Heathen -
Are you capable of being rational? Or do you simply prefer the comfort of the echo chamber?
Anyone Heard Any Good DEMON Stories Lately?
by Cold Steel 35 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
-
WhatshallIcallmyself
-
smiddy
LOL jwleaks
-
pale.emperor
Cofty: Blindfold everybody and see how the ouija board suddenly stops working.
Very true. I find it very interesting that those who dont believe in demons have zero encounters. If you were a powerful, intelligent demon would you be using those powers to knock things over? open and close doors? move a planchette on a Ouija board? Because if it were me i'd be doing some really far out things. Like making it obvious to every scientist on the planet that i exist and claim to be god.
-
Rainbow_Troll
WhatshallIcallmyself: Show me some proof or supply some theory as to what these things are that we can test and let's go from there.
That would be a waste of time for both of us. There is an overwhelming volume of evidence for the existence of poltergeists and other paranormal phenomena. There is so much evidence, both experimental and anecdotal, that an entire branch of science is devoted to collecting and studying such evidence; it's called Parapsychology. If you are sincerely interested in Truth rather than scientific orthodoxy, then go to your local library and dig in.
But of course, for fundy materialists, none of it is valid evidence. And parapsychology is a pseudoscience at best. All 'evidence' for psychic phenomena has been deliberately falsified, or there was some flaw in the experiment, or bias in those who were conducting the experiments.
Parapsychologists regularly get dismissed and ridiculed by orthodox scientists who fear that acknowledging the existence of paranormal phenomena could legitimize the claims of religions, which, ironically, is a great boon to religious and occult charlatans of all stripes because it means that the realm of the paranormal will remain the last refuge for mysticism instead of being de-mystified like all other natural phenomena have been.
-
ShirleyW
I don't hang around with Dubs anymore so I'm not in the loop about the latest bright colored cartoon character walking down the aisle at the Hall cursing all the way, or whatever new thing some elder made up to keep the folks in line.
-
cofty
Rainbow - Parapsychology is a failed venture.
Susan Blackmore dedicated half her career trying to prove everything you claimed in your post. She concluded it was all fraud, deceit, Delusion and superstition.
Scientists don't dismiss it because they are afraid of anything, they do so because there is zero evidence.
-
Rainbow_Troll
Susan Blackmore dedicated half her career trying to prove everything you claimed in your post. She concluded it was all fraud, deceit, Delusion and superstition.
I have not read Susan Blackmore, so I cannot comment specifically on her findings; but I don't see how this refutes the entire field of parapsychology any more than incidents of fraud refute any branch of science. Scientists in all disciplines have sometimes resorted to deceit in order to substantiate their theories, but that says nothing about science as a whole.
If paranormal phenomena cannot be examined using the scientific method, then what does that leave us? Religion? Witchcraft? Philosophical conjectures? If you are so certain that parapsychology is a failed venture, then what method would you suggest be used? Oh, I know that's a rhetorical question for you since you don't believe in the existence of the paranormal to begin with; but what about those of us who have either experienced it first hand or believe those who have?
Simply ignoring the paranormal does not address it; it simply evades it. Scientists may come to erroneous conclusions in their search for knowledge, but simply ignoring anything only perpetuates ignorance. As difficult as it is to study such an elusive subject using the scientific method, I think it's still the best available solution; if not the optimal one. To do less or to discourage others from doing research in this area is, in my opinion, to actively hold back scientific progress and to aid and abet charlatans who are all too happy to exploit people's superstitions for their own personal gain.
-
WhatshallIcallmyself
There is nothing to address. Parapsychology failed as a way to explain something that has been explained by normal science/psychology. That isn't to say parapsychology failed in and of itself because it did prove that it wasn't ghosts or whatnot i.e. found no reasons to support the notion of anything supernatural; it just failed as an explanation.
As I said initially: The mind plays tricks (verified by psychology etc.,) and people lie (proven on numerous occasions).
-
Rainbow_Troll
There is nothing to address. Parapsychology failed as a way to explain something that has been explained by normal science/psychology. That isn't to say parapsychology failed in and of itself because it did prove that it wasn't ghosts or whatnot i.e. found no reasons to support the notion of anything supernatural; it just failed as an explanation.
I think we are defining 'parapsychology' differently. Genuine parapsychology does not argue for the existence of ghosts or anything else supernatural; rather parapsychology studies phenomena that others interpret as supernatural and attempts to come of with a rational explanation for them; which is something that science has been doing all along since its inception.
The only difference between parapsychology and most other branches of science is that the phenomena studied by parapsychologists are so rare that progress is very slow when compared to branches of science that focus on more mundane subjects like physics and biology. Nevertheless, the basic idea is still the same: come up with rational, quantifiable and falsifiable explanations that don't require some supernatural agency like gods or demons.
This ain't Ghost Hunters. If anything, it's more like Scooby-Doo.
-
cofty
There is nothing for parapsychology to investigate apart from fraud and delusion.