On Dr Ben Carson, the Devil, science vs medicine and saving life

_{kairosfocus

September 29, 2015

Atheism, Ethics, Neuroscience, Politics, rhetoric, worldview}

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I passed by and noted a dismissive comment (or a few) regarding US Presidential candidate, retired neurosurgeon Dr Ben Carson:

CASE A: he’s running for President of the United States of America; he’s a politician who’s put religion and science into his platform. He willingly exposed himself to criticism and does not deserve a pass because he did good things as a surgeon.

CASE B: Dr Carson. He is clearly a talented physician, but get him talking about evolution or cosmology and he turns into Ken Ham. Looks like a classic case of willful ignorance to me; he should know better. Is that acceptable for the president of a world power?

CASE C: Surgery is to science what carpentry is to engineering.

CASE D: it is a sad and disturbing aspect of our times that the scientific views of a neurosurgeon could be swayed by an argument rooted in the supposed existence of an atavistic embodiment of evil, Satan.

I believe this pattern requires an answer, and so:

KF, 29: >>Folks,

I see, above, a snide dismissal of the possibility of a devil.

Perhaps, the White Rose Martyrs, from that same central european country, can tell us a few things about the matter, in their tracts that cost them their lives:

WR, II: Since the conquest of Poland three hundred thousand Jews have been murdered in this country in the most bestial way . . . The German people slumber on in their dull, stupid sleep and encourage these fascist criminals . . . Each man wants to be exonerated of a guilt of this kind, each one continues on his way with the most placid, the calmest conscience. But he cannot be exonerated; he is guilty, guilty, guilty!

WR, IV: Every word that comes from Hitler’s mouth is a lie. When he says peace, he means war, and when he blasphemously uses the name of the Almighty, he means the power of evil, the fallen angel, Satan. His mouth is the foul-smelling maw of Hell, and his might is at bottom accursed. True, we must conduct a struggle against the National Socialist terrorist state with rational means; but whoever today still doubts the reality, the existence of demonic powers, has failed by a wide margin to understand the metaphysical background of this war.

Given a long, sad and evidently unfinished history of significant political leaders who have manifested destructive mesmerising deception and Nero-like demonically murderous violence or enabling of such, we need to pay these paid- for- in- blood- and- tears words very careful heed.

Further to this, in recent weeks, the issue of the mass slaughter of is it 58 million American babies since 1973 has been forcefully put on the table in the context of the demonstrated pattern of the cutting up of these little boys and girls and selling their organs for tainted medical research all too reminiscent of Dr Mengele and co at Auschwitz. Research indicates that the global total at the same time is of order many hundreds of millions, altogether forming a mass global holocaust of the most innocent and voiceless among us, the worst in history.

The major media voices, with scarce few exceptions, are implicated in at minimum enabling behaviour.

The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad you will be full of darkness. If the imagined light in you is darkness, how great is your darkness.

I ask: who said that, on what occasion, as recorded in what piece of literature. And, how is this connected to Dr Carson?

In the case of Dr Carson, we have a man who instead of enabling the imagined light that is instead destructive darkness, dedicated himself to saving lives of children, improving their health and life prospects, and in so doing became a world class pioneer in neurosurgery, one of the most difficult facets of medicine.

A professional discipline steeped in knowledge and skill in many linked scientific domains.

Where the patent fact is, for many many areas of its praxis, macro-evolutionary theory, despite many assertions to the contrary, has proved utterly irrelevant.

Save, that the events of Dr Mengele and co are connected with a drastic breakdown of ethics tied to the ways in which evolutionary materialist ideology and its fellow travellers, dressed up in lab coats, seized control of institutions and the imaginations of the elites from the late C19 on.

Dr Carson, by his life, has shown us through example that a seventh day adventist and it seems young earth creationist, can successfully practice deeply scientific fields at the highest level. (BTW, I am not such an adventist.)

He has shown how the ethics of the gospel move one to save life.

He has shown how members of races of even imagined genetically inferior IQ and from very deprived circumstances can through vision, determination and parental input (imagine, an illiterate demanding regular book reports and using that to spark educational transformation) rise to the very highest levels despite obstacles.

He has shown that such a person, in retirement, can stand up in the face of a civilisation headed over the cliff and say, there is a better way, come let us turn back before it is too late.

And what is the reaction of the jaded, sophisticated, sneering media elites?

Oh, he says sibboleth, not shibboleth, let us destroy him as he is a threat to our agendas.

For shame!

