Announcement

Collapse

Christianity 201 Guidelines

orthodox Christians only.

Discussion on matters of general mainstream evangelical Christian theology that do not fit within Theology 201. Have some spiritual gifts ceased today? Is the KJV the only viable translation for the church today? In what sense are the books of the bible inspired and what are those books? Church government? Modern day prophets and apostles?

This forum is primarily for Christians to discuss matters of Christian doctrine, and is not the area for debate between atheists (or those opposing orthodox Christianity) and Christians. Inquiring atheists (or sincere seekers/doubters/unorthodox) seeking only Christian participation and having demonstrated a manner that does not seek to undermine the orthodox Christian faith of others are also welcome, but must seek Moderator permission first. When defining “Christian” or "orthodox" for purposes of this section, we mean persons holding to the core essentials of the historic Christian faith such as the Trinity, the Creatorship of God, the virgin birth, the bodily resurrection of Christ, the atonement, the future bodily return of Christ, the future bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust, and the final judgment. Persons not holding to these core doctrines are welcome to participate in the Comparative Religions section without restriction, in Theology 201 as regards to the nature of God and salvation with limited restrictions, and in Christology for issues surrounding the person of Christ and the Trinity. Atheists are welcome to discuss and debate these issues in the Apologetics 301 forum without such restrictions.

Additionally and rarely, there may be some topics or lines of discussion that within the Moderator's discretion fall so outside the bounds of mainstream orthodox doctrine (in general Christian circles or in the TheologyWeb community) or that deny certain core values that are the Christian convictions of forum leadership that may be more appropriately placed within Unorthodox Theology 201. NO personal offense should be taken by such discretionary decision for none is intended. While inerrancy is NOT considered a requirement for posting in this section, a general respect for the Bible text and a respect for the inerrantist position of others is requested.

The Tweb rules apply here like they do everywhere at Tweb, if you haven't read them, now would be a good time.

Forum Rules: Here
See more
See less

2 Thess 2:11 The Great Delusion = social media?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #16
    Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
    Not just "appears" to be untrue

    Source: US election: Viral photos claim Donald Trump stealing mailboxes


    A series of viral photos have been misleadingly used to spread claims that US President Donald Trump is attempting to sabotage the US Postal Service to steal the upcoming election.

    Mr Trump has voiced concerns in recent weeks about Democrats’ push for expanded mail-in voting, arguing it will lead to a rise in voter fraud.

    He argues he is not opposed to absentee ballots, which the voter must apply for, but rather universal mail-in voting schemes in states like California and Nevada, where ballots are automatically sent to every registered voter.

    Democrats say they want more people to cast mail-in ballots to prevent exposure to the coronavirus. They have accused Mr Trump of attempting to suppress the vote – and pre-emptively cast doubt on the results should he lose.

    Former President Barack Obama has accused his successor of trying to “actively handicap” the Post Office, while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called an emergency sitting of the House of Representatives next week to address to supposed crisis.

    Comments by Donald Trump last week appeared to vindicate the conspiracy theories, with the President saying he opposed Democrats’ push for more funding for the Post Office because “that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting”.

    As the hysteria grows – more than 100 protesters gathered outside the North Carolina home of postmaster general Louis DeJoy earlier this week – photos of mailboxes being locked or removed on flatbed trucks have flooded social media as supposed evidence of the scheme.

    One hugely viral tweet posted by former basketball player Rex Chapman this week showing locked mailboxes was retweeted more than 25,000 times. “Burbank, California. In your entire life have you ever seen a LOCKED mailbox at the USPS?” he wrote. “Now you have. A disgrace and immediate threat to American democracy. Shame on them. Shame on the GOP.”

    The tweet was quickly debunked, with a 2016 news article explaining mailboxes had been locked in the same fashion after a series of “fishing” thefts. “We do this where we have had incidents, or there is a problem where the box may be out in a not very well lit public place,” a spokesman said at the time. “The boxes have been retrofitted all over Southern California.”

    Another social media user also chimed in. “This is my post office,” she wrote. “These mailboxes are open on the other side, you just have to get out of your car to mail them. It’s been this way for months. This isn’t part of the purge.”

    In another massively viral tweet, activist Thomas Kennedy posted a Reuters photo of mailboxes stacked in an industrial yard. “Photo taken in Wisconsin,” he wrote. “This is happening right before our eyes. They are sabotaging USPS to sabotage vote by mail. This is massive voter suppression and part of their plan to steal the election.”

    But in a lengthy thread, photojournalist Gary He explained that the photo was taken at Hartford Finishing Inc., a company which powder coats and refurbishes old mailboxes. “They have been there for years,” he said.

