WTF? Give me a break!

[DVS]

Who are these girls? The new Charlie's Angels? Obviously, I'm not a believer.


Teen exorcists: The girls who expel demons on stage

 

[knot_sweet]

People on the train are staring at me like I need to be exorcised, or possibley forcibley restrained.

Thanks for the very loud fit of incredulous laughter.

 

[bhndblueyes88]

Why do I constantly have to feel deep shame for the state of my birth? I swear, folks. we are not all crazy people.

 

[DVS]

I don't understand how three girls can be taken seriously in this type of thing. One of the girl's father has been doing this, and I guess he taught them how? I thought it was a feeling, too. If the "spirit" doesn't believe the "exorcist" is serious and capable, they just laugh it off.

OK, maybe I've got too much info from movies going on in my head. In "The Exorcist" those girls would be mince meat. Their black belts wouldn't help them any. No telling where their fancy crucifixes would end up.

 

[Primalex]

Despite my scientific bias, I'm a fan of "Who heals, is right."

A placebo pill that kills pain is still a pain killer in my book.

If a rapist believes as coping mechanism that he does all the things because he is possessed and he becomes a virtuous member of society after receiving an exorcism procedure - go for it. It's not better or worse than blaming the father or whatever.

 

[Blase]

I don't understand how three girls can be taken seriously in this type of thing. One of the girl's father has been doing this, and I guess he taught them how? I thought it was a feeling, too. If the "spirit" doesn't believe the "exorcist" is serious and capable, they just laugh it off.

OK, maybe I've got too much info from movies going on in my head. In "The Exorcist" those girls would be mince meat. Their black belts wouldn't help them any. No telling where their fancy crucifixes would end up.

They can be taken seriously within the Christian fundamentalist milieu, although even there, people's beliefs are not entirely homogeneous. Outside of that? Not so much.

A quote from the article: "'The spells and things that you're reading in the Harry Potter books, those aren't just something that are made up, those are actual spells. Those are things that came from witchcraft books,' says Tess." This falls under the heading of "Don't sound dumber than you got to." Aside from the convention of using Latin for the spells, J. K. Rowling made no attempt to make the magic in Harry Potter's world "real", if real means having the slightest relation to the practices of any serious occult or spiritual tradition. Why should she have? She wasn't writing a book about magic: She was writing a story about an orphaned boy.

Presumably our young exorcists, even if they had any interest in knowing what they were talking about, wouldn't dare to read the accursed books for fear of opening their righteous, virginal minds to the very demonic influences that they've dedicated themselves to opposing.

 

[DVS]

Despite my scientific bias, I'm a fan of "Who heals, is right."

A placebo pill that kills pain is still a pain killer in my book.

If a rapist believes as coping mechanism that he does all the things because he is possessed and he becomes a virtuous member of society after receiving an exorcism procedure - go for it. It's not better or worse than blaming the father or whatever.

Yeah, the placebo doesn't always work. It usually takes some professional influence. A doctor gives you a pill and says it will heal you, that's one thing. But I don't know if I'd have enough belief in three girls telling me all evil has been driven from my body.

Well, I wouldn't believe there was any evil in my body to begin with. But, if someone did, maybe they'd believe it's possible to chase it off with some fancy mumbo jumbo, hence the placebo.

 

[DVS]

They can be taken seriously within the Christian fundamentalist milieu, although even there, people's beliefs are not entirely homogeneous. Outside of that? Not so much.

A quote from the article: "'The spells and things that you're reading in the Harry Potter books, those aren't just something that are made up, those are actual spells. Those are things that came from witchcraft books,' says Tess." This falls under the heading of "Don't sound dumber than you got to." Aside from the convention of using Latin for the spells, J. K. Rowling made no attempt to make the magic in Harry Potter's world "real", if real means having the slightest relation to the practices of any serious occult or spiritual tradition. Why should she have? She wasn't writing a book about magic: She was writing a story about an orphaned boy.

Presumably our young exorcists, even if they had any interest in knowing what they were talking about, wouldn't dare to read the accursed books for fear of opening their righteous, virginal minds to the very demonic influences that they've dedicated themselves to opposing.

I think they know what they are doing. It's like a carney show, where the games are all rigged against the mark.

 

[Primalex]

Yeah, the placebo doesn't always work.

This is true for regular medication, too.

Well, I wouldn't believe there was any evil in my body to begin with. But, if someone did, maybe they'd believe it's possible to chase it off with some fancy mumbo jumbo, hence the placebo.

But aren't we just talking about labels here?

"I stick some sharp needles into your body to let your Qi flow properly again."

Is this better because it is based on non-christian mythology?

 

[DVS]

This is true for regular medication, too.




But aren't we just talking about labels here?

"I stick some sharp needles into your body to let your Qi flow properly again."

