On Wednesday, October 17, 2018 at 12:10:54 PM UTC-7, Gary Harnagel wrote:
On Tuesday, October 16, 2018 at 11:33:30 PM UTC-6, palsing wrote:

On Tuesday, October 16, 2018 at 4:54:30 AM UTC-7, Gary Harnagel wrote:

On Monday, October 15, 2018 at 11:29:25 PM UTC-6, palsing wrote:

Sure, it's big, but it is the size of the original and after all, it
*is* all about the money, IMHO. Money trumps religion, just ask those
TV evangelists...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y1xJAVZxXg

That's disgusting. See below.

Of course it's disgusting, it's about scumbag televangalists!

Who are scumbags because they make a lot of money huckstering according to
you. So what about those who claim some divine revelation but make no
money and, in fact, are persecuted for it and die ignominiously broke?
Should you not embrace their claims?

Well, you are the guy who has promoted the word 'huckster', and it could not be more appropriate. As per Webster...

: HAWKER, PEDDLER
especially : one who sells or advertises something in an aggressive, dishonest, or annoying way

Do you really think that a religious huckster could be considered anything but a scumbag? I don't either... and regarding those who claim divine revelation without compensation? I suppose they just don't have the proper huckster chops.

Yeah, when it comes to organized religions (all 4200 of them, as per
Wiki), I am *very* suspicious. What sane person wouldn't be suspicious?

I agree, but you should read the book or watch the movie "Heaven is for
Real" before you dismiss it. That $101 million box office receipts didn't
go to the Burpos, you know.

Not all of it did, but this family is beyond rich these days...

https://www.idolnetworth.com/todd-bu...t-worth-189111

... I would say that $42 million is certainly a nice return for a fantasy
yarn. As always, Gary... "Follow the Money"! By the way, here is a well-
thought-out expose about Burpo that you should read...

https://nathandickey.wordpress.com/2...n-is-for-real/

It's obvious that Dickey doesn't have an open mind. All of his "objections"
amount to speculation and parochial thinking. When you fold in the Akiane
story it gets MUCH more difficult to explain.

Much like Burpo's story is just speculation and parochial thinking. Not much substance there, in my view... and I doubt that I am alone in this thinking. It seems to me that you very much *want* to believe this stuff, while I, on the other hand, demand evidence as defined by the scientific method, that is, repeatable experiments and/or observations. Do you happen to have any of thse?

Follow the money, Gary, and all will become clear.

... you might even modify your thinking about all of this.

Actually, I've modified my thinking about YOU. Since you have previously
claimed to be an agnostic, it's refreshing to see that you have come out
of THAT closet.

There is a fine line between an atheist and an agnostic. If the concept of a god could be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, like all good scientists, I would change my evil ways... but the odds are very long that this will ever happen.

I think that H.L. Mencken could kick Roger Williams' butt any day of the
week when it comes to quotes :)

"Why assume so glibly that the God who presumably created the universe is
still running it? It is certainly perfectly conceivable that He may have
finished it and then turned it over to lesser gods to operate. In the same
way many human institutions are turned over to grossly inferior men.. This
is true, for example, of most universities, and of all great newspapers."
H.L. Mencken

Everyone comes to the God-table with his own set of prejudices and system
of beliefs. I have mine, you have yours and Mencken has his. Concepts of
God can be divided into several categories. For example:

1. There is no God and everything happens according to the laws of physics.

As far as I am concerned, you can stop right there. Bingo!

Yep. Refreshing that you finally admit it.

I'm happy that you are refreshed.

... So when you talk about God, you bring certain assumptions about who
He is to the table that aren't explicitly stated. This is true even for #1.

Well, here I disagree completely. I think your #1 is self-explanatory, and
it is pretty dang straightforward, to me.

I understand that your mileage may vary.

You've tried desperately to deny all the evidence about early civilizations,
so it's pretty dang clear that you fall close to this category:

Uh, just which early civilizations am I supposed to have desperately denied? I don't recall ever doing such a thing... please refresh my memory.

"He is a self-made man and worships his creator." - John Bright

Rather than this one:

“I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the
earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up
into the heavens and say there is no God.” – Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln was no scientist, so he can be forgiven for saying what he said. Just because *he* couldn't conceive of such a thing does not mean that others cannot. Lincoln did say... "if I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?", and that I can believe!

BTW, I read Ruppelt's "The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects" in
the fifties and came away allowing that there might well be some substance
to UFOs. A few years ago, I read a 2nd edition of it which had two extra
chapters, the last one pointing out that all instances where photos of
radarscopes were taken, the "unknowns" were explained. That caused me to
being a "nonbeliever." Then THIS happened:

https://video.search.yahoo.com/searc...f&action=click

So that refutes Ruppelt's claim. Maybe they ARE here after all :-)

However, maybe some flyboys thought they would stir the pot, just for laughs. It is definitely within the realm of possibility and has been done before umpteen times. Who knows? I sure don't, and neither do you. I am too much of a skeptic to fall for a single claimed incident. If the 'observation' is singular and has never been repeated, I say 'beware', and so should you! The current thinking is that the distances are just too far to be considered realistic and that no other beings could have possibly ever been here, and this is what a vast majority of scientists say today, and that is good enough for me, at this point in time.

Remember these guys?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_and_Betty_Hill

A whole lot of folks still believe this is god's truth. How about you?