The Challenge of Our Culture- Part 3

The final mindset I will mention is the presence of conspiracy. This is seen in so many areas that mentioning all of them would be next to impossible. Translations and translators, denominations, banks, various ethnic groups, and UFOs are all groups that I have heard blamed for widespread conspiracy to control men and destroy the world or intentionally prepare the world for the Antichrist! If these were just the pet theories of some odd ducks in the back pew, we would face enough of a challenge. However, this is unfortunately not the case. Each of the groups mentioned above has been blamed for these widespread conspiracies by men in positions of teaching and preaching authority in my own hearing!

Conspiracy theories are hard to refute, largely because those believing them will ignore any other possibilities regarding their observations or ideas. For example, a man may believe that the Illuminati have installed the photo monitering at the local intersection so that they can track the movement of independent Baptists. When you tell him that the Department of Transportation did so he narrows his eyes and tells you they are simply pawns in the hands of the Illuminatti. When you state that the cameras are there to catch those who would speed and run traffic lights he marvels at your naive thoughts. After all, any fool could tell you that if they simply wanted to do that they would post a policeman at the intersection. Your reply that the police staff is stretched thin with the growing population and the technology in question allows them to be deployed in other important places of duty is met with disdain. Don't you know that the ratio between crimes committed and policemen in service is two to one? Surely the police can handle that much crime! Your objections that not every officer is on duty at the same time and that not every officer is "on the beat" and that investigating crime is not the only task of the staff go nowhere as well. They have officers which you are not aware of..., etc.

I do not have the answers to dealing with this mindset, except to say that I have noted the churches which have solid expositional preaching are much less likely to harbour these theories in their midst. Perhaps if our worldview is gleaned more from the Bible than the Daily Reporter or National Enquirer...?