GEM of TKI

PS: Oddly, just last evening (while substituting for a substantive tutor) I was demonstrating to local physics students roughly comparable to freshmen, angular momentum conservation. Dr Carson has in fact in brief alluded to some of the difficulties of solar system formation models, relative to the distribution of angular momentum. Such is an issue, and in fact, confident manner to the contrary, there is no established, demonstrated to be empirically reliable theory of spontaneous solar system formation. Again, this highlights a common failure to give a balanced view of strengths and limitations of science and science education. And in particular the tendencies to ignore the vera causa principle and to treat models as though they were facts.>>

I think we need to look again, at how we are thinking, at how we allow media to manipulate us, at how we project ideologically and what we suppress in the context of what we imagine is light in us. END

Comments

DS, pardon me but really now. I note, just for reference: it is generally physically impossible for a dead faint, limp body to support the back etc parallel to the floor and elevated by ~ 10 cm. There was no visible superincumbent weight on hips etc to counter-weight the natural tendency of a body at rest to balance moments about its centre of mass. The moments do not add up, there obviously is no gyroscope inside the human body on a relevant scale, there was no precession, and there were no strings etc. (Indeed, months later I asked the former victim about the experience . . . utterly unaware of what had happened, i.e. indeed dead faint.) In short, you are trying to dismiss what you have not seen while discussing with an eyewitness who knows what normally would happen, why and what happened entailing invisible means of support. Where stage magic tricks were not even on the cards. (David Copperfield et al were nowhere nearby, nor were such welcome. Serious business was in hand that day, not entertainment or trickery.) I am not interested here in trying to "prove" to you that what happened happened, I am highlighting to you the sort of resorts you are using to dismiss. And, frankly, this is something that I am not particularly wanting to give more spotlight to than strictly necessary as a discussion of hyperskeptical tendencies. The real glory in this belongs to One who in mercy gave deliverance to a victim of attacks of evil, and in the course of which, prevented evil from putting on an intimidatory spectacle. And, to effect that liberation in love, that deliverer took fearsome wounds unto death, but by God's power effected the greatest "levitation" of all, rising from the dead with 500 witnesses and Ascending to glory with a cloud of witnesses. (And no, I do not need to appeal to the Shroud of Turin and Mandilion [sp?] of Oviedo to "prove" a case, solid multiple eyewitness testimony and record of such from witnesses of truth is one of the strongest proofs there is, the proof of character. [Indeed, our cynical dismissive tendencies in our time are an implicit indictment, the mirror projects what is reflected from one's own heart. Yes, liars exist, but truthful witnesses willing to speak truth at any threat to silence them also exist; witnesses, not mere later adherents.] And, you need to work through the minimal facts issues: cf http://nicenesystheol.blogspot.com/2010/11/unit-1-biblical-foundations-of-and-core.html#u1_grnds on. Watch the vid too, please.) In that context his Name -- his authority and power bound up in that "strong tower" -- routinely effects liberation and transformation, with millions of cases across 2,000 years. Which, sadly, is also being widely discounted or dismissed without serious consideration by those who have every opportunity to know better. Here is the verdict, from the lips of One who knows better than you or I can:
Lk 16:27 And he [Dives] said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— 28 for I have five brothers[g]—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he [Dives] said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He [Abraham] said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”
Which is exactly what happened on the ground, the warning in the parable was not heeded. Taking in the wider parable, a very good test of our heart-condition is what we do when the poor and suffering come to our gates, why. Then, the next test is how we respond to the counsels of God through the authenticated tradition of the prophets, with now Jesus of Nazareth "the chief cornerstone" and his apostles as his spokesmen. With eyewitness lifetime record faithfully transmitted to us. Those are the tests we must meet. There is bad news for post-modern Western man, with a civilisation in the full grip of a march of folly. But there is good news, this is a day in which deliverance by grace is freely offered to those simply willing to drink the water of life freely. Sadly, too many would die of dehydration in the face of abundant globally available showers of blessings. Today, if you hear His voice, harden not your heart. Be not like the horse or mule, which lack understanding and must be curbed with bit and bridle. And, Micah 6:8 is classic:
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness,[b] and to walk humbly with your God?
Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIJIqwCIPcw KFkairosfocus_{September 30, 2015
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Here is a bit more evidence overturning the claim that the Shroud is a medieval hoax