Is this better because it is based on non-christian mythology?

I don't know if I believe in acupuncture. First off, I don't care much for needles.

I think it's more of a mindset or belief structure. First, you must believe the evil exists and you must believe it can be removed. Second, you must believe in the person's skill to remove it. Third, there is no medication involved, so the whole thing is just in your mind. If you don't believe in the evil, why even acknowledge the skills as skills?

Any illness or disease is best battled when the patient believes in the medication as ultimately being a remedy or cure. They also believe in the doctor's skill, but there has to be at least some help from the medication.

Several years back, there was a pharmacist who was watering down cancer drugs. The doctors and the patients both thought the drugs were full strength. When all was said and done, it was found that the patients who got the full strength drugs survived and those that got the watered down drugs died.

Everybody had the same mindset and the same doctor. They went through the same process as always and nobody had a reason to assume the drugs wouldn't work. Because nobody knew of the weakened drugs it could be considered as a double blind test. Taking everything else out of the equation, the full strength drugs worked better than the watered down version.

First, I don't believe in the evil these girls claim exists. Second, I don't think these girls have any skills. Third, they give no drugs that would work, even if they had no skills, so it's impossible for me find any credibility in them. I'm a realist. I'm also a pessimist. Those are two difficult humps to get past.

Sorry if this doesn't make sense. It's still early for me.

 

[bhndblueyes88]

Comparing acupuncture to exorcisms is a bit disingenuous toward acupuncture. Even if we can't explain it well, there's a good amount of research showing that it has biological effects on the body, and that it helps people of a variety of mindsets (i.e. not just hippies, Asians and spiritualists). Furthermore, there's a fair handful of animal studies that show improvement with acupuncture and one can assume animals are fairly free of the placebo effect (at least as we use the term). I would like to point out that we don't know exactly how TYLENOL does its thing, either. That doesn't make tyelonl a placebo OR a poor treatment. And it's just one treatment in medicine that we know does something, but can't explain it...there's plenty.

And erm....I'm going to stop there because I don't want to turn this thread on crazy-christian-exorcist-girls into "discussion of acupuncture"

 

[DVS]

Comparing acupuncture to exorcisms is a bit disingenuous toward acupuncture. Even if we can't explain it well, there's a good amount of research showing that it has biological effects on the body, and that it helps people of a variety of mindsets (i.e. not just hippies, Asians and spiritualists). Furthermore, there's a fair handful of animal studies that show improvement with acupuncture and one can assume animals are fairly free of the placebo effect (at least as we use the term). I would like to point out that we don't know exactly how TYLENOL does its thing, either. That doesn't make tyelonl a placebo OR a poor treatment. And it's just one treatment in medicine that we know does something, but can't explain it...there's plenty.

And erm....I'm going to stop there because I don't want to turn this thread on crazy-christian-exorcist-girls into "discussion of acupuncture"

I don't want this to get too deep into a philosophical discussion, either. I don't doubt what acupuncture might be capable of, but I just don't like needles. If I did, maybe some of my ailments wouldn't be ailments. But, I just wanted to clarify that in my last post, only the first line was about acupuncture. From that point on, I was talking about the crazy exorcist/black belt girls.

Talking about Tylenol or Acetaminophen, when I was just a kid (many years ago), I was totally amazed that any pain pill was capable of knowing where in my body it had to go in order to stop my pain. I thought the medication must have some kind of intelligence to know where my pain was. Kids...they're so naive.

 

[Primalex]

Comparing acupuncture to exorcisms is a bit disingenuous toward acupuncture. Even if we can't explain it well, there's a good amount of research showing that it has biological effects on the body, and that it helps people of a variety of mindsets

And for exorcism? Did research show that it has no effect?

 

[knot_sweet]

It's all about belief isn't it??

Excorcism, like all things spiritual and religious, is about belief.

Hoodoo, Communion, Morris Dancing, pointing the bone, Medicine men... They're all about shared belief. Person A and Person B both believe if ritual C is performed then consequence D occurs.

Those who don't share A and B's beliefs think they're stupid and ridiculous.

 

[Vixandra]

I don't understand how three girls can be taken seriously in this type of thing. One of the girl's father has been doing this, and I guess he taught them how? I thought it was a feeling, too. If the "spirit" doesn't believe the "exorcist" is serious and capable, they just laugh it off.

OK, maybe I've got too much info from movies going on in my head. In "The Exorcist" those girls would be mince meat. Their black belts wouldn't help them any. No telling where their fancy crucifixes would end up.

If I credit you, mind if I write that story? I think it'd be hilarious.

Actually, I think it'd be fun to write a novelette length story.

 

[DVS]

If I credit you, mind if I write that story? I think it'd be hilarious.

Actually, I think it'd be fun to write a novelette length story.

Sure, be my guest. It sounds like it could be very interesting.