CRACKPOTS

Clergy tend to be prime targets for crackpots. It might be as innocent as a church member approaching you during Coffee Hour, “Oh, I just know your husband/wife will love this video. The speaker is so full of God’s Spirit!” Or it may be something much more ominous, "God told me to show you where you're in sin!"

The only fate worse than being the target of crackpots might be being viewed as crackpots ourselves. We know how everyone laughs at people who believe flying saucers are warehoused in Area 51, or who wear aluminum foil hats to keep the CIA from controlling their thoughts.

Last week I attended a lecture by a leading figure in one of the most outrageous of current conspiracy theories: “9/11 Truth.” The location, a Presbyterian Church, was anything but crackpot. The speaker was a theologian and professor-emeritus of Claremont School of Theology -- hardly a kook. Moreover, his book is published by John Knox/Westminster Press, not a publisher known for encouraging crackpots. The sanctuary was packed and at the end of the presentation, the question and answer period was respectful and enthusiastic.

The questions about 9/11 and subsequent official statements and investigations were deeply disturbing. Those of us who attended the event have repeatedly discussed them among ourselves. But we haven’t mention the topic outside our group, for a simple reason.

We don’t want to be viewed as crackpots.

In the process of writing this article, I searched the Web for “conspiracy theories.” Sure enough, right there on the Top 10 Wackiest Conspiracy Theories website listed right beneath “Apollo 11 Moon Landings were faked by NASA” and “Alien Reptiles Are Dominating the World” was “9/11 Truth.” Oh, dear.

Then there’s Global Warning. Al Gore seems like a very intelligent man, and the overwhelming weight of reputable research and science appears to agree that our world is heading toward a catastrophe of our own making. Like children playing with matches we could destroy ourselves and all we love. Some voices say Al Gore is a crackpot and fears of Global Warning are hugely exaggerated. I desperately hope the critics are right and Al Gore is wrong. I don’t want Arizona to become uninhabitable or my grandsons to inherit a ruined planet. But how do we know which voice to believe?

Let’s reflect a bit on crackpots.

If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
Luke 9:25-27

Religious history is rife with crackpots, from Noah hammering away on his boat while neighbors hooted to Paul and Silas singing hymns behind prison bars. There were the Desert Fathers meditating in caves, and anchorites bricked into tiny cells, Francis of Assisi preaching to wild creatures and Joan of Arc hearing angel voices. There was William Wilberforce who opposed slavery and there was Sojourner Truth who led slaves to freedom. There was Mother Theresa who left the convent to live in the slums of Calcutta, and there were women who thought they should be ordained to preach if they heard the call.

Science and medicine have plenty of crackpots, too. Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis was labeled worse than a crackpot for suggesting that doctors should wash their hands before performing surgery. He died in an insane asylum shortly before Louis Pasteur presented his germ theory of disease in the 1860s.

Some crackpots thought they could build flying machines. Others talked about rockets to the moon while still others insisted that voices and pictures could travel on invisible waves in the air. Quite a few crackpots still think there were shots fired from that grassy knoll in Dallas in November 22, 1963.

History vindicates all most of the above. That says nothing about the certifiably loony, including guys with aluminum foil in their underwear. Which leaves us without clear directives on whether to encourage all crackpot theories – who knows which may contain the voice of God? – or whether to toss them all out the window with the tabloids. Some of the most outrageous ideas can turn out to contain the most truth. Who imagined that generations of children would be saved from smallpox by injecting them with pus from sick cows?! But how can we differentiate between potential breakthroughs and patent absurdities?

We can’t. We can only do the best we can with the information and wisdom available to us, discovering as much as we can about would-be leaders before we place our trust in them.

As Presbyterians, we have another advantage. We aren't on our own. We are not lonely sheep at the mercy of the wolves. We have elders and sessions, and all the levels of the Presbyterian Judicatories.

Let's go back to Coffee Hour. If the Coffee Hour Crackpot shoves another video at me, I generally fall back on the old reliable, “Thank you for thinking of us, but to be honest, we really don’t have the time.” If the (dearly beloved, pious and well-meaning) Crackpot says, "God told me to reveal your sin! " then I am able to fall back on Presbyterian polity. "Thank you for sharing that with me. But as I'm sure you know, as Presbyterians, any Word of God must be discerned by our elders. You'll find the process in our Book of Order. There are several available in the church library."

No, I'm not being flip. Presbyterians are not new kids on the block. It would be tough to imagine a problem we haven't faced through centuries of congregational life. Accusations of sin? That would fall under Disciplinary cases in the Book of Order. Pronouncing messages from God? That probably would come under W-6.0000 and following, with emphasis on ministry within the community of faith. As Presbyterians, we believe that God speaks in and through the community, and our elders, both clergy and lay, have the responsibility of discerning that Word. When disputes about "God told me . . . " cannot be settled by the local session, we have definite procedures to settle disputes through Presbytery. The process can take time (sometimes seeming like forever!) and it can be difficult. But when Presbyterians work through the system, the system works.

We have serious safeguards against serious crackpots.

And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8

That isn’t much reassurance. A chance remains that sooner or later we might get associated with one crackpot or another. But maybe that’s the point of “walk humbly with your God.”

Sometimes, you just have to walk away.

That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.
2 Timothy 1:11-13