Do You Believe in Ghosts?

Off Topic
241

[quote]Yo Momma wrote:
Lonnie123 wrote:
RSGZ wrote:
OMG!

Do you guys see what I see?

I shit thee not… I can genuinely see what appears to be the risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ the Almighty. Thank you for this compelling evidence RSGZ… I cant explain this any other way than to say God is making his presence known to me in this photo.

Well, God tricked your ass, because that dude ain’t Jesus!!

Jesus was of Jewish parentage and so was clearly of semitic appearance. That means he was most likely brown skinned. The style of men’s hair at that time was Roman, so his hair was most likely cut short.

When the Church contracted artists of the middle ages to depict Jesus, the Jews were despised as an inferior race of people. To paint or sculpt Jesus as a Jew would have been unthinkable, hence the the Aryan look.

[/quote]

So does Jesus than change his shape to the one we recognise when he shows himself to random people as a spirit (as tribunaldude said) in order for people to recognise him?

242

[quote]matt88 wrote:
I think your flippant disrespect and self-assured “right thinking” only shows your inflated sense of yourself. You have presumeably figured it all out and obviously feel you are an authority on how all things in the universe work and interact. I can assure you that there are many people who were and are more intelligent than you, who have come to the conclusion that there must be a God.

You better hope that you are right.[/quote]

You better hope God is Christian, because if he’s Muslim then you’re gonna have an even harder time, and vice-versa.

What about all the people that have no connection with modern civilisation, will they get banished to hell because they haven’t even heard of “God” and worshipped him?

How do people conclude that there must be a God? How can every other religion be right or wrong?

244

[quote]tribunaldude wrote:
…Your problem is how you interpret the [i]Hi-definition photograph[/i] I posted afew pages back.
[/quote]

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

245

[quote]dollarbill44 wrote:
duffyj2 wrote:
ktennies wrote:
dollarbill44 wrote:
I honestly feel sorry for people who can only rely on facts and totally disregard everything else.

As do I.

I prefer to rely on deceptive lies and ill-informed opinions. Relying on facts… that would be just downright… logical.

Best comment yet.

Not really. Lonnie had many far better comments. This is just a a quick, sarcastic response that doesn’t leave any room but for absolutes. Then again, that was the point I was making. I don’t have time today to continue debating the subject, so I will be brief. I don’t espouse denying facts and relying on lies and ill-informed decisions. In fact, my job requires me to do the exact opposite. My opinion is that there is a lot more to life than cold, hard facts. Humans interact mostly in the gray, non-factual area. Let’s say you have a friend (hypothetically, of course, because you can’t prove that you have one) and the two of you are supposed to meet for a beer. He doesn’t show, but he calls and tells you that he’s not coming because ____ (fill in the blanks). Do you make him prove it? Do you throw out what he tells you because he can’t prove it? Or do you believe him and accept his apology?

This is a simple example. Given more time, I know I can come up with better ones. My point is that there is a lot more out there than facts and a lot of times we have to rely on imperfect information or (gasp) INFORMED opinions. There isn’t always time to get all of the facts. Some people have developed very reliable gut feelings.

DB [/quote]

If you want to be brief, you have a lesson to learn from ktennies. If you want to be Socrates, make sure you analogies make sense.

246

[quote]Yo Momma wrote:
Lonnie123 wrote:
RSGZ wrote:
OMG!

Do you guys see what I see?

I shit thee not… I can genuinely see what appears to be the risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ the Almighty. Thank you for this compelling evidence RSGZ… I cant explain this any other way than to say God is making his presence known to me in this photo.

Well, God tricked your ass, because that dude ain’t Jesus!!

Jesus was of Jewish parentage and so was clearly of semitic appearance. That means he was most likely brown skinned. The style of men’s hair at that time was Roman, so his hair was most likely cut short.

When the Church contracted artists of the middle ages to depict Jesus, the Jews were despised as an inferior race of people. To paint or sculpt Jesus as a Jew would have been unthinkable, hence the the Aryan look.

[/quote]

You assume I believe that the above depiction is what I think Jesus looks like. But it’s true that most people (including yourself) associate that likeness with Jesus. That’s why I have a problem with it. I know it’s “cool” to bash Christianity these days but it does’nt make it right. If somebody put up a post with anti-Sematic, anti-Islamic or anti-(your belief) sentiments I gaurantee there would be a severe backlash about how politically incorrect, offensive and prejudiced it was.

I’m not responding to this to try to convince anyone that they should believe what I do. I am a follower of Christ and I found the above posts to be very offensive - so I said something about it, just like you would if somebody disrespected something you deeply believed in.

247

[quote]RSGZ wrote:
So does Jesus than change his shape to the one we recognise when he shows himself to random people as a spirit (as tribunaldude said) in order for people to recognise him?[/quote]

Man created God in his own image and likeness.

248

[quote]tribunaldude wrote:
We undergo a period of severe fasting and meditation during which we
astrally project ourselves and communicate with the citizens of the astral plane. While our material bodies are in a state of waste and hunger, our astral bodies are free to engage in debauchery in astral space.

