Thoughts On Layers of Deception

As I said in my last post, "Some Background On Hislop", I have been reading Ronald Hutton's "Blood and Mistletoe: The History of Druids in Britain". The book devotes several chapters to deeply investigating the development of Druidism in the United Kingdom starting in the 1600s. Something occurred to me while reading it. It has to do with legitimizing something false by layering on. I think this applies to Armstrongism in many areas.

What do I mean? Let's say I write an essay about a topic and I use some truths but I embellish heavily with my own imagination. Then, let's say someone else reads my essay and uses it as a reference in their own essay where they also embellish with their own imagination. That happens a few times more until it gets to you. By that point, I look like a serious and reliable source.
But am I?

That's what happened in the book. One author writes something ridiculous based on half truths. Another reads that and gets inspired to take things a step farther. That goes on and on until two centuries later people are building societies and traditions based on old sources whose claims were mostly imaginary. There was even a person in the 1800s who came along and wrote critically about the whole thing. That person was dismissed.

This is all very similar to how so-called "intelligence" agencies use misinformation to bring about certain desired results. Just for example, the FBI might want a result, so they take a partial truth embellished with plenty of imagination and "leak" that to a media outlet. The media outlet publishes the misinformation as fact, citing an anonymous source. The FBI then turns around and uses the media outlet as their evidence in courts and elsewhere. The media published it, and they are a trustworthy source, so it must be true. Even though the information is fake, the information appears legitimate because it was layered.

This is the same kind of thing we see in Armstrongism and elsewhere. Alexander Hislop, or J. H. Allen, or C. T. Russel, or Ellen G. White, or G. G. Rupert, or A. N. Dugger and C. O. Dodd, or Steven M. Collins, or whomever you've got, will get some ball rolling. Any ball. Doesn't matter which, except to say it's not accurate. That gets picked up by someone inside the Armstrong-o-sphere, maybe someone like Herman Hoeh, or maybe even Herbert Armstrong himself, and published. That legitimizes things. Then, going forward, all you really need to do is quote that prior church literature. BAM! Doctrinal truth.

Now, you can't be a member and go against it. Do you hate God's church? Do you hate God's prophet? Do you hate God's truth? You seem like you have a spirit of pride. (Anyone viewed as a troublemaker in church has a 'spirit of' something). Perhaps you should stay home from church for the next few weeks and pray about this.
Do continue to tithe during this time, though. Thanks.

So, most people will not go against it. Ralph Woodrow read Alexander Hislop and decided to write his own book supporting and enhancing Hislop's claims. He was challenged about it. He decided to fact check himself. He found out he was way off. He wrote an entirely new book destroying his earlier book. Guess what. People won't read it.

Let me ask you - at what point is a falsehood "God's truth"? Was it when it was written? When it was borrowed (usually without credit)? Was it when it was copied as a reliable reference later on? When it was repeated often enough? How many of these steps must we go through before something that starts out as not true becomes "God's truth"?
I don't think it ever becomes God's truth. And they say I am the problem.

How would a member know what they're being fed is untrue? Certainly, the church isn't going to admit that. It comes from blogs like this one and others. The formers. The haters. The wounders. (Read the post "The Stab of Pain and Grief" over at the God Cannot Be Contained blog.) The troublemakers who the church accuses of just being here to fight against God's work and His prophet. Again, not true! What is the member to do? It's not like they can admit they read formers' material. They can't share it. They can't just do nothing with it, either.

Do you see how this works, the layers?

I can't really speak for any of the other former's blogs or websites, etc, but so far as As Bereans Did goes, we have never tried to just cause trouble. All we've ever done is investigate what we've been told and report back on what we've found. We even admit when Armstrong was right. Sometimes he was. And we've tried our best to provide sources so you can retrace our steps on your own. We gave ourselves permission to ask questions. That's what we did. I recommend you do the same. Won't be easy! But it'll be worth it.

I have one last thing I want to say.

While reading Hutton's book, it became clear to me that the reason so many people created or consumed fantastical claims from the 1600s forward is because people simply did not know any better. If you read this post and think, "Well, duhh. This is so simplistic and obvious. Why bother writing this pablum?", then go in peace. If you have already learned why good sources and verifying claims is important to finding truth, then this post is beneath you. Not everyone knows this, though. It isn't instinctual in our species. I see examples all around the internet (not just in religious contexts) where people have no idea what a good source is, or what a well-formed argument is, or what a logical fallacy is, and etc. The other day, I saw a guy say, "False," and he really thought that was a solid argument. That was literally all he wrote. He refused to provide any support for his claim. When he finally did, he posted a video that contradicted him. That right there is a person who needs to learn how to research. This post is for people who don't recognize the layers. I am not trying to be condescending in this post, but I do hope something here is helpful.

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It is important that you understand; Everything on this blog is based on the current understanding of each author. Never take anyone's word for it, always prove it for yourself, it is your responsibility. You cannot ride someone else's coattail into the Kingdom. ; )

Acts 17:11

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