Conspiracies

Simple explanations about things that happen are sometimes not enough for people. This, according to writer Vicki Santillano, in an article appearing in the Chicago Sun-Times[1], is why people latch on to conspiracy theories. From the John F. Kennedy assassination, to Elvis, the first moon landing, and Shakespeare, conspiracies have a life of their own, and can endure for quite some time.

At the time of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, religious leaders plotted a conspiracy theory that possibly lasted a generation. They told the soldiers guarding Jesus’ tomb to say that Jesus’ disciples had stolen the body, so that they could say Jesus rose from the dead (Matthew 28:11-15). But that theory has not endured, because the overwhelming evidence demonstrates that Jesus did rise from the dead, and later ascended into heaven.

Conspiracy theories are comfort food for people looking for some deeper meaning, a scientific explanation. Disbelieving the reports they get about events that occur, they comfort themselves with the knowledge that there is a different, darker, more sinister explanation. To say that a UFO (piloted by aliens from beyond the earth) crashed near Roswell, New Mexico in 1947 can explain things like wondrous inventions and unexplained phenomena in the sky.

But Jesus came to earth, lived among us, died, rose and ascended, all as part of God’s “conspiracy theory of one,” that there is one way to the Father, and we are blessed to have faith in the One who has come for all people.

[1] “Vicki Santillo, a writer for the online women’s magazine "Divine Caroline," lives in San Francisco. Her article was reprinted in the Chicago Sun-Times, Saturday, May 30, 2009.