Latest / Clear Path Christianity / Why Every CULT Needs a Conspiracy || CPC Podcast Ep. 11
Transcript
- Cole Crone: doing so we did epistemology last time so now we're ⁓ we're doing a conspiracy mindset so every point so here's what I don't want you to do I don't want you to let me to go on for five minutes and then go hey ten minutes ago you could have explained this thing differently because then I've got to read then I've got to go back Yeah, I know. And I went on for what, 40? Yeah. Yeah, so we got to, yeah. I know, so if you stop me sooner, then I don't go on for five or ten minutes about something that's gonna knock. ⁓ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen. like it's ever been so hot in here. Am I pinging on this testing? So we're not doing a test recording, we're just, we don't have to. mean, okay. Okay. Can we just, that's something that we need to learn how to do because I know. I wish it showed it. Hello, Okay, all right. I just, that would be nice to know. It would be nice if we had somebody behind there that had headphones on. They could actually listen to it. So. Yeah, it's on. I mean, it's never not recorded, I guess. All right. Well, that was, we were on my phone. That was different. I don't know why I didn't do it that time. Yeah, that's fine. You're going to cut out the first few minutes every time. Okay, I'm trying to get started here. So I have a question. Are you currently in a group, a religious group that is claiming to be Christianity and have heard any of the following statements? They're hiding the truth. I want to say that different. They're hiding the truth from you. Mainstream Christianity has got it wrong for centuries. You can't trust scholars, pastors, or history because they're all corrupt. Have you heard any of those statements in your church? The instinct is to explain away disagreements as deception. ⁓ so hot in here. I'm having trouble getting rolling here. The no, I'm not a Burkies. The instinct to explain away all disagreements as deception is not a coincidence. Rather, it is a survival mechanism of virtually all high control religious systems. Not only do dangerous religious systems attempt to place themselves above all questioning, but they also often attempt to explain why questioning itself is dangerous. So in this episode, we're going to explore what I'm calling the conspiracy mindset, because I believe that the conspiracy mindset is at the bedrock of every high control religious system, specifically counterfeit Christian religious groups. So first, let's follow the logical chain. Okay. There is a, there is a five step logical chain that will expose how the conspiracy mindset works. Step number one, we have the truth. Some type of exclusivity claim, some kind of exclusive access to truth claim at the, at the foundation of your religious system. So now every worldview. or every worldview level ideology makes this particular claim. Very few worldviews out there are claiming no access to truth. Of course they exist, but very few people actually adhere to these because they don't work. But every worldview is making some sort of foundational truth claim, some kind of exclusive truth claim. Now, if there is sufficient reason to accept that truth claim, then there isn't a problem. Now, the problem comes in step number two. So we don't have a problem yet, just in step number one. We have the truth. Every worldview on offer is making some kind of truth claim. Okay. The problem comes at step two. Step two is that Others disagree. Okay, so we have access to truth, but others disagree. Now this is where the tension, the tension of this reality, ⁓ what am I trying to say? This is where the tension is as reality cannot correspond to opposing mutually exclusive claims. So ⁓ logically speaking, a truth claim cannot be both true and false in the same way at the same time. So for example, I'm married. I can't also be a bachelor. You see, those are mutually exclusive claims. So if worldview one is claiming that I'm married and worldview two is claiming I'm a bachelor, you see how those things cannot both be true in the same way at the same time in the same way. Okay. So there's there, there's the worldview level tension. Okay. Step number three, cranks up the intensity a little bit and creates a little bit more tension. Step three says, those who disagree are not just wrong, but they are deceived. So here's where there's an escalation, right? It isn't just we have truth and other people disagree. It's that we have truth, other people disagree, and they disagree because they're deceived. Okay. So in the absence of evidence for a group's truth claims or in the face of mounting evidence against a truth claim, high control religious groups will typically cite deceit as a reason for disbelief. Okay. So how am doing so far? Should I flip that around because that way I look into the camera. But if I flip that around, you have to watch it. Because someone needs to be watching that. So is