Thriving in Babylon by Larry Osborne

Author:Larry Osborne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Larry Osborne, Northcoast Church, Fearless, Thriving in Babylon
Publisher: David C. Cook
Published: 2015-02-19T05:00:00+00:00

2 1 John 5:3–4, 19; Psalm 23:4–5

3 Philippians 4:8–9

4 2 Corinthians 4:16–18

CHAPTER ELEVEN

HOPE KILLERS

The Curse of Conspiracy Theories and Catastrophizing

In the early years of computing, both data storage and memory were expensive, so many programmers saved precious bytes by using only two digits to signify a calendar year.

It worked fine—for a while.

But decades later, as the new millennium approached, it suddenly dawned on some of them that these older computers and programs wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the year 1900 and the year 2000.

While many experts viewed this as no big deal, a number of others sounded the alarm. They were convinced that most older programs and hardware would need an accurate date in order to function properly. So they predicted a massive wave of breakdowns and failures when the clock struck midnight, January 1, 2000.

They called it the Y2K bug. They claimed it would produce the mother of all computer glitches. They warned of elevators suddenly stuck, cars stalling, airplanes crashing, and nuclear plants melting down. Many feared it would usher in a worldwide economic crisis.

Their concerns created quite a stir, especially among folks who were prone to buy into conspiracy theories and catastrophizing. By mid-1999 I was under immense pressure from a small but vocal contingent in my church to set up a co-op food bank, preach Y2K sermons, and prepare our congregation for the looming disaster.

When I resisted, they plied me with books and tapes. I remember one particularly harrowing recording in which an influential Christian voice at the time predicted the total breakdown of American society, massive civil disobedience, looting, food shortages, and a potential worldwide economic collapse followed by global conflict as dictators seized the opportunity.

A Debate I Couldn’t Win

When I pushed back and pointed out that the internal clocks in the computers of that era were notoriously inaccurate—which should have already resulted in reports of numerous stuck elevators and immobilized automobiles—I was sloughed off. They had their own experts telling them differently.

When I pointed out that real-life computer programmers and the government didn’t seem too concerned, they told me it was due to a conspiracy of silence. The government had no idea how to fix the problem, so in order to keep the uninformed masses from panicking, they were covering up the problems as they frantically searched for a solution.

Others told me that President Clinton and his cronies were keeping it out of the media because they planned to exploit the resulting chaos and crisis by imposing martial law and installing him as president for life.

It was a debate I couldn’t win. They had an answer for everything. That’s how it is with conspiracists and catastrophizers. There’s no way to convince them until after the fact. Their experts will always trump yours. And the absence of any hard evidence will simply be chalked up as further proof that the conspiracy is widespread and powerful.

One Hundred Fifty Slot Machines

When the dawn of the millennium finally arrived, there were a lot of parties, a few computer glitches, and no global disaster.

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