Postby Technomancer » Sat Jul 26, 2003 6:59 am
While I cannot discount all such matters, I think we have to be extremely skeptical with any claims to such things. Open mouthed credulity for such charlatans ultimately gives them (and whomever you may think is behind them) far more influence in the world than they deserve. You will find that nearly all such self-professed astrologers, psychics, or crystal-wavers do nothing more than prey on human weaknessess and gullibility; which admittedly is bad enough. This is not to say it doesn't lead to sin, but that the sins are the altogether prosaic mistakes of greed or a loss of faith.
While I know that most of you do not consider the Deuteros to be canonical, I'd recommend reading what the book of Wisdom (ch 13-14) has to say on the subject of petitioning idols (ie. it doesn't work)
16 Providing for it, lest it should fall, knowing that it is unable to help itself: for it is an image, and hath need of help.
17 And then maketh prayer to it, enquiring concerning his substance, and his children, or his marriage. And he is not ashamed to speak to that which hath no life:
18 And for health he maketh supplication to the weak, and for life prayeth to that which is dead, and for help calleth upon that which is unprofitable:
19 And for a good journey he petitioneth him that cannot walk: and for getting, and for working, and for the event of all things he asketh him that is unable to do any thing.
Wisdom (13:16-20)
You might also want to consider that if such things had any power Las Vegas would probably go bankrupt overnight. As a conclusion, remeber Theophrastus' words: "Superstition is cowardice in the face of the divine"
The scientific method," Thomas Henry Huxley once wrote, "is nothing but the normal working of the human mind." That is to say, when the mind is working; that is to say further, when it is engaged in corrrecting its mistakes. Taking this point of view, we may conclude that science is not physics, biology, or chemistry—is not even a "subject"—but a moral imperative drawn from a larger narrative whose purpose is to give perspective, balance, and humility to learning.
Neil Postman
(The End of Education)
Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge
Isaac Aasimov