Written by Daniel Szczesniak, July 2025 The Sword and Trumpet, Pg 19, originally published by ACBC at biblicalcounseling.com
If you missed Part A, you’d be advised to read that first!
2. Confirmation Bias vs Renewal of the Mind
Confirmation bias is a fancy, technical-sounding way of saying that we hear what we want to hear. People love to hear the things that “suit their own passions,” and thus “turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” 2 Timothy 4:3-4). Conspiracy theories have enough truth sprinkled in to plausibly conform what we already think – wish? hope? – to be true.
Challenge your counselee with this passage, then study Romans 12:1-2, where Paul calls for believers to be transformed in our thinking as an act of worship. Teach them to think biblically and help them grow in discernment as they learn to love what is “good and acceptable and perfect.”
- 3. Blame Shifting vs Taking Responsibility
As difficult as it for us to change our minds, it may be even more difficult to change our habits. Myths allow us to avoid responsibilities for how we spend our time by placing the blame on someone else: Them!!
Every conspiracy involves a “they.” After all, it is far easier to believe that a shadowy cabal of elites has intentionally compromised our food supply than it is to change our diet and begin exercising.
A subtler form of blame-shifting, and one that is perhaps more common, is for your counselee to focus their efforts on exposing and fighting “them” in chat rooms and social media debates instead of prioritizing God’s instructions for their lives. The lie is that they are pursuing noble causes (Truth! Justice!). But the reality is that they are surfing the internet instead of fulfilling their duties to God and neighbor (Matt 22:27-40).
Help your counselee see these things with the classic illustration of the “circle of concern” and “circle of responsibility.” Draw a circle and label it “circle of responsibility.” Inside, write down the God-given responsibilities they’ve been neglecting in their pursuit of so-called “truth.”
Next, draw a wider circle around the first one, and label it “circle of concern.” Write down things that they may be concerned about, but are not necessarily their responsibility. Help them think through where things like “civic duty” and “current events” fall, and what that should look like in their life.
- 4. Self-Centered Narrative vs the Story of Redemption
Conspiracy theories provide a framework for us to make sense of the world around us. Like Asaph in Psalm 73, we see the prosperity of the wicked and wonder why they succeed while we struggle. A good conspiracy theory explains our struggle by placing us within an epic story of good versus evil, the global elites plotting against regular folks such as ourselves.
Yet the structure of the narrative is itself the problem. As Carl Trueman has said, “Conspiracy theories… make us feel more important in the grand scheme of things than we are. If someone is going to all this trouble to con us into believing in something, then we have to be worth conning.” In the end, conspiracy theories are about US!
BOTTOM LINE:
But there is a much better story!
It’s the story of God’s beautiful creation and our purpose to reflect His glory. It’s a story in which we are are the ones who conspire against our Creator, turning from him to seek our own glory and pleasure. Yet in this story, God sent His own Son to save us from the trouble we inflicted upon ourselves by forgiving our rebellion, giving us new hearts, calling us to walk in His ways, and promising us a glorious future.
Train your counselee to view the world through this priceless act of redemption. Teach them the beautiful truths about Christ, help them renew their minds in the Word, prepare them to value and live out their God-given responsibilities, and help them locate their life in the Bible’s narrative of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation.
NEXT UP:
Book Review: Released in ’25; Scrolling Ourselves to Death: Reclaiming Life in a Digital Age edited by Brett McCracken & Ivan Mesa