Yes...and yes. The Mary story was story after story of faith healings and visions portrayed as if they were certainly real, with no science involved and no other explanations given. I had skipped that story because I don't care about religion, but went back just now and read most of it. Yuck.

The magazine is not the same. This months issue's articles....
1)the photo ARK
2) The crossing-is death an event or more of a progression
3)where death doesn't mean goodbye
4)urban parks, when you're there, civilization can feel very far away
5)Ghost Lands-The Out Of Eden Walk passes through nations haunted by their history: Armenia and Turkey
Page 4 is a big "Why I went looking for spiritual answers" 'article' hyping "Story of God" with Morgan Freeman, which has other full page ads in the same issue.
So every story has some religious connotation except the 'urban park' story, which may or may not, I haven't read it yet.
It does still have some good photography, but also a lot of bland and boring photography, and that ratio is moving in the wrong direction.
I think I won't be renewing. I'll get Popular Science or Scientific American again instead.

I wish that were true. Unfortunately, around the world, there is a large contingent, perhaps even majority, that does think about religion in the way he described, as all powerful and directly effecting reality...in fact the only thing that effects reality. Tens of millions of people in just America (or more) believe in faith healing.
EDIT: Consider the prevalence of Televangelists that nearly ALL do faith healings (for money). Also, in South America, it's at least been reported that in some countries it's considered fact by a majority of the population.
It is good that many have left fundamentalism and put some semblance of sanity in their religion, but many more have not.

I think you missed his point.
Religion/faith healing repeatedly CLAIMS credit for 'miracle healing' (which is any healing their non-medically trained mind can't explain), sometimes for ANY healing, including most healing of the blind. Before now, they have had a near monopoly on 'healing the blind' (although it should be said that it's never been done with a verified incurable 'blind' person, or even as a 'blind test'...pun intended.)
I thought he was refuting those repeated assertions.

Phenomena such as Faith Healing, Glossolalia and Snake Handling existed in US christian movements as early as the 1800's. It seems like the video you replied with is more like one christian group trying to distance itself to the embarrassment that is evangelicals, and it's easy to rope in foreign adaptations of Pentecostalism to use as evidence.

Pentecostalism itself is a foreign adaption which is based on a heresay known as montanism (now neo-montanism). It got its start in the early 1800's by the "Irvingites", who followed an outcast pastor teaching heretical christology doctrines. The father of the modern movement (early 1900s), John Alexander Dowie, believed he was the prophet Elijah and the first restored apostle to the church. It also has links with free masonry.

Ultimately your embed is just commentary on internal strife in an overall larger movement that I don't care about, and is a distraction from the real issue. What all of these have in common is the fact that human beings have a fundamental inability to avoid large scale social misdirection, and that is observable through every aspect of our existence regardless of culture, religion, social structure, lifestyle, sports team, et al.

The embed is about the false spirit which has invaded the church, which is the same spirit working in the video above. It is highlighting the abberant behavior that people who don't know much about Christianity assume is normal for Christians. This is due to the proliferation of the pentecostal and charismatic churches. This is not a judgement against pentecostals or charismatics, it is simply to say that this spirit of disorder is not from God.

Yes, there is a herd mentality, which is why the bible tells us to discern all things. Human beings are fundementally vulnerable to spiritual deception. Only God can protect us from this delusion that society is steeped in.

While I wholeheartedly agree with you that the obsession over materialism, commercialism and sexuality as exploited by modern media, such as the original video portrays, is in many ways a poison to the human condition, there are many worse examples of this in every society. Least of which would be this exact scenario played out in Western culture when a pop-star pays a charity visit to support their government sanctioned killers in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

Evil doesn't often come dressed in red skin and armed with pitchforks. Evil can be banal and mundane, and it will usually come camouflaged as something good. I don't condemn the good deed, but I think you have to admit there is something profoundly disturbing about seeing grown men, soldiers no less, lose their minds as if someone flipped a switch. And yes, there are worse things, but that isn't really the point. I was pointing out the strings so someone might notice the puppeteer.

I really feel like you come here to show other people your belief as a way to convince yourself. Having a personal crusade to publicly disclaim everything that you judge as contradicting to the beliefs you were raised with makes it easy to put the doubt you have about your own faith out of mind.

