Conspiracies: The Danger of Untruths

What is this article about? It is about the potential pitfalls of searching the internet to understand world events and political trends, as well as medicine and other health ideas.

Maybe it is better to ask the opposite question: What is this article not about? It is not about picking certain conspiracy theories, fabricated news stories or questionable health remedies and telling you they are untrue.

I do not pretend I could accomplish that in this article. Any theory or idea I would pick—that I personally feel is thoroughly and factually debunked—would alienate part of my intended audience. Some would disagree with my reasoning and tune out. You will see that is the exact opposite of my purpose here. It is the opposite of what anyone on The Pillar of the Truth staff is trying to accomplish.

But let’s cut to the chase. Conspiracies and fringe thinking are everywhere today. People across the political spectrum fall prey.

This is where it gets tricky for Christians. We are told to watch world events diligently (Luke 21:36). We yearn and pray for God’s Kingdom to come (Matt. 6:10). These commands of God can inadvertently color our personal news watching and analysis. We can sometimes fall into ideas that are simply untrue because they seem to fit what the Bible says will occur at the end of the age.

Not too long ago, conspiracy theories were easier to pin down and debunk. Illuminati symbols on a dollar bill. Silly. The government using black helicopters to spy on average citizens. Highly unlikely. The United States never landed a man on the moon. Preposterous. On this last one, the sheer amount of people that would have to be in on the ruse is astonishing. As a famous astrophysicist said: “Do you realize what that would take? It would be so hard to fake a Moon landing, it’s easier to just go. The laws of physics enable it—get over it.”

Classic conspiracy theories tend to take over an individual’s life. One can become obsessed with connecting all the dots and seeing what is “really” going on.

Such ideas are exciting and titillating. They scream out to be shared on social media. They demand to be told to family members and co-workers…really, anyone who will listen.

Such conversations and encounters are awkward at best. Usually, they are highly uncomfortable and leave a bad taste in the unwilling listener’s mind. At worst, they can cause a rift between two or more individuals.

We need to be honest. Are modern conspiracy theories really any different? When we hear a scandalous piece of information or read about an alleged government cover-up, the urge to tell others quickly follows. And beyond conspiracies, there are what can be labeled untruths—lies and misinformation so often repeated that they become solidified as fact in the minds of many. These and countless other false news stories are all begging to be found and shared with others.

Another Catch-22 for Christians is that we desire to know the truth in all things. That is why this magazine has the name it does. Same with our flagship newsmagazine, The Real Truth.

Yet a desire for the truth can lead us to concoct our own ideas of what is occurring in the world. If we believe something might be happening, we can find “evidence” to support our point. It is easier than ever to support a claim, and—voila!—a new pet idea is born.

So how do you avoid the pitfalls of modern conspiracy thinking? How do you avoid the spiritual problems that stem from believing and sharing false—or even just potentially false—information or ideas?

People of Truth

We serve a God of truth, which makes our desire for truth in all things even more understandable. He called us into His truth, which is mentioned many times throughout Scripture:

• “Lead me in Your truth, and teach me: for You are the God of my salvation; on You do I wait all the day” (Psa. 25:5).
• “Withhold not You Your tender mercies from me, O Lord: let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me” (Psa. 40:11).
• “Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth: unite my heart to fear Your name” (Psa. 86:11).
• “Sanctify them through Your truth: Your word is truth” (John 17:17).

The Bible is truth. We can anchor our hopes to that truth and fully rely on it.

Scripture helps us identify God’s truth. And there are mechanisms in place if we start to go astray. If we find ourselves getting into numerology, sacred names or unbalanced prophetic speculation—our spiritual mother, the Church, is there to help guide her children. The Church’s literature and ministry are there to steer us clear of odd doctrinal thinking.

While studying the Bible, you may find some interesting tidbit of information. Something you have never heard others say before. Such moments can be exhilarating and exciting—and they sometimes can lead us to understand our calling or the mind of God in a deeper way. Other times, we may be drifting into problematic territory. When you mention it to another member or your minister, they may say something like: “I’ve never heard that before, be careful to stick to established doctrine.” Or “While that’s interesting, I wouldn’t dwell on Bible speculation too much.”

When you move outside of spiritual matters, things get trickier. As people of truth, how do you find the truth of what is going on in the world?

