Jar's belief statement- Part 2

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I am saying it was both.

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Woo-woo! The bogeyman made him do it!Doesn't it give you chills? Doesn't it give you the willies?Woo-woo!

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He was like that for a long time, yet it was when I felt what I felt, that he took his life shortly there after. Gave me chills.

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Exactly. It gave you chills. It was thrilling to think you had some special awareness of the woo-woo spirits that made him do it.And if he was like that for a long time, more's the shame on you and that other so-called Christian neighbor of yours for not trying to get the man some help.Would calling social services have been pointless, since what are mental health professionals going to against "spirits of murder"?

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To me his whole life, he was trapped by bad spirits, that could have started with his childhood, or his parents.

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Do you even listen to yourself, rat?The bogeyman and evil spirits are the fears of a child who is afraid of the dark.Clinical depression is an illness. It is caused by an imbalance of chemicals in the brain. There is a genetic component that affects suceptibility.

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Yes, I feel bad about it,

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Maybe you do and maybe you don't.In your initial telling of the story, it was only to illustrate your woo-woo feeling about the poor depressed guy who offed himself and the smug, self-satisfied discussion your "Christian" neighbor and you had about it afterwords.

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but those people were all to themselves, and very difficult to get along with. We try to be friendly with his wife who is now all screwed up.

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The way the world is these days, you can't seem to have healthy relationships as easily with your nieghbors anymore. Instead of typing to me on the internet, maybe you should be on your front porch talking with your nieghbors, and saving all the crazy people from killing themselves, instead of finger pointing at Christians.

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I am not saying that I would have done anything differently beforehand, although it is possible. I have become involved in neighbors' lives in the past.What I am saying is that I find it disgusting and shocking that you are using another person's sucicide to give yourself a woo-woo spooky thrill.I am saying that it is frankly lunatic in this day and age of incredible scientific and medical understanding that grown men will stand around and blame a suicide on evil spirits.

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Maybe the joke is on you. Being convinced that it doesn't exist makes you safe, doesn't it?

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Go live in the fear, superstition and ignorance of the Dark Ages if that's where you feel most comfortable, rat.I'll stay up here in the light.Edited by schrafinator, : No reason given.

I'm not a "so-called" college instructor. I am an actual college instructor. Moreover, I was rated one of the best teachers on campus by the students. I got this plaque to prove it.Edited by robinrohan, : No reason given.

You know, again you have attacked me, and brought the thread off-topic.If you don't know the answer to that, then I can't help you. Start another thread.

No, it wasn't thrilling, your unbelievable.
If I hadn't experienced what I did, then the thought wouldn't have crossed my mind. Go *f* yourself, for trying to lay some kind of guilt trip on me. He was getting help. It was probably the poor help that contributed to his death. There are legal proceedings concerning that matter. Hvae you ever had social services called on you?
It's not a pleasant experience. My whole life, I never believed in spirits, or the bogeyman. I am aware of these things now. There is no way to prove them, and I do not take it as concrete, but I am aware of the possibility of a spiritual world out there. It is this awareness that gives me an advantage in life.In other words, I am open minded, of which you have claimed I am not. You have your mind shut, so your safe. No shit! There are also other factors that can cause people to be unstable. Perhaps being mistreated as a child can cause those things to happen. Maybe if God showed him a way out, the chemicals in his brain would be fine again. We all go through shit in life. As in typical schraf fashion you completely by-passed the point of the story. The point of the story was about what I felt, not what he felt.
I found it extremely coinsidental that in my 41 years alive the thought of suicide never even crossed my mind, and the next day after it happens, my nieghbor commits suicide. Where the thought even came from, or why the feeling I got even came to my mind remains unexplained to me. I have been over it a thousand times in my mind. It is totally against every fiber of my being to even have a thought like that. Are you calling me a lunatic? Thanks girl.
There was nothing good spirited about what happened.
Still there are moments when you lie on the bed at night wondering about things that are not explained by our "incredible" scientific abilities.But, I understand you calling me a lunatic, I would have called myself the same thing a few years ago. Selah.

