Now there’s a new one…
Occult legitimacy.
hmmm
I’ll have to think about that.
P.S. Slight correction. The world is a scary place anyway, if you look at it realistically. I don’t see the Devil everywhere. However, let me guess: You don’t see him anywhere?
Perhaps if you point out exactly where you see the Devil, GOM, we call all have a look-see. Have you been seeing devils all your life, or is seeing devils a recent phenomenon?
Okay, lekatt, what will be the powerball numbers over the next month? Post them here now, and we can check if you’re right.
lekatt, have you ever in your life had a standard of proof higher than “It’s true because I WANT it to be true!”?
Okay. It’s not a pretty sight, but thank you for asking:
http://www.forgivenforlife.com/1a-testimony.html
Now I’ve seen it all. David Berkowitz. I’m agog. I might have to suggest the words “credibility issues”.
Moderator’s Note: GOM, please review our FAQ on copyright issues. This applies even to the words of convicted serial killers.
I edited your post to remove Mr. Berkowitz’s writings; the link, which I left in place, is sufficient.
ouija boards have no power, but your fear of them does.
There is a lot of fear in the world these days, it is the fastest, most expedient means to control people. If you can let-go the fear life will be better.
Just as a suggestion, try seeing God everywhere, instead.
Love
Leroy
I think you are really trying to understand, but I can’t follow your line of reasoning. If there are other things involved that I don’t know about, I just don’t know about them.
Please understand that terms like cold reading and other fake methods are not done. The only ones that raise this are the skeptics, and it is solely their views.
Psychics have been around for thousands of years, the Delphi Oracules, were punished if their predictions were not accurate.
There is a mass of material gathered over the centuries about the spirit world, it is pretty well mapped out. I can’t teach everything in a few short paragraphs on this board. Perhaps if you asked only one question at a time I would be better able to field them.
There has been a lot of slander directed at psychics from this board but not one bit of proof has been offered.
If you, or anyone else would care to offer some, then tell me the proof that shows James Van Praagh is a fraud, and if I think the material warrents, I will call the show producer and talk with him about it. I have his private number and email address, we talked about the show before it came on TV.
Love
Leroy
Maybe I’m totally wrong, but I thought you were trying to make the implication that Joe got the Legion of Merit because of his psychic skill.
James Van Praagh does nothing that I couldn’t do, and I have no “psychic” powers what so ever.
I’m only go to say this one more time, lekatt:
People like Edward and Van Praagh are the ones making the extraordinary claims about extraordinary abilities and thus it is up to them to provide the extraordinary proof(i.e. more proof then it takes to prove the commonplace claim), especially if their abilities can be duplicated(or even bettered) by non-extraordinary abilities(i.e. hot and/or cold reading.) Asking people to prove a negative like you have done repeatedly(“Prove that he isn’t a psychic!”) is a logical impossibility akin to asking people to prove that their isn’t an invisible squirrel-monkey under your bed that teleports away whenever anyone searches for it. Please do not do this again, for it only shows that you have a very limited reasoning capibility, and does nothing to further your cause with anyone who’s thought processes go beyond “Oooooooh, that sounds neat, so I’m gonna believe it!”
I think that that’s the implication that Joe actually has put forth himself on the websites I’ve seen. Moreover, it’s a likelihood that the US Gov’t gave him the award for his “psychic” contributions that he ascertains he’s done. But we’ve all heard Military Intelligence being referred to as an oxymoron too.
I’m not assuming anything until I see the letter that came with the medal. The U.S. Government might have dabbled unsuccessfully with so-called “psychics”, but they certainly would never have done something so self-incriminating as to offer a medal for it that can be shown to the public.
Here’s where I believe he implies it:
http://www.stargate.net-hed.co.uk/mcmoneagle.htm
This is a great cite about the Star Gate program. So if he worked for Star Gate and he was awarded his medal for his work at Star Gate then there you go.
That is what I was thinking.
BTW, at 1 or 2 in the morning I saw a program about the star gate government thing. It was on TLC or Discovery. I was really out of it though, so I can’t comment on it.
I agree with you Czar, I’ve seen many people flat out lie about the government, to which they (in some cases) supposedly served. Anyone remember Bob Lazar?
It would be quite a stretch (IMO) for the government to issue a metal, thereby practically declaring that psychic phenomenon is “real”.
lekatt:
Well we really shouldn’t have to do it this way (you’re shifting the burden of proof), but seeing as how we’re such nice people and all…
Before we get busy on this assignment we need to know what is expected of us. So we’ll need to know: to a believer, what constitutes acceptable proof that a psychic is a fraud? And by fraud I don’t mean a Miss Cleo fraud; I mean a person who can produce positive psychic results better than chance would dictate, by means that science can not explain. Tell us what evidence you need to see.
but, can any psychic please provide an answer to my question?
Whay are all of these messages from the dead so banal? Couldn’t van Praagh just once contact somebody famous (like Julius Caesar or Al capone, or Harry Houdini), and get something of interest to historians?
I would really like to know what the spririt of Harry Houdini thinks about the current state of magic!
Slightly off topic, but funny. I believe that the onion today adequately addresses our debate. Three guesses as to which headline I refer to.
I think the answer to this is that the psychics “see” pictures and not words. I’m not all together convinced about that explanation, mainly because the psychics I’ve seen tend to emphasize certain words and phrases, directly after they get a “hit”.
My question is, besides dirty business tactics, how do you descern a (supposedly) reputable psychic from a fraud?