I grew up without any religion in my life. I was formally agnostic, and so I understand your perspective. You don't see any evidence of a spirit, and none of it adds up in your mind. To you it's all some kind of mass delusion or hysteria. That's what I used to think until God showed me He is very real, and very much involved in what is going on on Planet Earth. I found that material existence is but a veil to a much larger reality. I pray that God will give you that experience as well, and show you that Jesus loves you, and that He is the way, the truth and the life. I am not here to prove something, I am here to do the will of God and tell you that Jesus died for your sins so you can be reconciled to God and have eternal life. I am here to warn you that the wages of sin is death, and that if you die in your sins without Gods pardon, you face Gods judgement, and hell. I say these things out of love, because I care about what happens to you.

PS - have you ever seen Japanese tentacle porn?

Hell vomited up that garbage, there is no doubt. I find though that true corruption comes by 1000 cuts. By the time a child is six years old, they will have spent more time in front of the Television/media than they will have spent quality time with their dads in a whole lifetime. That is what is really disturbing, and no one is standing in the gap. Modern parenting is putting your kid in front of a TV and giving them whatever the TV programs them to ask for. Sadly, this is just scratching the surface.

>> ^artician

Phenomena such as Faith Healing, Glossolalia and Snake Handling existed in US christian movements as early as the 1800's. It seems like the video you replied with is more like one christian group trying to distance itself to the embarrassment that is evangelicals, and it's easy to rope in foreign adaptations of Pentecostalism to use as evidence.

Ultimately your embed is just commentary on internal strife in an overall larger movement that I don't care about, and is a distraction from the real issue. What all of these have in common is the fact that human beings have a fundamental inability to avoid large scale social misdirection, and that is observable through every aspect of our existence regardless of culture, religion, social structure, lifestyle, sports team, et al.

While I wholeheartedly agree with you that the obsession over materialism, commercialism and sexuality as exploited by modern media, such as the original video portrays, is in many ways a poison to the human condition, there are many worse examples of this in every society. Least of which would be this exact scenario played out in Western culture when a pop-star pays a charity visit to support their government sanctioned killers in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

I really feel like you come here to show other people your belief as a way to convince yourself. Having a personal crusade to publicly disclaim everything that you judge as contradicting to the beliefs you were raised with makes it easy to put the doubt you have about your own faith out of mind.

PS - have you ever seen Japanese tentacle porn?

>> ^shinyblurry:

When you realize that faith healing is utter nonsense and delusional, you find out just how dangerous the world is for babies who can't do anything for themselves.

Your video, atheist debunks faith healing to the detriment of charlatans, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Aka check out berticus...

*Quality *documentaries *magic
>> ^berticus:

that's my boyfriend you're sifting, enoch. you should check out every single thing he's ever done -- he is so much fun.

>> ^berticus:

it's DERREN, you insolent whelp! slap
>> ^solecist:
i'm surprised that a sifter with over 500 star points doesn't know who darren brown is.



way to ruin my opportunity for a ninja edit!

it's DERREN, you insolent whelp! *slap*
>> ^solecist:

i'm surprised that a sifter with over 500 star points doesn't know who darren brown is.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'faith healing, peter popoff, expose, charlatans, exploiting the fearful' to 'faith healing, peter popoff, expose, charlatans, exploiting the fearful, derren brown' - edited by berticus

6 more comments have been lost in the ether at this killed duplicate.

Forgive my lack of acumen, did I screw up?
I found this dupe when I was looking for the original to cite on someone else's dupe.
>> ^raverman:

lol. did you just dupe against the same youtube source of this post?>> ^chicchorea:
Sorry, dupeof http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6csPWzurwHo&feature=player_embedded.

lol. did you just dupe against the same youtube source of this post?>> ^chicchorea:

Sorry, dupeof http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6csPWzurwHo&feature=player_embedded.

>> ^rebuilder:
>> ^imstellar28:
Theres really no way religion can survive the internet, so I wouldn't worry about it. It'll be gone naturally in the next few generations as more and more people become connected.

Oh yes, obviously the Internet is fostering an explosion of rational thought everywhere.
Have you read comments on Youtube recently? Or any site with a wide-demographic audience? I'm pretty sure the Internet is making it easier for new and old religion, faith healing, miracle cures etc. to spread, not harder. The Internet just makes it easier to spread information, and that includes lies and irrational ideas.
Frankly, looking at the kind of rapid-fire discussion going on, I worry that the more reasonable, humane type of religion is dying out and a more crass type of religion is rising.


Unfortunately I am going to have to agree with rebuilder on this one.