    He accused Reuters of being deliberately misleading by sending a photographer to take pictures but posting them to its wire service labelling the site as just as an “industrial lot”. “To find this location on Google, you have to search for ‘Hartford Finishing’,” he wrote.

    “It’s a side road, not like you can spot the mailboxes from a highway. The sign for the business is 20 feet away from the mailboxes. To omit all this from the caption is journalistic malpractice.” He added that “telling the full story and context is everything”. “This is an intentional omission,” he said.

    “Especially since Reuters is a wire service, other news (organisations) are going to use these pictures as evidence of Trump tampering with the USPS. When it’s later revealed that it was just a place where mailboxes get refurbished, trust in news organisations is further eroded.”

    A Reuters spokesperson told National Review that the initial captions only “provided brief details” and had now been updated. The captions now state that the boxes are stacked at a “sandblasting and painting company”, but adds “people who live nearby said the pile had grown noticeably larger in recent weeks”.

    A fact check by USA Today noted that a Google Street View image from August 2019 shows stacks of mailboxes far larger than the ones in the viral photos. “The photo in question is of a vendor we have done business with for several years,” a USPS spokesperson said. “They are a contractor that repairs or destroys old collection boxes. They now make new collection boxes also. Photos such as this appear every couple of years.”

    While the USPS says it routinely reviews and removes underused mailboxes as mail volumes continued to decline, it announced last week that it would suspend all removals for 90 days “given the recent customer concerns”.



    Source

    © Copyright Original Source

    What frustrates me the most is that the focus is on easily debunked facts whereas nobody is talking about the fact that he owns millions of dollars in competitor's stocks.
    "I am not angered that the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell." - Leonard Ravenhill

    Comment


    • #17


      Originally posted by seanD View Post
      Darfius proposed a theory that the Mandela effect was the sign of the Great Delusion of 2 Thess 2:11.

      I don't hold this belief because it has psychological explanations for it. However, my theory of what it is also has to do with a type of psychological effect and might not be any less spectacular.

      The fact is we're seeing a great divide between political parties. Both sides of this divide are not looking at facts the same and interpreting situations in completely different ways. IOW, it's like they're creating two completely different realities of any given situation.

      Just one among thousands of examples is the Ahmaud Arbery situation. Two political parties looking at two completely different realities of the exact same event and interpreting the facts completely different. Now, obviously, since I'm a conservative, my belief is that the left's reality is the false reality. Obviously Christians that are left bent will disagree with that. The bottom line is that the two realities can't be the same. One of them is false.

      I think this is a result of social media and it's weird effects its having on the populace in how they view reality. Almost like a mass brainwashing effect for lack of a better word, and because we access this media 24/7, and because the facts are being shared and interpreted by the collective, instead of by a central authority, it's worse than any type of media we previously had.

      My theory is that this may be at least the shadow of the Great Delusion. I'm not saying that this is THE delusion right in this time and place, but that this may be a microcosm of what it will be and how its deception will work on the multiples. Right now we're just seeing tiny remnants of it. It will be a result of the internet and it will shape a type of reality that is false, only when THE delusion comes it will be much greater in magnitude than we're seeing now.
      Just reiterating what was said in the OP and how right I think this assessment was with what we've seen in the last year (with many more examples of this). Only I would add MSM to this deception apparatus. MSM both in conjunction with social media literally create stories that are based on pure lies, thus creating a two-tier reality between political divides, and as a result affecting our society in a very consequential way. I guess the main point I'm making here is that 2 Thess 2 could never be fulfilled in any other generation in its pure literal sense other than in our technological age.

      Comment


      • #18
        Originally posted by seanD View Post




        Just reiterating what was said in the OP and how right I think this assessment was with what we've seen in the last year (with many more examples of this). Only I would add MSM to this deception apparatus. MSM both in conjunction with social media literally create stories that are based on pure lies, thus creating a two-tier reality between political divides, and as a result affecting our society in a very consequential way. I guess the main point I'm making here is that 2 Thess 2 could never be fulfilled in any other generation in its pure literal sense other than in our technological age.
        I think our theories are complementary rather than mutually exclusive.

        Comment


        • #19
          Originally posted by Darfius View Post

          I think our theories are complementary rather than mutually exclusive.
          They're close, but have stark differences.

          One theory (my theory) assumes that reality isn't actually changing, but that a collective is believing a reality that is false.

          The other theory assumes reality has actually changed, therefore everyone believes the same false reality.

          Comment


          • #20
            Originally posted by seanD View Post

            They're close, but have stark differences.

            One theory (my theory) assumes that reality isn't actually changing, but that a collective is believing a reality that is false.

