Corona and Conspiracies

The recent pandemic coupled with sheltering-in-place has led some to surmise about all kinds of conspiracy theories. Contemplating unfounded theories from the comfort of our home might be an innocent exercise if it were not for our ability to broadcast them to the world. Private speculations have become public proclamations and this has led many Christians to engage in the practice of spreading falsehoods, whether intentionally or not.

In 1 Timothy 1:4, Christians are instructed not to “devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies which promote speculations.” Myths is a broad term that can refer to any number of things, but as Philip Towner points out “it can stand as a category meaning essentially falsehood.” Andreas Kostenberger says of endless genealogies that “they’re of a highly conjectural and irrelevant nature: they’re both pointless and fruitless.” A few verses later in 1 Timothy, Christians are warned against involving themselves in “vain discussions.” Although the apostle Paul certainly did not have conspiracy theories in mind when he penned 1 Timothy, it would be remiss of us not to notice that what Paul is describing aligns with most modern conspiracy theories.

Instead of involving ourselves in fruitless discussions, we should seek to encourage and build others up with our speech and social media posts. We should be a people known for speaking truth rather than passing along meaningless speculations. We should avoid sharing any lie or falsehood whether we mean to or not. We must pay attention to how we speak of others. It is not proper for Christians to spread hatred of any kind. We are to assume the best of others, a principle that many conspiracy theories violate. Most of all, the aim of our interactions with others should be love. We are to love our neighbors with what we say and post online.

“Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you.” (Proverbs 4:24)