No, seriously. It’s true.

Did you know I heard that Taylor Swift is actually a ROBOT! Yes! You might also be interested to know that she was sent here from the planet Triskaideka to infiltrate our culture and turn teen and pre-teen women into an army of football-worshiping zombies! 

I mean, think about it! Up until 17 years ago, no one had ever heard of Taylor Swift! And then suddenly BOOM! There she is! Walking around, writing hit songs! Apparently the Triskaidekians are very patient people, willing to play the long game in their pursuit of world domination. My cousin’s best friend’s girlfriend read it all on the internet, and you KNOW she wouldn’t lie. 

Just kidding! I made all that stuff up. 

But aren’t conspiracy theories fun?

As I might have mentioned before, I am a long-time fan of the Kansas City Chiefs professional football team (from WAAAAY before it was cool). As such I am amazed and amused right now at all the Taylor Swift conspiracy theories swirling around… especially in relation to the upcoming U.S. presidential election. “Mind-boggling” and “head-scratching” are two of the gentler phrases I might use to describe these theories. 

Here is a question for you: why do you suppose we keep concocting and entertaining conspiracy theories? What gives them life? What sustains them? From chemtrails to the JFK assassination to Area 51 to George Soros to Malaysian Air Flight 17… we feel the need to paint pictures of vast secret cabals of evildoers at work, responsible for everything wrong under the sun.

I also wonder why the people plotting to do harm always seem to be so much better organized and effective than the people seeking to do good. 

It might be good for me to check the literature at this point. I am sure many sociologists, psychologists, and theologians have opined at length on reasons for conspiracy theories. And I am sure they have come up with many good, solid theories.

But here is my theory… unencumbered by the fetters of research of any kind. I believe we humans cook up conspiracy theories because we are AFRAID. We are afraid to face the reality of our duality. 

It’s like this: when we humans get the slightest whiff of the fact that we are each innately capable of both GOOD and BAD, LOVE and HATE, REFINEMENT and CRASSNESS, we take off and run the other way as fast as we can.

We would much rather believe in the idea that we (the person in the mirror and his/her close friends and family) are basically good, upright, moral people who just happen to mess up once in a blue moon. And so, we reason, if the world consists of billions of folks just like us, how could there be things like war, mass starvation, plane crashes, assassinations, stock market crashes, and NFL teams who become dynasties?

(Sorry. Not sorry.) We conclude that there HAS to be a powerful, secret, organized force at work making all of these bad things happen… to serve their own nefarious ends, no doubt.

When the truth is actually much simpler. Each of us – as the Apostle Paul and the writers of the TV show Breaking Bad so eloquently pointed out – has the capacity for BOTH good and evil residing within us. In his letter to the Roman believers, Paul made this startling confession: “For the desire to do the good lies close at hand, but not the ability.  For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.” (Romans 7:18-19, NRSVU). 

This from the guy who arguably did more to advance the Christian faith than any person not named Jesus of Nazareth. 

Sorry to burst any bubbles here, but there are no Grand Conspiracies at work… either in the National Football League, or in the world in general. There are just a bunch of us messed up people who occasionally feed the wrong wolf and let the demons leak out. 

Which is why we each must be SO dependent on God’s grace. God’s grace cleans the slate. God’s grace bags up and tosses away your past. God’s grace hands us each the gift of a new beginning, regardless of what we have done before. 

All we need to do is ACCEPT that free gift. 

Quoting once more from this same man who could not contain his own evil impulses; “… where sin increased, grace abounded all the more…” (Romans 5:20, NRSVU).

Abundant blessings;