Religious apocalyptic writings and conspiracy theories (hell, Revelation, Christianity, Christian)

[InsaneInDaMembrane]

After spending the past 5 years or so on Facebook and being led to every article imaginable about every sinister plot on earth, hatched up by governments (often only the U.S Government), elitist groups and “secret groups” to kill us all or enslave us all, my brain has become wearied. Just by reading so many articles, you don’t even want to go outside (because we’re being poisoned from the skies) or stay inside (because we’re being spied on through our TVs and computer monitors). Fear and suspicions are the order of the day.

What makes this so hard in this conspiracy fueled world of social media is the fact that so much falsehood (in my estimation) seems to be passing as “truth,” made more dangerous by the fact that well- meaning and good people, sometimes VERY eloquently, presenting an admixture of crazy speculations (in my estimation) and actual truth. For them, the world is black and white. Every war, uprising, ethnic tension is U.S sponsored. Every disease was farmed in a lab. The president (does not matter who) is up to no good and mean us all harm. So, every world event, no matter how small, once it gets the attention of the media, is a sinister plot by someone to grab something.

Does this mean there are not institutionalized and well-orchestrated things put in place to keep certain things in place that benefits others? I am pretty sure there are because I have my own gripes, but the idea that there is a “secret den” of sinister powers trying to destroy us all reminds me so much of one of the greatest written conspiracies of all time – the Book of Revelation. While it was written in highly symbolic language, the message was clear and is somewhat reminiscent of today – a big, bad, evil entity is out to destroy us all. I am not saying the writer was entirely wrong in his assessment, but I just found it interesting that hyping such things are nothing new.

Thoughts?

[John F S]

1. By your own admission, you have listened to too much paranoid garbage - probably from ultra-ultra-conservative sites. That has been your mistake. To be honest, I feel sorry for you for wasting your time with that crap.
2. To link the Book of Revelation with that garbage is idiotic. If you don't believe in it, that's fine. Then don't.

[InsaneInDaMembrane]

Well, that escalated quickly.

[Hyker]

Hello InsaneInDaMembrane.

I think there are many who would argue that if the Book of Revelation was connected to any conspiracy, it would be the not-at-all-secret conspiracy of the Roman Empire to stamp out Christianity at the time of Revelation's authorship. Under this paradigm, one should search for the lessons to be learned in these historical events rather than making any projections for future events.

That said, be it godless scientists seeking to destroy god-centered thought by teaching evolution, goverent officials covering up the reality of an alien invasion, or any other such speculation that involves a far-reaching conspiracy, I would strongly suggest that you take these stories with a grain of salt...or better still don't take then at all.

Far-reaching conspiracies require an awful lot of people to cooperate and keep their mouths shut. You just can't get that many people to work together without things going wrong. Even small "conspiracies" are hard to keep a lid on...just ask Oliver North or Monica Lewinski.

Thanks.