24 Comments

That wouldn't have been Monkton Combe, would it? I never went, but I have fond memories of my uncle, a long-time housemaster there, now promoted to glory.

Expand full comment

Thanks James - really enjoying these. Plenty of ill-formed wonderings prompted. Might see if they've materialised next time I log on to Patreon. This makes me curious to see which incompetencies are happening in North Korea right now. And it raises weird questions about how totalitarianism lasts as long as it does. Which backs up your dark forces point. It's just one other way we dance to the devilish tune of the Ephesians 1&2 lot Jesus totally subdues when we reject wholesale the One who has subdued them.

Expand full comment

James Coulson of the Watergate Scandal put it this way: “I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Every one was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison. They would not have endured that if it weren't true. Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in the world-and they couldn't keep a lie for three weeks. You're telling me 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible.”

Expand full comment

The Greatest conspiracy of all time

Nice try James!

You write “ This is a secret conspiracy that is true. It is also the one that Christians do not need to worry about. The fact is there are dark forces at large in the world. The Bible, which is not fictional, tells us about Satan.”

You claim the bible is not fictional without any evidence to support your assertion but you know it written by men in a strongly paternalistic era when power resided in those who could retain followers. It claims to document what happened about 2000 years ago but you know these earliest fragments were not written contemporaneously with the events they purport to record and you have no way of knowing they are reporting the truth or merely creating a myth to support their vision of how people should live their lives.

On the other hand you also claim ideas such as rigged elections, deep state etc are conspiracy theories, which may be true, but at least with them there is at least contemporary documentation that can be used question or validate the truth of these ideas.

And then you come up with your own greatest conspiracy of all time - “Dark Forces” and “And there are plenty of evil spirits and demons that Western Christians, especially conservative evangelical types, do not talk about”, with no evidence to support it - your very own Dan Brown!

Hugh

Expand full comment