it gonna be weird that I started the video looking over there and now I'm looking over here? Okay. So tracking so far? Okay. So now step four, this is a really important move. It isn't just that, okay, and again, I know I'm gonna repeat the steps, but I want you to memorize these because these are things I wish I had known 10 years ago when I was in a cult. So we have the truth. Again, that's fine. Every worldview is making an exclusive truth claim. Others disagree. Again, that's fine. Everybody, there's why there are different worldviews. Step number three turns up the heat a little bit and says that those who disagree do so because they're deceived. And step number four says that that deceit, that deception is purposeful. So that's where step number four adds, there's an active agent behind the deception. Okay, so at this point, you not only have no evidence. or contrary evidence, but you have a concerted effort to suppress the truth. Okay. So let me say that again at step number four, you not only have no evidence or contrary evidence, but you have an, an active attempt by some by some external force to suppress the truth. This is where you get an intentional corruption. At this point, you get an intentional corruption. Okay, and now step number five. This is where the loop completes itself. Okay, because step number five says you can't trust any outside source. Now this is where what I'm calling epistemic lockdown takes place. ⁓ there's, there's no, no, now there is, now there is no hope of finding truth within the group. You see, so not only has at this point, not only has your group established beliefs, right? Which what's wrong with that, right? No problem there. But they've, but it's also built this impenetrable fortress around those beliefs such that they cannot be questioned from within. Okay. So let's go through those five steps again, really quick. Step number one, we have truth. Step number two, Others disagree. Step number three, those who disagree with us are not just wrong, but they are deceived. Step number four, they are purposefully deceived. And step number five, you can't trust any outside source. That is the logical chain of the conspiracy mindset. That is how high control religious systems get their people hook line and sinker. to buy everything that's being sold. Okay. I'm gonna check my teeth to make sure there's not like anything in my teeth. I don't think there is either. How's my mustache look? Prominent? Prominent mustache? Okay, good. Okay, making sense so far? Okay, we'll hold them at time-wise. Okay. Okay, so the next thing I want us to ask, I want us be thinking about is, okay, why is this conspiracy mindset, why is this logical chain that produces the conspiracy mindset, why is this so convincing? And I think there are a few reasons, at least four that I can think of. ⁓ One is that it explains everything. It gives you your theory for everything. Let me give you some examples. ⁓ one disagreement equals deception. It's that easy. If, if there are people who disagree that, that is just deception. Anybody who says otherwise says otherwise because they are deceived. It's, it's, it's, it's real easy. That's a real simple, straightforward explanation that any Tom, Dick, and Harry can hear and understand. ⁓ Here's a second reframe. Criticism equals persecution. Pretty straightforward. You don't have to entertain the criticism because that's just a smear campaign. You don't have to worry about that too much. That's just persecution. And especially when these types of groups are Christian adjacent, they'll say things like, well, Jesus said they hate me and so they'll hate you. Real simple proof text I can use as a... want to be cult leader or as a leader in a high control religious system to immediately demonstrate that criticism is persecution. The third and perhaps the most dangerous is counter evidence is part of a coverup. If there's evidence against your position, that evidence exists because it's part of this conspiracy against your worldview. Okay, so the reason this is dangerous is because as I said, the system has no loose ends. Everything can be accounted for, right? You have your Stephen Hawking theory of everything. Step number two, or ⁓ what am I gonna say? Reason number two why this is so convincing is that it grants some type of special identity. Okay? ⁓ This might be reinforced in the form of statements such as, we are the remnant. only we understand truth. ⁓ my, my favorite, we've been chosen. Okay. Cause, cause what's, what's better, what could be better than being part of an exclusive remnant, an exclusive remnant that has exclusive access to truth. But you have that because you've been divinely chosen. You have this, you have this divine election behind this. special access that you have. Again, in spite of all of the exterior evidence to the contrary. So it isn't just enough to be right. The claim is that the group was divinely chosen. An even more powerful claim. Give a