Are you saying the devil never tempted Jesus?

I can understand the logic of your position, Schraff, and I dont ascribe to the Devil made them do it excuse any more than you do. I have seen evidence of the supernatural that settled the issue in my mind, and I will say that there is a world of difference between a passionate evangelical event in the Phillipines or so other remote place that involves spiritual manifestations and unexplainable phenomena versus James Randi versus Peter Popoff!I am as convinced that there is a spiritual reality perhaps as much as you are convinced that there is not.I fully expect to be challenged on my position, however---and promise not to manifest should you call me out!

Yup.The story is allegorical.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

The key phrase there seems to be "remote places" - where nobody can investigate what really happened, as opposed to what was reported by believers.(Interesting that you mention James Randi, since he does explain the "unexplainable". If some "unexplainable" phenomena can be explained, why are you willing to conclude that others are not?)

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I can tell you something that happened to me that is totally unexplainable. About a dozen years ago or so, we had this tree out front that died. I cut it down but left the stump. I was planning on getting rid of it later.One day I came home and the stump was gone. This was a pretty big stump. If you've ever tried to dig up a tree stump, you'll know that it's a big job. It just so happened that we had some roofers out that day putting on a new roof, so I thought maybe they did it(which makes no sense, of course). They didn't know anything about it. I went around to the neighbors. None of them knew anything about it. I called relatives, who knew nothing. I called the home-owner's association. I thought maybe they thought it was an eyesore and decided to get rid of it themselves. They told me they didn't operate that way (I knew they didn't, but I couldn't think of anything else).To this day, we do not know what happened to the stump.ABE: Would this qualify as a religious experience?Edited by robinrohan, : No reason given.Edited by robinrohan, : No reason given.Edited by robinrohan, : changed subtitle

I wouldn't call it a "religious experience".I also wouldn't call it "unexplainable" - I'd call it "unexplained".
I don't have to explain the difference, do I? I would have had a lot more questions: Was there just a hole where the stump used to be? Or was there no sign that there ever was a tree there? Any roots left? Any "trace" evidence at all? Trail of dirt across the lawn? Insects? Eggs? Did you have the soil tested? Any damage on other nearby trees? Did you consult a tree surgeon? Any tracks - human or vehicle? Did the neighbours notice any strange vehicles? Did you ask the local busybody? Did you look in all the local garbage bins?I could go on and on.I've seen lots of things that I can't explain.
That doesn't make them "unexplainable" - or supernatural.

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Well, yes. I said "unexplainable" because I can't imagine any plausible explanation, unless there's some good Samaritan who goes around secretly removing stumps for people--the Batman of lawncare. Good questions. Whoever did this did it very neatly. You could tell where the stump had been but the hole had been filled some with dirt. The lawn around it was undisturbed. When we talked to the neighbors, we asked them not only if they did it, but if they saw anyone over there doing something. All answers were negative.I can't imagine anyone doing this without letting us know.Maybe an alien took it out to space to study.

There's always Goddidit but what about hyperdecomposition?

Never heard of it.This is the only experience I have ever had that could be called "uncanny."Some people seem to have a lot of them.

I've got plenty of regrets. One doesn't have to be religious to have regrets.And I think I can hold my own in the field of condescension.

I can think of a few possible explanations:

• They're all in on it. The roofers, the neighbours, your relatives, and the home-owners association. It's one big conspiracy. The only one who doesn't know is you.
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• You did it yourself in a drunken stupor, in the wee hours of the night. Now that you are sober, you don't remember anything about it. (You are sober, aren't you?)
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• Your wife reared your car into it. She had the car repaired and the stump removed to cover up the evidence.

Edited by Parasomnium, : No reason given.

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"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science." - Charles Darwin.