“I once spoke with a sincere Christian friend who was convinced the coordinated terrorist attack on 9/11 was a U.S. government-controlled operation. But when I began raising questions, problems, or pointing out what I believed were inconsistencies, he would easily reply, “But that’s what they want you to believe.” In other words, any skepticism or evidence I raised against the conspiracy theory turned out to be part of the conspiracy theory itself.”
(Aaron Brake- Stand To Reason)The oldest and earliest documented naturalistic explanation for the empty tomb and resurrection of Jesus was a conspiracy theory: The disciples did it. The disciples stole the body. This account, given by the Jewish religious leaders of the day, is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew:
[S]ome of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’” … And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day. (Matt. 28:11–15)[1]
Conspiracy theories are nothing new; in fact, they seem to abound nowadays. From the Islamic terrorist attack on 9/11, to the Flat Earth Society (with members around the globe), the Apollo 11 moon landing, and more recently, the supposed use of crisis actors during staged mass shootings, there is no shortage of speculations, conjectures, and often outright false narratives going viral on the internet.
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