Christian and Conspiracies

There seems to a habit of some in the Christian community to use phrases like “outrageous conspiracy theorist ” when referring to people, such as myself, who have taken the time to explore alternate models to explain the phenomena we are observing, namely that some people are getting sick and dying of something. Granted that there are some who listen to a convincing sounding hypothesis and immediately believe it is true and nefarious. 

My position is that any hypothesis that presents a new model should be considered and subject to experimentation. Interestingly enough, I have yet to talk to anyone who dogmatically adheres to the narrative and eschews alternate theories that has actually done much research on either spectrum. They accept the narrative because everyone “knows” there is a virus. Conversely there is the other type that reject it because some other model satisfies their default persuasions.

For two months now I have been consuming copious amounts of information and what I am concluding is that there are copious amounts of information I have not even touched. However, it is clear to me that this destruction of our society and economy is not an appropriate response given the actual facts. 

Church leaders who use the term “outrageous conspiracy theories” when referring to hypotheses they are thoroughly ignorant of are at best weak minded leaders. If we believe that Satan is the lord of this world, that he prowls around seeking to devour, that he is a liar, the father of lies and the truth is not in him, and then we see the state telling us that we cannot meet with our family and friends, engage in corporate worship, but we can go to the liquor store or a gay bath house, that the only way we’ll be safe is to implement a contact tracking system and vaccinate everyone on the globe, nuanced thinkers should pause for a moment and wonder what is really going on.

Romans 13 Revisited

I have been vocally opposed to the capitulation of churches to the decree of the state that they must “forsake the assembling together“. Romans 13 seems to be the primary driver (excuse) used by church leadership to justify this position.

The unfortunate translation of ἐξουσίαις ὑπερεχούσαις as “governing authority” appears to support the notion of the state as the object under discussion. I reflexively reject that notion, but recognize that doing so demands a reasoned alternate interpretation of the entire passage. While I am convinced the “superior power” is a better interpretation of ἐξουσίαις ὑπερεχούσαις I still have not arrived at a satisfactory understanding of the passage. I have been meditating on this for quite some time, convinced as I am that the state is not the object here.

As I was walking early this morning I was reflecting on how we always seem to start inquiry into things at the “how could that happen” phase. Take for example WTC 7 imploding and the question of controlled demolition. People always start their consideration with “how could someone do that and get away with it?” That is a fair question and one I don’t have an answer for, but it is the wrong place to start. The place to start is with “what actually happened” and to explain the “what” using logic and reasoning and the model which best fits the observed phenomena. Once the “what” has been demonstrated using a best fit model, it is incumbent on those proposing an alternate model to falsify the assertion of the previous model. How does Romans 13 relate to this?

As I have stated, my understanding of this passage is inconclusive, however if I start with the axiom that the bible is the inerrant word of God, than I should be able to use logic to falsify any predicate I may have based on an interpretation of any passage. So take Roman 13:3.

“For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same”.

If rulers, ἄρχοντες, refers to the state here than all one has to do is demonstrate an instance where the state has indeed acted as a terror to good works, which seems to me an extraordinarily easy thing to demonstrate. Once you have done that logic dictates that either

1. The Word of God is not inerrant. Or...
2. The ἄρχοντες and the ἐξουσίαις ὑπερεχούσαις are not referring to the state.

Is my logic flawed?

Easter Questions

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With Easter Sunday upon us, the government mandated stay-at-home fatwa in effect has prompted me to juxtapose two New Testament admonitions. I do this with the caveat that I am certainly guilty of not following the first for quite some time now. And of course, I think the second is utter foolishness; at least the parts I have highlighted.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Hebrews 10:23-25 

Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Romans 13:1-4

Clearly the obsequious submission of the general population to the irrational fear-mongering of the ruling class has in effect of destroyed the livelihood of a great many people. Not the least of these are the myriad of small-business owners who have courageously built their enterprises through hard work and risk taking, only to have them destroyed by the capriciousness of a clueless or nefarious ruling class. It seems that we the sheeple have been so thoroughly programmed to abandon reason at the slightest whiff of risk, that we all but stampeded to our safe-spaces, stopping only to make sure we had ample supplies of double-ply to help us weather the pandemic.

As someone who was weaned on the eschatology espoused most popularly by Hal Lindsey in his “Late Great Planet Earth” I cannot help but notice the eerie similarity to the end times scenario painted therein. However, this worldwide mad rush into totalitarianism is something I did not anticipate and would not have believed could happen. In retrospect though, how else can a New World Order be brought about except by the suspension of critical thinking of the hoi polloi? And what better mechanism to suspend the critical thinking of the masses than to induce widespread fear? And how better to prepare a population for mass control through fear then to feed them a steady diet of pandemic porn in the form of entertainment? It's almost as if we have been programmed or hypnotized and when the special word is spoken, we respond like Pavlovs dog. We bite into an onion and believe it's an apple.

So what should Christians do now? Hunker down, and giddily wait for the rapture? The prospect of being somehow snatched up off the earth before the SHTF strikes me as a dubious proposition at best. Assemble "virtually"? It seems to me like that is following the letter of the first admonition quoted above while missing the spirit of it, but who am I to say? I rarely go to Church anyway; and why should I? To sing songs about putting sloppy wet kisses on Jesus' cheek? I attended services last week for one reason. To resist the soft tyranny that is soon to morph into hard tyranny. To stand with one body of believers that has yet refused to kowtow.

In the early days of the Church believers met in secret, in catacombs whose locations were pointed to by the fish, ἰχθύς, the acronym for ιησου χριστου θεον υιον σωτερο, Jesus Christ Gods Son, Savior. Persecuted to the point of death, they nevertheless chose to defy the ruling class and did not forsake the assembling together, but rather joined each other beneath the ground; seeds being planted for a future harvest. And here we find ourselves two millennia later, the spiritual progeny of martyrs, dismissing Hebrews 10 in favor of Romans 13 because our corrupt rulers have said we must.

We need revival. I need revival.