Derren Brown converts Atheists to Theists with a flick of his hand. Video!

blue[]ce

Hehehe. some feel good for the christians... or maybe not

watch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Sq-YUdq1OI&mode=related&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DylNVUN_3I&mode=related&search=

Well, this is a guy who knew the tricks that televangelists are using. He is an atheist btw as he explained in the first part. Have fun.

blue[]ce

just bumping up. its a good watch

SamLowry

blue[]ce wrote: »

just bumping up. its a good watch

it's scary how the human mind can be hacked and controlled like that. Tho as the explanation stated, they were already susceptible to spirituality since they answered the ad. but then again, there could be a real skeptic in the audience who was there to debunk him and yet it seems that he got a 100% success rate.

Ischaramoochie

how about he tries it with RoT regulars

SamLowry

Ischaramoochie wrote: »

how about he tries it with RoT regulars

which ROT regulars? the true believers?:)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_believer_syndrome

Adamantium

Ischaramoochie wrote: »

how about he tries it with RoT regulars

This thread is a classic example of how atheists try to debunk any other belief aside from theirs, by arguing from a set of mind sets and prejudices about such other beliefs, theism especially, and then proceeding therefrom try to debunk the latter.

I cannot imagine that posters here who seem to have a deep knowledge of logic would stoop to such prejudicial judgement of theism in general and Christianity in particular.

One premise that the atheistic view relies on is that theism, and Christianity in particular, is empty of rationality and logical basis. But this is not the truth.

In the Holy Bible itself, the Apostle John, in his First Epistle General, Chapter 4, Verse 1, commands all Christians, thus:

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

The word "try" here is the translation used by the Authorised King James Version translators for the Greek word that literally means "test, prove by trial, discern".

This Biblical provision nullifies everything that that atheistic deceiver used in order to produce belief in people. And such arguments will not stand against theism, for the Bible acknowledges it thus.

The point of Christian theism, and of theism in general, is that yes, there is a God, but yes also, there are other forces out there who are also intent to deceive mankind into believing that there is no God. This inheres in the great Plan of Salvation of God for all humanity.

My Identity here basically argues as a patient theist mother to irrational and recalcitrant atheistic children that theism is not that irrational, illogical, and baseless belief system that it is. To the contrary.

Saint John's admonition to all Christians, and to theists thus, to test every spirit, for not every spirit is of God, and that YouTube's video's atheist deceiving a group of believers in believing, all the more attest to the soundness of the total unity of the Christian faith.

What did that atheistic deceiver in that video achieve?

He merely attested to the truth of 1 John 4:1, in that believers should test and not just believe instantly any spirit, but carefully discern and try them.

For some are of men, and some are of the devil.

For which, if that is the case, then it is not of God, and thus vain, empty, and bereft of any eternal significance.

Frank_Macky

^ So what makes you believe that your bible is not of the devil? Perhaps you are being deceived at this very moment... perhaps the person/s who introduced you to that book ARE of the devil and out to destroy your reason and sanity.

As far as I can tell, "believers" reason like a bunch of loons...

Frank_Macky

Having fallen prey to the "born-again or go to hell" bull$hit line as a kid, I don't consider this "True Believer syndrome" to be a laughing matter. As I read:

http://www.brianwizard.com/samples/observation.pdf

and compare my own experiences and feelings before with those described there, I realize that one could replace "419 scammer" up there with "born-again evangelists" and it would fit right in smoothly.

Basically what many of these televangelists and "witnessers" are practicing is the equivalent of psychological scamming and manipulation which is very harmful for those who end up believing in them.

These people subconsciously know they have been suckered and yet are too weak to resist their fears (of hell and an antagonistic "god"), but instead of trying to work it out for themselves, they they try to infect others with the same fears and irrationalities that they suffer from.

I'll bet Jonga would testify to the above as well. I do agree that people need to get saved... from believing in that "they need to be saved" BS, that is...

Frank_Macky

Adamantium wrote: »

blah... blah... blah...

There will be a Day of Reckoning all right... for morons who like to spout craptastic garbage.

