Thursday, January 28, 2010

Blinded By Fireflys

Call it triangulation. Skeptics in general are insufferably smug about their faith-I'm talking the whole hoggish, minds-so-open-their-brains-fall-out secular humanists, who wear their ignorance as a badge of honor.
They do have some entertainment value, and are useful for a few simple tasks.
The new Skeptic hillbillys I've encountered are members of something called the "Point of Inquiry Podcast-they have some foundation to foment their rebellion against faith/for truth (as if those elements were mutually exclusive), and have been around for awhile. New to me, maybe not to you.
I was chuckling along to their podcast tonight; I haven't heard such earnest joy since my last Pentecostal meeting. They LOVE being right.
One of their high Priests of Skepticism is old JREF himself, "The Amazing Randi" and here's where the story turns:
I like James Randi, have enjoyed his stories and podcasts for years, and from time to time I like to visit his website, the James Randi Educational Foundation, or JREF.
I mentioned triangulation and simple tasks.
At one point of the triangle you find me, a Christian who knows that God exists, and that, according to the Bible AND our lives, that we are spiritual creatures.
At the second point we find James Randi, standing in for all skeptics, who says, "I won't believe in anything that I can't prove or have proven to me. Show me your God and I will believe. But if you can't produce him or it...then you have put your faith in something unprovable, and I respectfully decline to join you in your faith."
To James Randi, ALL religious faith, all superstitious faith, spiritism, psychics and quackery are tarred with the same brush.
Which brings us to the tri in our angles.
The fakes. The fakirs, both God fakers and Spirit fakers. The quacks,cracks and hacks who make a bad living by lying to faithful believers.
Randi and I agree on the fakirfakers. I love the fraudulent jerks being exposed and frogmarched out of the public eye. Most especially those jerks who claim to be speaking for God, promising miracles but delivering heartaches.
But also the Sylvia Brownes, both Jonathan Edwards (psychic and politician), and every other con artiste making people's money go poof! Gone! It's magic!
The fakirfakers have no use at all for Christians such as myself, and they hate James Randi and his band of skeptical brothers.
One of the podcasts tonight was about Harry Houdini, who I guess would be the Moses of the Skeptical religion. It IS a religion, as we are supposed to take on faith that they know what they are talking about.
Houdini went after the spirit readers with a vengance after his mother died, and some of the 'speakers for the dead' claimed to have messages from her. He though it most reprehensible that these fakers would get rich taking advantage of grieving people.
I share that reprehension, as does James Randi. Too bad he's wrong about Christians.
JREF. Joe Bob says check it out.

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