it’s a family. The New Testament is full of the language of ‘brother’ and ‘sister’ to describe Christians’ relationships to each other. Christians were people who ate together, and who lived out commands to ‘love one another’, ‘accept one another’ and ‘show hospitality to one another without grumbling’.

One of the big concerns for many of us at the moment is whether we will be able to meet up with family for Christmas. Christmas dinner via Zoom just wouldn’t cut it! If coming to church is no different to hearing a university lecture, then you could do it remotely. But if it’s a family meeting together in the special presence of God, any online equivalent will just be a pale shadow of the real thing.

None of this is to decry the use of technology. In 2020 I’ve had more online meetings with fellow church leaders in other parts of the country (and beyond) than ever before – some of which will continue post-COVID. In our own congregation we’ve long made use of the internet to post recordings of sermons. And while we stopped live-streaming our services once the shielding period came to an end, we are still glad to be able to provide a video link to housebound members.

Live-streamed services have provided a taster of church for many – but if the events of 2020 have stirred a spiritual interest in you, I would echo the words of Philip to someone curious about Jesus: ‘Come and see’.

Published in the Stranraer & Wigtownshire Free Press, 29th October 2020

Can we trust the Bible?

If the Bible can’t be trusted, Christianity falls apart. So can we trust it? Does the Bible have errors or contradictions? The short videos below give helpful answers to those questions:

How did we get the Bible?

Who decided which books make up the Bible? How do we know which books belong in the Bible and which books don’t?

The question is dealt with in the first 3 minutes of this video by Dr Michael Kruger (Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte):

It’s also answered in more detail below in a 13-minute video by Dr Robert Plummer (Southern Baptist Theological Seminary):

Update: For a short book on the subject, check out A Christian’s Pocket Guide to How we Got the Bible. Michael Kruger (above) comments: ‘Finally, we have an accessible book on the biblical canon that is answering the kind of questions ordinary Christians are asking. I highly recommend it.’