No Fear, No Profits of Doom

One of the crazier things I've seen in modern Christianity - and particularly during my journeys through the more conservative parts of Protestant Christianity - is an abundance conspiracy theories. It's not that they're necessarily wrong - some may be right and some have a grain of truth, though perhaps others lack evidence of reality. What I have an issue with, though, is the fear implicit in so many that I've heard.

Among the most memorable sets of conspiracy theories I've heard are those based on Revelation 13:18, which talks about the number of the beast being 666, which is tattooed on people's hands and/or foreheads, and without which they can't buy or sell.

Now, to be clear, that passage is in the Bible, so I accept it as being true. But it's also the case that there's a lot of room to interpret what it means, and its implications for Christians. And while many interpretations I've heard seem plausible (such as RFID devices being implanted or personal ID numbers being tattooed similar to the concentration camps of World War II), none is conclusively provable. Hence, any specific interpretation is only a theory.

But what is not subject to valid conjecture is the idea that this should cause fear in the hearts of those who would not receive this marking or device because of their Christian faith. Such a fear of anything or anyone other than God is simply not a Christian attitude. To quote 1 John 4:18 (ESV), "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear."

The relevance of this observation to this blog/book is that within the Catholic Church I've seen a lot fewer conspiracy theories that have implicit in them the idea that we need to be afraid. In fact, it's one of the things I appreciate about the Catholic Church's authoritative teaching on such matters, which makes it harder for charlatans and prophets of doom to creep in and sell fear to reap profits.

None of which means we should be naïve or dismiss the prospect of bad things happening. Rather, freed from fear, we can be able to more objectively consider and understand the possibility of things that could have an apparently negative impact on us in this life, secure in the assurance that the end of this life is just the beginning.

Or, to quote Matthew 10:16 (ESV), "Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves."

(Copyright (c) 2011, Reg Harbeck, all rights reserved)