funny analogy. Wow. What a... Okay, give me one. Okay Yeah, that's I know okay, I just got one I got one let me tell you let me tell you we think Let me tell you we think he's talking in the background So I let me give you in it. Let me give you another analogy. I have I have high school aged kids ⁓ I know ⁓ Imagine that ⁓ not only have you Have you been given the opportunity to take the most attractive person in the school to the prom? But imagine sweetening the deal up. She's not come with you begrudgingly, but no, no, no, she's actually chosen you. Right. Anybody can, you know, invite the invite the pretty girl to the prom and you know, her mom might make you I'm thinking of Napoleon dynamite and her mom might, you know, make you go right or make her go. Right? But, but imagine how much sweeter is the deal if she actually chose you. You know, the hottest girl in the school chose you. Right? That's why this, that's why this sells so well. Okay. That's my analogy. So I don't know. Mama like it or not. You obviously don't, but that's fine. It's cause it plays into your system. Okay. The third reason why this is so and I've kind of touched on it already but the third reason why this is so powerful is because it removes What's what's called cognitive dissonance? now cognitive dissonance, I'm just going to read you a definition from ⁓ The Encyclopedia Britannica my favorite source for all things definition but encyclopedia the encyclopedia Britannica defines cognitive dissonance as The mental conflict that occurs when beliefs or assumptions are contradicted by new information. The unease or tension that the conflict arouses in people is relieved by one of several defense maneuvers. They reject, explain away, or avoid the new information, persuade themselves that no conflict really exists, reconcile the differences, or resort to any other defensive means of preserving stability or order in order that their conceptions of the world and of themselves. So, tell me. I just read you the definition. Okay. All right. Of she does. This is important, step number three. You don't think providing definitions is important, okay. Okay, maybe. Okay, we need to flash it on the screen then. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. All right. You got it. All right. So third, the third reason why this is ⁓ the third reason why this is so convincing, why these mechanisms are so powerful is because it removes cognitive dissonance. Now, Now, cognitive dissonance is just a fancy word that's basically how our minds and how our psyches ⁓ deal with information that makes us uncomfortable. Okay. So if you get, if you get information, new information, let's say you were raised in a extremely sheltered environment and you, let me, let me just, I'm going to pick on a certain demographic of people. No offense to you, okay? But homeschoolers. Let's say that you were homeschooled and you were raised by mom. And you only really know mom's worldview because mom's really the only person that you've ever been around. And then you turn 18 and you get a job and someone uses the F word. And you're like. You because you've never heard that before, right? Because you've only ever been around mom. No one is going to... Everyone watching this is going to know that I mean the F word when I say the F word. Okay. Okay. I'm trying to explain cognitive dissonance. Okay. So, okay. This is... ⁓ I know. All right. Okay. So the third reason why this is... why this framework is so powerful and why it's so convincing for people is because it removes what's called cognitive dissonance and cognitive dissonance is just a fancy psychological term for the way that we cope with information that conflicts with our worldview or conflicts with our preconceived notions of how the world works. Okay. So let me just give you an example. I'm going to pick on a certain demographic of person. Don't get offended. Don't type hate comments out because I'm picking on you, but imagine a kid who was homeschooled. Okay, so a kid who was homeschooled was brought up with mom and their whole worldview was built around mom and the way that mom thinks and believes and acts. And then let's say, you know, little Johnny flies the coop and gets his first job and he's confronted with a different worldview for the first time. Maybe he has a coworker who's Muslim or a coworker who's an atheist or whatever. And he's not operating. This person's not operating under the same framework that little Johnny has had because he was around mom until he was 18 years old. Right. So that, that, that friction, that tension within little Johnny is cognitive dissonance. And we tend to put up walls when information that conflicts with our worldview starts to come at us. Okay, there are a few things that we might do. ⁓ We might either reject or explain away or in some other way attempt to avoid the information, this conflicting information. We might try to deny that there's a conflict that's really there. ⁓ we might