Those of us who choose to return to the material plane are then trained in the secret arts of the ancient reptilians who inhabited the planet and killed the dinosaurs and will exterminate the cockroach race in the 22nd century.

After a few years of self reflection and mixed martial arts, we are trained to speak in tongues and a variety of chinese dialects. After that period, we are absorbed into the master-school of psychodemonologists for a period of 4 years.

During this, we learn the 56 secret arts which i will not reveal and spend 2 years in residency.

Those who complete the required credits and submit the dissertations are allowed to graduate magna cum laude and practise the twin subjects of clinical demonology and neo-patho-demonology (differs slightly as I will reveal in later messages) eitehr individually or as part of a team, the dynamics of which i have described in my earlier messages.[/quote]

Dude, where can I get some of what you are smoking? :stuck_out_tongue: :wink:

249

[quote]Yo Momma wrote:
RSGZ wrote:
So does Jesus than change his shape to the one we recognise when he shows himself to random people as a spirit (as tribunaldude said) in order for people to recognise him?

Man created God in his own image and likeness.

[/quote]

Man created God.

250

[quote]RSGZ wrote:
Yo Momma wrote:
RSGZ wrote:
So does Jesus than change his shape to the one we recognise when he shows himself to random people as a spirit (as tribunaldude said) in order for people to recognise him?

Man created God in his own image and likeness.

Man created God.[/quote]

Of course man created God. You gotta better story??

251

[quote]Yo Momma wrote:
RSGZ wrote:
Yo Momma wrote:
RSGZ wrote:
So does Jesus than change his shape to the one we recognise when he shows himself to random people as a spirit (as tribunaldude said) in order for people to recognise him?

Man created God in his own image and likeness.

Man created God.

Of course man created God. You gotta better story??

[/quote]

Well, first there was darkness…

252

[quote]matt88 wrote:
Lonnie123 wrote:
RSGZ wrote:
OMG!

Do you guys see what I see?

I shit thee not… I can genuinely see what appears to be the risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ the Almighty. Thank you for this compelling evidence RSGZ… I cant explain this any other way than to say God is making his presence known to me in this photo.

I think your flippant disrespect and self-assured “right thinking” only shows your inflated sense of yourself. You have presumeably figured it all out and obviously feel you are an authority on how all things in the universe work and interact.

I can assure you that there are many people who were and are more intelligent than you, who have come to the conclusion that there must be a God.

You better hope that you are right.[/quote]

So far as I can tell, the only ones “hoping” are the believers.

253

Credit/paypal accepted. No discover cards though. Frequent buyer privileges available for months up to December.

[quote]Sentoguy wrote:
Dude, where can I get some of what you are smoking? :stuck_out_tongue: ;)[/quote]

254

I believe in other dimensions of existence.

255

[quote]dollarbill44 wrote:Humans interact mostly in the gray, non-factual area. Let’s say you have a friend (hypothetically, of course, because you can’t prove that you have one) and the two of you are supposed to meet for a beer.

He doesn’t show, but he calls and tells you that he’s not coming because ____ (fill in the blanks). Do you make him prove it? Do you throw out what he tells you because he can’t prove it? Or do you believe him and accept his apology?

This is a simple example. Given more time, I know I can come up with better ones. My point is that there is a lot more out there than facts and a lot of times we have to rely on imperfect information or (gasp) INFORMED opinions.

There isn’t always time to get all of the facts. Some people have developed very reliable gut feelings.

DB [/quote]

The general slogan of “Extraordinary Claims require extraordinary evidence” (I dont agree it has to be extraordinary evidence, but thats the quote) seems to fit here.

Is my friends excuse because his tire is flat? No problem, I’m not going to want to see the tire later and have him show me the fix-it plug. Peoples tires go flat all the time.

Now, he tells me he is not going to make it because he is having lunch with someone else… On the planet Jupiter. Well, now I’m skeptical.

There is a spectrum of plausibility here, not a black and white deliniation. If you tell me “I own a computer” there is no reason to doubt that claim, but if you tell me “I own a computer powered by a human brain.” Well now its time to go over to your house and check things out.

256

[quote]matt88 wrote:
Lonnie123 wrote:
RSGZ wrote:
OMG!

Do you guys see what I see?

I shit thee not… I can genuinely see what appears to be the risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ the Almighty. Thank you for this compelling evidence RSGZ… I cant explain this any other way than to say God is making his presence known to me in this photo.

I think your flippant disrespect and self-assured “right thinking” only shows your inflated sense of yourself. You have presumeably figured it all out and obviously feel you are an authority on how all things in the universe work and interact.

I can assure you that there are many people who were and are more intelligent than you, who have come to the conclusion that there must be a God.

You better hope that you are right.[/quote]

I have never once said “I have it all figured out and I am an authority on how all things work and interact in the universe.”