Casta Diva

Frank_Macky wrote: »

^ So what makes you believe that your bible is not of the devil? Perhaps you are being deceived at this very moment... perhaps the person/s who introduced you to that book ARE of the devil and out to destroy your reason and sanity.

As far as I can tell, "believers" reason like a bunch of loons...

The Bible is not of the devil because both by internal as well as external evidences that are too many to mention, the Holy Bible has been written, preserved, handed down, and translated to all of us from the ancient times with the intact moral and theological unity and precision that cannot be found in any other book, thereby destroying, resisting, and nullifying the works and deceptions of Satan that includes you.

We Christians ourselves are personal witnesses that the Bible proceeds from God, and not from the devil, which "great cloud of witnesses" will surely testify against you at the Last Judgement at the last day, so that you atheists who persists in willful and knowing unbelief will surely have no excuse.

Frank_Macky

^ Oh really....?

SamLowry

one bullsh1t for another:( I seriously considered NLP and involuntary hypnotism as a legit science (despite my gut, experience and skepticism telling me otherwise).

I have to admit, derren brown got me. oh well, I just realized that I still am gullible despite having a skeptical mind. good thing some reading and common sense kept me in check.

still a good showman tho:)

In the case of this video, I'm betting that he used a couple of stooges and actors despite him explicitly denying it. I was going to say that he is doing more good than harm but he also legitimizes a quack science that is NLP so I'm not really sure what to think of him anymore.

remind me to always check it at the jref forums first:)

Oneiros

Casta Diva wrote: »

This thread is a classic example of how atheists try to debunk any other belief aside from theirs, by arguing from a set of mind sets and prejudices about such other beliefs, theism especially, and then proceeding therefrom try to debunk the latter.

And your post is a classic example of the paranoia and of the persecution mentality that seems to be in the vogue with True Believers™ nowadays. So let's proceed...

Casta Diva wrote: »

The word "try" here is the translation used by the Authorised King James Version translators for the Greek word that literally means "test, prove by trial, discern".

This Biblical provision nullifies everything that that atheistic deceiver used in order to produce belief in people. And such arguments will not stand against theism, for the Bible acknowledges it thus.

The point of Christian theism, and of theism in general, is that yes, there is a God, but yes also, there are other forces out there who are also intent to deceive mankind into believing that there is no God. This inheres in the great Plan of Salvation of God for all humanity.

<gratuitous backpatting omitted>

Saint John's admonition to all Christians, and to theists thus, to test every spirit, for not every spirit is of God, and that YouTube's video's atheist deceiving a group of believers in believing, all the more attest to the soundness of the total unity of the Christian faith.

What did that atheistic deceiver in that video achieve?

He merely attested to the truth of 1 John 4:1, in that believers should test and not just believe instantly any spirit, but carefully discern and try them.

Because spirits are y'know, verifiable/testable/falsifiable . Unless you mean something different with the word "spirit" and "test". Anyway, what the heck does spirits or theology have to do with those bloody videos? The point of those videos is not to establish the irrationality of any particular belief system (that's just your paranoia talking) but to demonstrate Derren Brown's supposed skill of manipulating the beliefs/belief formation of those non-believers (not believers as you previously mentioned ). It's not about theology, it's about (social) psychology. I'll get to how I think he did it on my next post.

---

Adamantium wrote: »

The Bible is not of the devil because both by internal as well as external evidences that are too many to mention, the Holy Bible has been written, preserved, handed down, and translated to all of us from the ancient times with the intact moral and theological unity and precision that cannot be found in any other book, thereby destroying, resisting, and nullifying the works and deceptions of Satan that includes you.

Because we all know that the devil is incapable of manipulating evidence. And we can also conclude that "the Holy Bible has been written, preserved, handed down, and translated to all of us from the ancient times with the intact moral and theological unity and precision that cannot be found in any other book" because... we said so.

Adamantium wrote: »

We Christians ourselves are personal witnesses that the Bible proceeds from God, and not from the devil, which "great cloud of witnesses" will surely testify against you at the Last Judgement at the last day, so that you atheists who persists in willful and knowing unbelief will surely have no excuse.

See? Because we said so. Forgiveness and mercy is not infinite you heathen atheist pagans.