try to reconcile or integrate the information that is in conflict. There, there are a bunch of different things that we might do, but all of them kind of fall under this umbrella term of cognitive dissonance. Now, when you're in a high control religious system, you don't have this problem. There's, there's no need to wrestle with hard questions. There's no need to reevaluate worldview level beliefs. Because you've all your life, you've been told there are other worldview beliefs out there. They're just all wrong. And they're not just wrong, but the people who hold them are deceived, but you're, you've been informed. You've been selected to be in the know. So you won't fall for those sorts of things. You see, so that's why it removes that cognitive dissonance. It removes the potential for these, these times of crisis where, you know, ⁓ you're confronted with a different worldview for the first time. Better? Okay. The fourth and perhaps the most dangerous one, at least in my understanding, is that this process feels like biblical discernment. All of these systems that you put in place to keep yourself from challenging your worldview, from challenging your preconceptions of the world, challenging the things that you were raised believing, that feels like true, bona fide, genuine, biblical discernment. And so it's easy to keep doing. It's easy to believe you're doing so faithfully. It doesn't feel like paranoia, even though that's what it is, right? But rather, it feels like wisdom. Why, mean, I'm just, I'm not entertaining these strange spirits. I've been told that that's what they are, so I don't really need to take them seriously. Why would I take these demonic ideas seriously? Well, are they demonic ideas? Is that just what somebody told you? Have you actually looked into them? Have you actually seen that there are other worldviews? Have you actually challenged your beliefs? thoughts. Okay, so these four things work together to really reinforce this conspiracy mindset. That's why the conspiracy mindset becomes so convincing for adherence to these high control religious systems. Next, let's look at the human cost, right? We think to ourselves, or we might end up thinking to ourselves, what's the problem, right? So this person's in a particularly quirky religious system that, yeah, it has some beliefs that I don't really adhere to, and maybe it has some practices that are slightly abusive or whatever, but who cares, right? Live and let live, right? Well, I think that there's a actual human cost to these worldviews. Number one, think there's intellectual isolation. I grew up with this, 30 plus years of it. Intellectual isolation in that there is no meaningful input from the outside. Now I say no meaningful input from the outside because there is input from the outside, but it's already been framed as you know, deception from the enemy. And so you, it's easy to immediately disregard, right? The second thing is that, is my good there? Okay. The second thing is that there's, there's a high level of spiritual anxiety, right? Because you have this constant suspicion of everyone and everything around you, right? If you have a hammer in your hand, then everything looks like a nail. Right? So all I have to do if I want you pounding nails is to put a hammer in your hand. Right? So, so I just, I just have to bake this thing into you that then makes you constantly suspicious or, or, ⁓ constantly in fear of being deceived. Right? I can warn you about the deceptions. And I can tell you that you're better off not investigating outside sources, right? But to really reinforce that, I've got to keep the fear there at all times. This fear of being deceived. Third, there's this inability to self-correct. Okay? So when there's an inability to self-correct, Right. Because the group is closed and there's this logical chain of steps of this conspiracy mindset that we've gone through. And I've already explained why that's so convincing, but these errors actually compound over time. Right. I've used this analogy before, but ⁓ when Charles Manson began gathering followers, that the very first thing they did wasn't go out and murder a bunch of people, right? That was like the climax of the story. There were a thousand little things that he was doing day in and day out, often under, you know, ⁓ illicit substances and so on, right? That created this. These errors compounded over time to the point where, obviously this is on the extreme end, but you know the story of the Manson family, right? You get the Tate-LaBianca murders as a result of all of these compounding things. And then, and then ⁓ that leads me to this, this final human cost. And that is the, escalation, right? The, the, the longer these high control religious systems go on. the more extreme they tend to get. So because of step number three, or because of point number three where there is no way to... where there is no way to self-correct, you by nature get the escalation. Because there's