| Hello [message #201] |
Tue, 27 November 2007 23:34  |
 ZERO
Messages: 14
Registered: November 2007 |
Junior Member |
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Hi everyone.
I think this is a great idea and I hope I can make a small contribution.
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| Re: Hello [message #236 is a reply to message #235 ] |
Wed, 01 July 2009 11:49  |
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Matthew
Messages: 24
Registered: April 2007 |
Junior Member |
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Hi John,
For anybody else's information this is John
http://www.ukskeptics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3492
In summary, John has dreams, apocalyptic visions in which he plays a pivotal role in the battle between good and evil. In these dreams he has telekinetic and other powers.
He has reason to believe that his dreams are prophetic as some aspects of some dreams have come true. Like he visited a newly built library he hadn't seen before and is seemed the same as in his dreams.
He's also studied the book of revelation and has his own interpretation which involves people known to him.
There are other explanations for his experiences. There are in fact hundreds of thousands of people who have had comparable experiences to John and not all of them are mentally ill.
John is just one more person to have such experiences and be convinced that it's true. However I cannot prove that it's not true.
Here at the congregation of realists our favourite tool for determining if something is true or not is empiricism: direct observation of reality. SO for example I've suggested a test by which John could display his telekinetic powers in controlled conditions.
John was reluctant to commit to such as test despite the enticements offered by his local skeptics society or the James Randi million dollar challenge.
Unfortunately the date he gave us by which his telekinetic powers would manifest has passed and John is still not telekinetic. This date he now tells us was a lie, intended to fool the evil powers against which he strives. I can't say I understand the logic behind the lie. Clearly John recognises that this lie does little to shore up his credibility.
On the balance of probability I don't believe that John has, or will have super powers. However I acknowledge that I can't prove a negative. As a skeptic doubt is my most powerful tool and nothing is beyond doubt, even John being a normal mundane human being like every other one of the people who have made such extraordinary claims over the years.
I've pointed out to John that I'm not being closed minded by considering a number of alternatives to him being exactly what he says he is. One the contrary somebody who doesn't consider the relative merits of these alternatives is closed minded.
I hope John wouldn't be too upset if it turns out that these impressions he's received turn out to have only a tenuous link to reality. The alternative after all, is the end of the world as we know it.
I also hope that if the only overlap his beliefs have with reality is that the two individuals he called the Seventh Head and the False Prophet are indeed nasty pieces of work that some justice is seen to be done. Super powers aren't needed for that.
"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible"
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Re: Hello