The fact is this: You cannot. You will never fully know exactly what is going on in the world. You must accept that. Attempting to do otherwise will lead to research in the internet’s darkest corners. What will inevitably rise to the surface is conspiracy thinking, fringe ideas and fake news.

Piggybacking Knowledge

Our brains use shortcuts to be incredibly efficient. We rely on collective knowledge so we do not have to constantly prove or reprove certain things. This can be a double-edged sword.

A New York Times article helped explain this phenomenon: “Consider some simple examples. You know that the earth revolves around the sun. But can you rehearse the astronomical observations and calculations that led to that conclusion? You know that smoking causes cancer. But can you articulate what smoke does to our cells, how cancers form and why some kinds of smoke are more dangerous than others? We’re guessing no. Most of what you ‘know’—most of what anyone knows—about any topic is a placeholder for information stored elsewhere, in a long-forgotten textbook or in some expert’s head.”

“This is especially true of divisive political issues. Your mind cannot master and retain sufficiently detailed knowledge about many of them. You must rely on your community. But if you are not aware that you are piggybacking on the knowledge of others, it can lead to hubris.”

That hubris—excessive pride or self-confidence—can be even more dangerous if your news-gathering community deals in fringe thinking or conspiratorial ideas. Same with health treatments.

Hubris. Pride. Self-confidence. These words start to open up why conspiracies and untruths become so enticing. One, we often do not think they are untrue. But, two, they play directly into our human nature—namely, in the form of vanity.

I have information no one else knows, a person thinks. Those poor people are not “in the know.” Let me illuminate what is going on…

Vanity can mean the excessive belief in one’s own abilities. That describes so much of the world we live in today. Revelation 3:14-22 likens society at the end of the age to “Laodicea,” a word that can mean the people rule, judge and decide. While this applies to many Christians today, it is also the prevailing attitude guiding the entire world.

Everyone decides for themselves what is true: What is going on in the world. What is right and wrong.

But this should come as no surprise. This is the same thing that has been going on since the very beginning. Think of Eve in the Garden of Eden. Satan told the first woman an untruth. She decided to believe it and ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Notice: “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat” (Gen. 3:6).

She saw, she desired to be wise, she took and ate. She then shared it with her husband.

That tree did not give Adam and Eve the wisdom to discern true right from wrong. Instead, it empowered them to decide for themselves right from wrong—rejecting knowledge from God.

In the internet age, everyone is left to themselves to discern right from wrong. The results are disastrous.

Just because we have God’s Spirit does not mean we are immune to human nature. The modern world is the Laodicean attitude on steroids. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is alive and well in the 21st century.

We must be vigilant! I Corinthians 10:12 certainly applies here: “Wherefore let him that thinks he stand take heed lest he fall.”

The Fruit of Untruth

So you have read something speculative on the internet—it may or may not be accurate. You may have heard some salacious bit of “news” about a world leader. Or you may have pieced together a theory of what is going on with a news event. So far, these ideas have all remained on the individual level.

Yet it rarely stays that way. Our human nature screams out for us to share these thoughts. This brings out the even greater dangers that stem from conspiracies, fringe thinking and untruths.

Galatians 5 lists sinful “works of the flesh.” It says they are “manifest,” which means obvious. They are readily apparent—or certainly the effects they cause are.

Verse 19 shows this is definitely the case: “Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness.” Cheating on your spouse, premarital sex, impurity and unbridled lust are all clearly sin.

The same goes for the works listed in verse 20: “Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies.”

Take a closer look at heresies. Clearly, that word applies to heretical thinking regarding Church doctrine. Yet heresies can also apply to conspiracies and untruths.

The Greek word translated heresies simply means “sect” or “one’s chosen opinion.” The Pharisees and Sadducees were two such “sects.” They were groups who believed certain things—had a set of chosen opinions. They believed their ways were right and everyone else was wrong.

Most do not realize that many of their news beliefs or pet health ideas are actually opinions. Or the facts are not settled on a matter. They freely share their ideas as fact. They dig in their heels and insist they are right.

The results of such encounters are “manifest.” It is the works of the flesh that we have been discussing: “hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division” (Gal. 5:20, New Living Translation).

Anytime we are in a conversation that spirals into quarreling, outbursts of anger and division, we must stop ourselves and examine what we are doing and what we believe.

Verse 21 lays out a stark warning about the works of the flesh: “They which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.”

