If what you are lecturing is true,
Not playing this passive/aggressive game with you, madam. And I'm an not going to let you make false statements in your covert attempt to sway others' thinking. You, then, really need to get your head out of your proverbial academic hindparts - this is not a class and I am not lecturing (unlike you). I am speaking in the same way as I speak to people regularly... except using "proper" English (vs. "Ebonics/Patois"). If your comfort zone can't handle me, then stop stepping outside of it. Which apparently you do when you address me. Because I am going to respond when you do so, and do so in truth... without watering it down). And so long as you address me on the open board, then I will respond to you on the open board if I am compelled to... and in the manner I do. As I stated to you: I'm not going to change me... or what and how I post... for you. If that makes you uncomfortable then, again, please... leave me be.
there should be objective proof of it.
There is. Now, if others don't want to bother to CONSIDER such proof... on their own... whose fault is that?
It is such an extraordinary claim and runs against all proof to the contrary.
I disagree. It might run against SOME proof that SEEMS to be to the contrary... and sometimes not even then. That YOU say it does... and want others to believe that your credentials make your saying so credible is... doesn't make it so.
I am not all knowing, however.
I agree.
Do you have anything to offer besides your posts?
I do and have. Many times. On this very board. Gonna do it again, in a sec, right here.
With all respect, many others also claim such contact. Sylvia Browne, John Edwards, the Long Island Medium.
Yes. Others who claim to "hear." But, of course, YOU don't so they're wrong, too. Right? Not that I subscribe to what they SAY they hear being TRUE (I have no idea as it doesn't usually have anything to do with my Lord, the Father, those I know/love or me, so I really don't pay any attention). But apparently you are of the thinking that the majority of folks would agree with you... or that I should pay attention to what the majority say about this phenomenon. When I would point out that, apparently, quite a few people believe them... and if that's the case and they are the majority, then... YOU should be listening to THEM. Yes?
Many go to prison for fraud.
And should, if they are frauds. If they're charging money, seeking followers (so as to gain power/money), misleading others to commit crimes, etc., they most certain should go to prison. However, if they openly admit that (1) it's not their information, they're only an instrument, (2) they don't charge a dime, (3) they not asking ANYONE to believe, follow, or listen to THEM, (4) tell people NOT to, and (5) simply share for free (because the RECEIVED free)... I don't think you're going to find any way they fit into the description of a fraud. Since we both have studied what "fraud" is, I think you that what I state is true. If not, go back and review your notes.
I don't believe people in the subway when they shout out what they are hearing.
Exactly. Proof... right in your face. Even shouted out at you. And you don't believe it. Who's fault is that?
Rather, I feel very sorry for them.
No, you don't. You FEEL... fear. Because you're afraid of them. And so the only person you feel sorry for... is YOU. Sorry, that you have to "endure" such people, that they're mucking up your "perfect" view... with their presence and "noise." And that's part of the problem: the dishonesty. You can' t even face your OWN "reality"... yet, here you are trying to put down someone else's. Typical.
Honestly, despite my best intentions, I cannot dismiss it all together.
Of COURSE you can't. Because you KNOW it's real. You just don't WANT it to be, you and others... and so you make your OWN reality... by denying reality. That's why you and one or two others keep reading... and commenting as to... what I post. You want others to think you're caught up in "rubbernecking" a train crash when the TRUTH is that something calls to YOU. You don't LIKE it, don't WANT it to... but you can't turn away. Rather than admit that, however, that something IS "calling" to you... you ME to stop living MY reality. Ain't... gonna... happen.
This is when I acknowledge the fears of my childhood.
There is help out there for that. Yet, you're here. Rather than attacking others' reality... why not seek some reconciliation of your fears through, say, therapy? I will tell you why: because it's not going to change the reality. It will only give you tools and mantras to cover over/hide/deny the reality... but it won't make the reality go away. And you know it.
If spirits are out there, enquiring minds want to know.