Having said that, I have studied these types of claims and what makes people believe these types of claims, which many people have not done. I’m simply trying to pass on that education to them.

Thats what a skeptic is really, someone who is well versed in these types of claims(“How else can it be explained?” “But I really felt something there!” “It sure seemed like ______ happened”), how the human brain goes wrong(logical fallacies, the brain deceiving itself), logical form, and the scientific method.

The point of the paragraph I wrote above was the show and satirize a similar line of thinking to the kinds of things I hear everyday from believers. It goes something like this:

1 - Something interesting happens (“Jesus” appears on a grilled cheese, you have a string of good days where everything seems to go right, your mother is cured of her cancer, Your lost dog finds his way home)

2 - YOU cant think of a good explanation

3 - God did it. It was a Ghost. Your guardian angel is looking out for you. It must be because you are a Gemini and your moon is in the 3rd house of Aquarius this month.

I dont mean to simplify the matter so much, but honestly I see stuff like this so often its scary.

257

[quote]tribunaldude wrote:
Lonnie123 wrote:
So if it isnt an exact science, why do you seem to sure of the results?

What results? Our problem is how we interpret the “presence” communicating with us. Your problem is how you interpret the Hi-definition photograph I posted afew pages back.

[/quote] I will agree that the photo was incredibly high definition. even upon zooming in you lose almost no quality. What kind of camera was that taken on, I may need to pick one up.

[quote]What qualifies someone to be a spirit monitor or demonologist?

We undergo a period of severe fasting and meditation during which we
astrally project ourselves and communicate with the citizens of the astral plane. While our material bodies are in a state of waste and hunger, our astral bodies are free to engage in debauchery in astral space.

Those of us who choose to return to the material plane are then trained in the secret arts of the ancient reptilians who inhabited the planet and killed the dinosaurs and will exterminate the cockroach race in the 22nd century.

After a few years of self reflection and mixed martial arts, we are trained to speak in tongues and a variety of chinese dialects. After that period, we are absorbed into the master-school of psychodemonologists for a period of 4 years.

During this, we learn the 56 secret arts which i will not reveal and spend 2 years in residency. Those who complete the required credits and submit the dissertations are allowed to graduate magna cum laude and practise the twin subjects of clinical demonology and neo-patho-demonology

(differs slightly as I will reveal in later messages) eitehr individually or as part of a team, the dynamics of which i have described in my earlier messages.

[/quote]

Ohhhhh, why didnt you say this earlier in the thread?

258

[quote]matt88 wrote:
You assume I believe that the above depiction is what I think Jesus looks like. But it’s true that most people (including yourself) associate that likeness with Jesus. That’s why I have a problem with it.

I know it’s “cool” to bash Christianity these days but it does’nt make it right. If somebody put up a post with anti-Sematic, anti-Islamic or anti-(your belief) sentiments I gaurantee there would be a severe backlash about how politically incorrect, offensive and prejudiced it was.
[/quote]

Brother… Try living as an outted atheist for a few days if you want to see how people treat us. Polls show that more than half of the american voting public would not vote for someone JUST BECAUSE that person was an atheist.

I have heard stories of people who were once Christian, became atheist, and then were ostracized by the whole community they lived in.

Rumors were spread about the person being gay, being a vampire, and they basically lost everyone they considered a friend up to that point. Listen to almost anyone who has a deconversion story and you will hear similar things.

Yep, it sure is great to know all of those WWJD, non-prejudice christians.

259

[quote]Sentoguy wrote:
tribunaldude wrote:
We undergo a period of severe fasting and meditation during which we
astrally project ourselves and communicate with the citizens of the astral plane. While our material bodies are in a state of waste and hunger, our astral bodies are free to engage in debauchery in astral space.

Those of us who choose to return to the material plane are then trained in the secret arts of the ancient reptilians who inhabited the planet and killed the dinosaurs and will exterminate the cockroach race in the 22nd century.

After a few years of self reflection and mixed martial arts, we are trained to speak in tongues and a variety of chinese dialects. After that period, we are absorbed into the master-school of psychodemonologists for a period of 4 years.

During this, we learn the 56 secret arts which i will not reveal and spend 2 years in residency.

Those who complete the required credits and submit the dissertations are allowed to graduate magna cum laude and practise the twin subjects of clinical demonology and neo-patho-demonology (differs slightly as I will reveal in later messages) eitehr individually or as part of a team, the dynamics of which i have described in my earlier messages.

Dude, where can I get some of what you are smoking? :stuck_out_tongue: ;)[/quote]

They sell some on the 6th Astral Plane. Its expensive as shit though.

260

http://theskepticsguide.org/5x5/index.asp

Go here and check out the “Skepticism 101” series. Its still in progress and new additions are made every tuesday. The newest show on Pareidolia is especially pertinent to this topic.

They should have some more 101 type shows up every week, but the ones they have on Occams Razor, the Scientific Method, and Cold Reading are really essential listening for this kind of topic.

261


Here is another picture of the spirit changing its mood. I will upload more pics in time.