We must be incredibly careful what we bring up in conversation. Of course, this applies to fellowship with brethren. But we should also tread lightly if discussing politics and news ideas with co-workers and others.

This helps to fulfill Romans 12:18: “If it be possible, as much as lies in you, live peaceably with all men.”

We all know we should not preach to others—to force doctrines and Bible verses on unwilling participants. Doggedly asserting non-doctrinal ideas and opinions as fact should be viewed similarly—it is really just preaching without using Scripture.

Consider carefully: Our words and deeds are how God’s truth will be painted in the minds of people with whom we come in contact. As much as is in our power, we never want to do anything that can make “the way of truth…evil spoken of” (II Pet. 2:2).

The context of this Bible verse is an extreme example, but we do not want to do anything that could make God’s truth fall into ill repute.

Tactics to Apply

Those guided by God’s Spirit want the same thing. They do not want to cause division. They do not want to fall prey to vanity and pride. They do not want to tarnish the public’s perception of God’s Church.

So how do we avoid all that concerning conspiracies and pet ideas?

First, know when something is an opinion or speculation. Make sure to differentiate that from fact. Do not go into a conversation asserting a point and presenting it as proven if it is not. Do not fight tooth and nail defending your position.

Even before that, do not spend time feeding those opinions or ideas until they become “fact” in your mind.

If you are unsure of the veracity of a fact or news story, it may be better to avoid it in conversation.

You may need to revamp your news and information-gathering habits. Generally, it is best to stick to big, long-established, reputable sources. Make no mistake, they will have biases. Some will be more liberal, and some more conservative. But bias does not mean “fake news.” Those are two different things.

Learn to see through the biases of individual news sources. Yes, The New York Times is left-center on the political spectrum. That will color its content, but its reporting tends to be highly factual. The Wall Street Journal is right-center and is known to be a highly credible newspaper. Reuters and The Associated Press have very little political bias and both are extremely reliable with factual reporting. These assessments were made by Media Bias/Fact Check. It and similar third-party organizations can help you research news outlets and determine whether they are worth your time.

Be careful with cable news. Across the board, these news outlets deal a lot in opinion and are known to lack credibility. Avoid making them your only source of news—and it is a good idea to fact-check what you do get from there.

Said one more way: Media bias does not mean a widespread conspiracy. That all the papers are “in on it.” Instead, we must learn to see through the bias to the established facts.

One way to know if you are sticking with the right stories is to study what is posted by The Real Truth. We work hard to publish only reputable news stories. We also strive to avoid speculation and stories that stir up emotion while lacking substance. Use this as a guideline for what news you should be watching.

The Real Truth avoids a lot of news stories because they would detract from our ability to live up to the publication’s name. If we cannot know for certain, we admit it and move on. That is a good practice for any news watcher.

In everything, be humble. If someone brings up a fact that clashes with what you believe or have heard previously, avoid escalating. Check the fact later. You may have been wrong, and the other person has helped you change your thinking.

Can You Know?

Make no mistake: there are conspiracies on planet Earth. Anyone with basic knowledge of human nature understands that some groups are perfectly willing to commit covert crimes to gain advantage, power or wealth.

However, the idea of well-known international organizations, with widely varied and often conflicting interests, somehow working together behind the scenes over decades—always conspiring but never quite achieving their secret goals—becomes silly when examined in the light of reason. This is perhaps most true with theories that involve groups such as the United Nations, which have bureaucracies that make meeting even their publicly stated goals difficult, never mind covert agendas.

Is there any way to know what is true?

There are ultimately three positions one can hold on these theories: First, they are all true—which is definitely not the case! Even if they were reality, there would be nothing you could do about them. Second, they are all false and obviously should not command your time and energy. Third, they are a mixture of both, and there is no way to know which is which. If this is the case, what is the point of delving into them?

One terrible result of these ideas is that untold hours of human energy and attention, which theorists might otherwise have put toward productive ends—for example, using the tools of Christian growth!—vanish in a cloud of smoke.

Allow Philippians 4 to guide everything you do regarding your information gathering. Verse 8: “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

The vast majority of our time should be spent on things that are true, honest and of a good report. Anything else is simply not worth our time.

In every conversation, avoid anything that can delve into the works of the flesh we examined in Galatians 5:20: hostility, quarreling, outbursts of anger and division.

Instead, ensure your interactions with others bear the fruits of God’s Holy Spirit, listed a few verses later: “Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law” (vs. 22-23).