Those that are TRULY inquiring... TRULY want to know... ask. Or at least look into it. They DON'T just blow off even scientific studies about it. Which apparently is okay for SOME folks to do... while cajoling others into doing so. That's called...hypocrisy. You know, calling upon people to read studies as to what YOU assert... but totally ignoring those as to what THEY assert? Binding heavy loads and putting burdens on others you yourself are not willing to bear/carry?
Imagination is not proof.
No, it isn't. This isn't imagination. Disney is imagination. Superman is imagination. Hercules is imagination. SpongeBob SqarePants is imagination. Rumplestiltskin is imagination. James Bond is imagination. We're not discussing any of those here.
This is not a claim that New Jersey is between NY and PA. If true, it could change the minds of every human on the planet.
No. It couldn't and wouldn't. Israel had the privilege of seeing 10 plagues, literally with their own eyes. How'd that work for THEIR minds? The people in first century Palestine saw all kinds of miracles take place right before THEIR eyes. How'd that work for THEIR minds? How'd that work for the One who showed them such? I'm thinking it didn't quite endear them to him. Well, not in the end. At first, the people had GREAT regard for him, even wanted to make him their king. And then what? Along come a handful of folks saying, "Oh, he has a demon... he IS a demon... he speaks BY the demons... he's mad... he's crazy... he's different... he's not LIKE us... if God were gonna show someone something He would use US... so HE's an imposter... anyone who believes/follows him is an apostate/heretic/lunatic... and must be stoned!"
And that's what you just don't get. All of your academic bravado aside, you're not saying ANYTHING different than those before you said. Nor are you DOING anything different.
Christ was once human.
And yet, there are those who deny that. In spite of the record, proof, etc.
It just seems that he would offer some proof.
He did, then, and does now (holy spirit). Again, how did that work for those people? Was it masses and masses who said, "Whoa, wait, this IS something different!"... or was it few? How is it working for folks now?
Seeing (with ones physical eyes) is NOT necessarily believing... and not seeing (with one's physical eyes) is not a reason to not believe. Physically blind people believe the sky is blue... although they may have never seen so for themselves. Say what? Say they believe because OTHERS tell them it's blue... others who've seen it? Well, others tell YOU that they've seen and heard spirit beings... yet, you doubt.
Medieval art is not my favorite form. When I visit the galleries, there are plaques on the wall describing the various elements in the painting. People believed all sorts of crazy things back then. We know it was a legend, not truth.
I am sure you have a point. I'm not sure it works here. Very little in medieval art, if anything, accurately depicts ANYTHING related to God, Christ, spirit beings, etc. Virtually ALL of it is influenced by the teachings of the RCC/GOC, etc.
Normally, people would just laugh but I did not find the Witness' claim of spirits to be funny. It is horrific.
And that's my point: try as you MIGHT to rid yourself of these realities... ensconce yourself in academia... enmesh yourself in the world... envelope yourself with "safer" beliefs... you can't deny this particular reality. It is only still "horrific" to you because you have not... because you CANNOT... deny the reality. Nor should you. What you need to do is face it... see that it ISN'T horrific, that there really is nothing TO fear... yet, you don't have to shake off the reality in order to leave off the fear.
You chide me for being "backward." I don't fear demons. Nor do I deny them. I accept their existence, but not the myth of their control/fearsomeness. Because I know the first to be TRUE... and the second to be a LIE.
May I ask what is so shabby and boring about human life that people need to make up more drama?
May I ask... what is so fearful and dreadful... that people won't allow themselves to move past human arrogance and just consider that "we" are not ALL there "is"... and that the empirical limitations of our flesh is ALL we need to overcome to SEE the proof?
YOU claim to believe in Christ (well, I must assume that, given you repeated assertions of being a "christian"). HE is recorded to have said to Thomas:
"Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe." He also recorded to have said: "... the sheep hear/recognize/listen to his voice..." and "... the sheep follow him: for they know his voice..." and "I have other sheep which are not of this fold... and they will hear My voice..." and "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me..." In addition, HE is recorded to have spoken WITH demons (and they with him). Yet, you deny the TRUTH of that as well as his words. So, I ask YOU... On what do YOU base YOUR assertion that you're a christian? And why should I believe YOU? Where is YOUR "proof"?
A doulos of Christ,
SA