            The other theory assumes reality has actually changed, therefore everyone believes the same false reality.
            Not everyone. I think the elect can see through the deception in both (complementary) scenarios. I think both that reality is changing and that even in the agreed upon reality, they are manipulating the truth. Both devices serve the same end: to have people lose faith in objective truth and submit to groupthink in preparation for accepting the mark of the beast and the hive mind.

            I understand that you do not accept the reality of the Mandela effect, but I suppose emphasis should be placed on "I think" our theories are complementary, because if the Mandela effect is accepted as a real phenomenon, then the two theories coexist because it is obvious what you are describing is occurring.

            Comment


            • #21
              Given that 2nd Thessalonians 2 in context is talking about the man of sin, apostasy etc. not sure how social media fits into all that. Now of course social media can be used for evil, but nothing is evil and of itself (Titus 1:15; Romans 14:14). Social media is a two edge sword. It can be used to spread the Gospel as well as connect to those who are far apart. The basic principle should be as believers is to use it for the glory of God (Colossians 3:17; 1st Corinthians 10:31).

              Comment


              • #22
                Originally posted by ReformedApologist View Post
                Given that 2nd Thessalonians 2 in context is talking about the man of sin, apostasy etc. not sure how social media fits into all that. Now of course social media can be used for evil, but nothing is evil and of itself (Titus 1:15; Romans 14:14). Social media is a two edge sword. It can be used to spread the Gospel as well as connect to those who are far apart. The basic principle should be as believers is to use it for the glory of God (Colossians 3:17; 1st Corinthians 10:31).
                I agree. We don't know how it's going to play out in the end. I believe that what we're seeing now is the shadow, but shadows can often distort the actual object casting the shadow. What the shadow tells us is just how a large modern populace (in a scientific, "fact based" era no less) can be deceived to believe a false reality almost instantly, and it doesn't necessarily have to be a manifested miraculous event for it to happen.

                Comment


                • #23
                  Now I'm thoroughly convinced we are seeing 2 Thess 2:9-12 coming to fruition and that it's not just happening through social media, but in conjunction with the MSM. But I don't believe this is the end point, but that it will get progressively worse.

                  If you think it's bad now, we're you have folks on a collective level believing absolute lies and false realities (and these lies are affecting our society and politics in negatively profound ways), wait until a few years from now when they start aggressively pushing harder and clamping down on free speech (and we know this means the continued purge of alternative media and freelance journalism) and lies and delusions really take its course...


                  Fighting “Information Disorder”: Aspen’s Orwellian Commission on Controlling Speech in America

                  The Aspen Institute has issued the results of its much heralded 16-person Commission on Information Disorder on how to protect the public from misinformation. The commission on disinformation and “building trust” was partially headed by Katie Couric who is still struggling with her own admission that she edited an interview to remove controversial statements by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The Aspen recommendations however are a full-throated endorsement of systems of censorship.

                  The findings and recommendations are found in an 80-page report on how to combat “disinformation” and “misinformation,” which are remarkably ill-defined but treated as a matter of “we know when we see it.” From the outset, however, the Commission dismissed the long-standing free speech principle that the solution to bad speech is better speech, not censorship. The problem is that many today object to allowing those with opposing views to continue to speak or others continue to listen to them. The Commission quickly tosses the free speech norm to the side:
                  “The biggest lie of all, which this crisis thrives on, and which the beneficiaries of mis- and disinformation feed on, is that the crisis itself is uncontainable. One of the corollaries of that mythology is that, in order to fight bad information, all we need is more (and better distributed) good information. In reality, merely elevating truthful content is not nearly enough to change our current course.”


                  In addition to Couric, the Commission was headed by Color of Change President Rashad Robinson and Chris Krebs, former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Robinson was also a notable choice since he has been one of the most outspoken advocates of censorship. While some of us have been denouncing the expanding system of censorship by companies like Facebook, Robinson was threatening boycotts if the companies do not “rein in” those considered racists or spreaders of misinformation.

                  The Commission also includes Prince Harry who has referred to free speech protections under the First Amendment as “bonkers.

                  Much of the report seems more aspirational in recommendations like “endorsing efforts that focus on exposing how historical and current imbalances of power, access and equity are manufactured and propagated with mis- and disinformation — and on promoting community-led solutions to forging social bonds.”

                  The Commission also appears to endorse the movement against “objectivity” and “both sideism” in the media: “Commissioners also discussed the need to adjust journalistic norms to avoid false equivalencies between lies and empirical fact in the pursuit of ‘both sides’ and ‘objectivity,’ particularly in areas of public health, civil rights, or election outcomes.”

