Conspiracy Theories and Truth

Hosts Corey J. Mahler coreyjmahler.com @CoreyJMahler Woe aka Eschatologuy @treblewoe The existence of one conspiracy theory is not necessarily proof of the existence of any other conspiracy theories. That we have been lied to about a great many things, does not necessarily prove that we have been lied to about all things. It is, regardless of how we may feel about it, necessary to assess truth claims, often necessarily to personally assess them. As Christians, truth is fundamental to our worldview, for our religion rests upon truth claims — verifiable truth claims. This does not mean that we must take a stance or have an opinion on every claim sent forth into the world by other men, but it does mean that we have a duty to hold to the truth when it comes to important claims, and to assess that truth, insofar as we are capable. Under present conditions, we are faced with a great many lies — both of commission and of omission or manipulation; there are those who would have us disbelieve truths and there are those who would have us believe lies — neither outcome is compatible with a proper, Christian view of the world, of reality. How are we to wade through the morass? In this episode, we address a few of the sillier conspiracy theories, and the very serious issues underlying them. Subscribe to the podcast here. Show Notes Buzz Aldrin Talks about the Moon Landing [YouTube] Calculating the Circumference of the Earth: IBM Video Explaining Eratosthenes’ Methods [YouTube] Carl Sagan Explaining Eratosthenes’ Methods [YouTube] Himawari 9: Wikipedia, Live Feed Himawari 8: Live Feed Nuclear Weapons: Smoke Rockets [YouTube] See Also Eratosthenes [Wikipedia] X-Ray Memorial Wikipedia Van Allen Radiation Belts: Wikipedia YouTube Further Reading Flat Earth [Wikipedia] Vanishing Point [Wikipedia] X-rays are referred to as ‘Röntgen rays’ in German, because of this man [Wikipedia]. Parental Warnings None. Transcript The transcript for this episode can be found here Other transcripts can be found here Support the Podcast Recurring Donation One-Time Donation Cryptocurrency Donation Mahler’s: Throne.com Wish List | Amazon.com Wish List Woe’s Amazon.com Wish List The Stone Choir 2024 Challenge Coin Comments? Join the discussion on Telegram, visit the feedback form or comment below. function waitForElement(selector, callback) { const interval = setInterval(function() { const element = document.querySelector(selector); if (element) { clearInterval(interval); callback(element); } }, 100); // check every 100 milliseconds } function updateTranscriptLink(audioSrc) { const episodeNumber = extractNumber(audioSrc); if (episodeNumber) { const transcriptLink = document.querySelector('a.transcript-link'); if (transcriptLink) { transcriptLink.setAttribute('href', `/transcripts/transcript-episode-${episodeNumber}/`); } else { console.error('Transcript link not found.'); } } else { console.error('Episode number could not be extracted. The audio source was: ' + audioSrc); } } // Function to extract the number from the audio file name function extractNumber(src) { const match = src.match(/e(\d+)\.m4a/); return match ? match[1] : null; } // Start waiting for the audio element to appear in the DOM waitForElement('audio[src*="s.stone-choir.com"]', function(audioElement) { const audioSrc = audioElement.getAttribute('src'); updateTranscriptLink(audioSrc); });