Tribute Thread For the Recently Raptured Faith

Is it? That sounds like the Bart Simpson Defence: "I could do that but I don't wanna." I could swim the Atlantic Ocean but I don't wanna. Maybe it has more to do with capability than God's whim.The question remains: If God could do things the right way, why does He choose to do them the wrong way?

It isn't that we have ruled out the possibility of anything "more". It's that an evidenced conclusion comes first, "I don't know" comes after that and spooky-woo comes way, way, way, way, way, way, way after that.I have seen dozens of instances of "speaking in tongues" and my conclusion is "I don't know". There are a number of possible explanations, none of them supernatural.I have also seen a few instances of drug induced "temporary psychosis".I'm a very long way from having to fall back on anything "more".

But your thinking is backwards. You're making up a God to fit the dogma. When you're a member of a club, you're subject to club rules when you're at the club. The club doesn't necessarily dictate what you can do in your own back yard. If you must have a heaven, why can't it be your own back yard instead of a clubhouse?

That corresponds to the "tongues" that I have heard. It's one of the things that leads me to conclude that it is not a real communication. I have muscle tics that I don't call supernatural. I think mental tics are even more common.

Again, you're making up the God to fit the dogma.

It's the principle of, "If you hear hoof-beats, think horses, not zebras." Simple explanations before exotic ones. The bizarre lengths here are the "supernatural" ones.

Sure it is. It's human voices. On the contrary, there are plausible psychological and physiological explanations.

Another case of thinking backwards: Rain is caused by puddles.More likely, cases of "demon possession" are caused by mental illness.

Oh come on. Nothing that has been described here is even close to what mental illness can do.

I'm starting from what is known. Mental illness is known. Demons are not.

It only fails for you - and only because you refuse to consider any explanation but woo. You know damn well that mental "tics" are real. Tourette syndrome is an obvious example.

No they are not. There are better explanations for all of the "manifestations".

If it was a whole room full of people speaking in tongues, that would be even more indicative of collusion, etc. But that isn't what happens, in my experience. There may be two or three people in succession but never more than one at a time. And there are any number of possible explanations for a string of them - imitation, for instance, the bandwagon effect. You are in no way qualified to make that assessment.

Demon possession is not an explanation. You could just as easily say it was gremlins. An explanation as to involve something that actually exists.

You contradict yourself. You do know that the Chipmunks are human voices, don't you? Yes, memory has a tendency to fill in the gaps. As Tolkien said, the tale grows in the telling.