                  We know that when they say "spreaders of racism and misinformation" they don't mean the CNNs and MSNBCs. Furthermore, it's important to remember that there is a supernatural element to this, which is why it's becoming so pervasive.

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Let's not make the mistake of taking what's happening in the US as normal for the world. That being said, free press in the world in general is going down hill.

                    This certainly is possibly the great delusion is coming. On the hand in US history, we did have the era of yellow journalism (I think that's what it was called) that got us into the Spanish-American war. After that, press reliability came back. We may also be witnessing the pendulum of time swinging back and forth on how reliable our news sources are.
                    "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings." Hosea 6:6

                    "Theology can be an intellectual entertainment." Metropolitan Anthony Bloom

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Originally posted by Thoughtful Monk View Post
                      Let's not make the mistake of taking what's happening in the US as normal for the world. That being said, free press in the world in general is going down hill.

                      This certainly is possibly the great delusion is coming. On the hand in US history, we did have the era of yellow journalism (I think that's what it was called) that got us into the Spanish-American war. After that, press reliability came back. We may also be witnessing the pendulum of time swinging back and forth on how reliable our news sources are.
                      Social media censoring the Hunter laptop story could have affected the world (for better or for worse). There was a poll (I forget which one it was) that showed that a large percentage of voters would have reconsidered voting for Biden if they were privy to that information about the laptop that was suppressed by social media. This means, because of the delusion produced by social media, this could have affected the election, which could have affected the world.

                      There were also reports that certain press in other countries had to apologize for giving false reports about the Rittenhouse trial because of the false narratives created by the western MSM.

                      These are but two examples, probably out of thousands, if not millions of incidents that could be affecting the world -- like the butterfly affect.

                      But I see what you're saying, which is why I said this is not the end point. I believe it will progress and get worse and more widespread as western forces get aggressive at suppressing truth. I'm saying I believe this is how the "strong delusion" will function in the future, and we're seeing it happen in small doses now.

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        What are your thoughts on the Metaverse, sean? Do you think it or something like it could be integrated with an AI controlled, hive mind beast system?

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Originally posted by Thoughtful Monk View Post
                          Let's not make the mistake of taking what's happening in the US as normal for the world. That being said, free press in the world in general is going down hill.

                          This certainly is possibly the great delusion is coming. On the hand in US history, we did have the era of yellow journalism (I think that's what it was called) that got us into the Spanish-American war. After that, press reliability came back. We may also be witnessing the pendulum of time swinging back and forth on how reliable our news sources are.
                          Yup. All the result of competition between Hearst and Pulitzer and named after a character in a comic in latter's paper drawn by Richard F. Outcault and known as the Yellow Kid



                          I'm always still in trouble again

                          "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
                          "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
                          "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Originally posted by Darfius View Post
                            What are your thoughts on the Metaverse, sean? Do you think it or something like it could be integrated with an AI controlled, hive mind beast system?
                            To be honest with you, I haven't read on it that much. I just assume anything connected to FB is bad and evil by default, especially anything that has to do with the subject of virtual reality and the singularity.

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Nobody under the age of 30 uses Facebook so I'm dubious that the Metaverse will take off. But even that aside, it's styled upon something from a dystopian sci-fi novel (Snow Crash), which is most decidedly not a positive.
                              "I am not angered that the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell." - Leonard Ravenhill

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Originally posted by KingsGambit View Post
                                Nobody under the age of 30 uses Facebook so I'm dubious that the Metaverse will take off. But even that aside, it's styled upon something from a dystopian sci-fi novel (Snow Crash), which is most decidedly not a positive.
                                That and it's failure at implementing a digital currency made the story less relevant to me.

                                Although I will say the subject of transhumanism and the The Singularity in itself are very interesting topics relevant to Christian theology in general.

                                Comment

                                Related Threads

                                Collapse

                                Topics Statistics Last Post
                                Started by Thoughtful Monk, 03-15-2024, 06:19 PM
                                35 responses
                                166 views
                                0 likes
                                Last Post Cow Poke  
                                Started by KingsGambit, 03-15-2024, 02:12 PM
                                4 responses
                                49 views
                                0 likes
                                Last Post Thoughtful Monk  
                                Started by Chaotic Void, 03-08-2024, 07:36 AM
                                10 responses
                                119 views
                                1 like
                                Last Post mikewhitney  
                                Started by Cow Poke, 02-29-2024, 07:55 AM
                                14 responses
                                71 views
                                3 likes
                                Last Post Cow Poke  
                                Started by Cow Poke, 02-28-2024, 11:56 AM
                                13 responses
                                59 views
                                0 likes
                                Last Post Cow Poke  
                                Working...
                                X