nobody on the outside saying, you guys know that this is crazy, right? Like there was nobody saying, you know that like living out on a ranch in the middle of nowhere and doing drugs all the time is like bad for you, right? The Manson family never had that. And so they created this little echo chamber and of course that it... That's what always happens. Good? Okay. So let's look at the biblical, historical, ⁓ Christian contrast. I've told you a lot about what a group isn't supposed to look like or what I don't think a healthy group should look like. But what is this actually supposed to look like? And I think if you look at biblical, historical Christianity, you will see a number of contrasts. The first being that the gospel was public. not hidden. Okay? The gospel was preached openly. Jesus preached openly on hillsides, in the temple square, in the synagogues, anywhere and everywhere. And his apostles followed suit. Look at the apostle Paul in the book of Acts and all of the different settings into which he was willing to proclaim this truth. Wasn't hidden. Okay? It wasn't reserved only for certain insiders, but it was proclaimed openly. Second, the claims were meant to be examined. Again, I'm constantly bringing up the Bereans on this podcast. Acts 17 11, look at the Bereans. They're commended for their willingness to challenge Paul's teachings against their epistemic foundation, i.e. the scriptures. Okay. So you have Apics, apostolic preaching happening in public spaces. And, and, and not just, not just in, in, ⁓ settings that we're going to be friendly to the apostolic preaching. No, no, Paul, Paul goes into the synagogues as well as to the Areopagus and preaches to the Gentiles. see, so this, this, this indiscriminate preaching is inviting. ⁓ is inviting the hearers to examine the claims by definition. And that is because number three, the truth does not fear scrutiny. Right? There's no need for information control. There's no need to, ⁓ immediately discredit all opposition or, to preemptively discredit all opposition rather, because you just know that if you have the truth, the truth is by definition, ⁓ impenetrable from real defeaters. That's what makes it true. Right? So you, if you go back to our epistemology episode, you will know that in the, ⁓ true beliefs are, are true in the absence of compelling defeaters. Well, the truth is by definition, ⁓ able to withstand defeaters. And that's why it's proclaimed openly. in every setting and doesn't need to be ⁓ filtered in any way, or form. And number four, the fact that biblically, historically speaking, the church was never built on secrecy, ever. There is never a mention of a lost truth that was meant to be rediscovered at a... ⁓ at an in-disclosed future time only to a select few. There's no such thing in the biblical, historical, Christian worldview. So, Christianity doesn't spread through some kind of hidden knowledge, but rather it's spread because its claims could be declared and then subsequently examined in the open. So again, just read the book of Acts. The gospel is spread specifically because of the fact that its claims could be openly declared and openly examined. Okay. So I like to ask a few diagnostic questions. These are questions that I wish I had asked myself 10, 15, 20 years ago and didn't. Here are just a few. One. Am I being told that everyone outside my group is being or has been deceived? 2. Are outside sources dismissed or silenced before I'm even allowed to consider them? Number three, are questions seen as dangerous rather than something to be elevated or rather than something to be evaluated? And number four, does this system require a complex conspiracy to make sense of the world? Okay, again, we're talking about this conspiracy mindset. Every single solitary cult and high control religious system relies on some kind of high level conspiracy. But is that what the biblical, historical, Christian worldview requires? I definitely don't think so. So. Growing up in a cult, growing up in a high control religious system, I never stopped to consider a really important fact. I didn't realize that I was being kept from truth. Rather, I thought I was being protected from deception. And those are very different things. Right? The reverse was true, of course. I was being kept from truth. And I wasn't being protected from deception. Okay? But I was told that it was the other way around. Okay? If I had realized that it was actually truth that was being withheld, and I was actually living in deception, then... I would think that I would have made my choices, the choices that I ultimately made, sooner than I did. So any system that has to convince you that everyone else is lying is a system that is afraid to be tested. And so hopefully you have a few categories you can work with and you can apply to your own religious groups, whatever they might be, and see if you have ⁓ been coerced into this conspiracy mindset. thoughts. I went only too long, but I'm not.