Turin Shroud 'is not a medieval forgery' - 28 Mar 2013 Excerpt: Experiments conducted by scientists at the University of Padua in northern Italy have dated the shroud to ancient times, a few centuries before and after the life of Christ.,,, The analysis is published in a new book, "Il Mistero della Sindone" or The Mystery of the Shroud, by Giulio Fanti, a professor of mechanical and thermal measurement at Padua University,,, Scientists, including Prof Fanti, used infra-red light and spectroscopy – the measurement of radiation intensity through wavelengths – to analyse fibres from the shroud,,, The tests dated the age of the shroud to between 300 BC and 400AD.,,, Scientists have never been able to explain how the image of a man's body, complete with nail wounds to his wrists and feet, pinpricks from thorns around his forehead and a spear wound to his chest, could have formed on the cloth. Mr Fanti said the imprint was caused by a blast of “exceptional radiation”, although he stopped short of describing it as a miracle. He said his tests backed up earlier results which claimed to have found on the shroud traces of dust and pollen which could only have come from the Holy Land.,,, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/9958678/Turin-Shroud-is-not-a-medieval-forgery.html Giulio Fanti and the Turin Shroud - load bearing test, infared test, Shroud dated to time of Christ - 34:00 minute mark - video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4c4812XA9A Shroud Of Turin - Sewn From Two Pieces - 2000 Years Old (Matches Masada Cloth) – video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uST6qt9pfoo The Shroud of Turin - Evidence it is authentic Excerpt: In June 2002, the Shroud was sent to a team of experts for restoration. One of them was Swiss textile historian Mechthild Flury-Lemberg. She was surprised to find a peculiar stitching pattern in the seam of one long side of the Shroud, where a three-inch wide strip of the same original fabric was sewn onto a larger segment. The stitching pattern, which she says was the work of a professional, is quite similar to the hem of a cloth found in the tombs of the Jewish fortress of Masada. The Masada cloth dates to between 40 BC and 73 AD. This kind of stitch has never been found in Medieval Europe. http://www.newgeology.us/presentation24.html Scientists say Turin Shroud is supernatural - December 2011 Excerpt: After years of work trying to replicate the colouring on the shroud, a similar image has been created by the scientists. However, they only managed the effect by scorching equivalent linen material with high-intensity ultra violet lasers, undermining the arguments of other research, they say, which claims the Turin Shroud is a medieval hoax. Such technology, say researchers from the National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (Enea), was far beyond the capability of medieval forgers, whom most experts have credited with making the famous relic. "The results show that a short and intense burst of UV directional radiation can colour a linen cloth so as to reproduce many of the peculiar characteristics of the body image on the Shroud of Turin," they said. And in case there was any doubt about the preternatural degree of energy needed to make such distinct marks, the Enea report spells it out: "This degree of power cannot be reproduced by any normal UV source built to date." http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/scientists-say-turin-shroud-is-supernatural-6279512.html
bornagain77_{September 30, 2015
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daveS, you claim that you will be fairly reasonable to photographic evidence of levitation:
"I can assure you I would not dismiss it (a photograph of a levitating body) out of hand. If it was of sufficiently high quality, and there were no signs of a hoax, it could be very strong evidence."
Well, will you be fairly reasonable with a photographic negative of levitation that was taken approx. 1800 years before photography was invented?
Shroud Of Turin - Photographic Negative - 3D Hologram reveals solid oval object with the words “ The Lamb” - video http://www.tunesbaby.com/watch/?x=5664213
The Shroud reveals clear evidence of gravity being defied:
THE EVENT HORIZON (Space-Time Singularity) OF THE SHROUD OF TURIN. - Isabel Piczek - Particle Physicist Excerpt: We have stated before that the images on the Shroud firmly indicate the total absence of Gravity. Yet they also firmly indicate the presence of the Event Horizon. These two seemingly contradict each other and they necessitate the past presence of something more powerful than Gravity that had the capacity to solve the above paradox. http://shroud3d.com/findings/isabel-piczek-image-formation A Particle Physicist Looks at the Turin Shroud - video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbl4EmoH_jg Particle Radiation from the Body - M. Antonacci, A. C. Lind - July 2012 Excerpt: The Shroud’s frontal and dorsal body images are encoded with the same amount of intensity, independent of any pressure or weight from the body. The bottom part of the cloth (containing the dorsal image) would have born all the weight of the man’s supine body, yet the dorsal image is not encoded with a greater amount of intensity than the frontal image. Radiation coming from the body would not only explain this feature, but also the left/right and light/dark reversals found on the cloth’s frontal and dorsal body images. http://www.academicjournals.org/sre/PDF/pdf2012/30JulSpeIss/Antonacci.pdf
Many skeptics, in spite of many robust lines of evidence establishing the Shroud's authenticity, try to say the Shroud Of Turin is merely a medieval hoax because of the flawed carbon dating tests that were done in the late 1980s. Yet, here is evidence that conclusively overturns the flawed carbon dating tests that were done on the Shroud in the late 1980s.
Shroud of Turin - Carbon 14 Test Proven False – - Joseph G. Marino and M. Sue Benford - video (with Raymond Rogers, lead chemist from the STURP project) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxDdx6vxthE Why The Carbon 14 Samples Are Invalid, Raymond Rogers per: Thermochimica Acta (Volume 425 pages 189-194, Los Alamos National Laboratory, University of California) Excerpt: Preliminary estimates of the kinetics constants for the loss of vanillin from lignin indicate a much older age for the cloth than the radiocarbon analyses. The radiocarbon sampling area is uniquely coated with a yellow–brown plant gum containing dye lakes. Pyrolysis-mass-spectrometry results from the sample area coupled with microscopic and microchemical observations prove that the radiocarbon sample was not part of the original cloth of the Shroud of Turin. The radiocarbon date was thus not valid for determining the true age of the shroud. The fact that vanillin can not be detected in the lignin on shroud fibers, Dead Sea scrolls linen, and other very old linens indicates that the shroud is quite old. A determination of the kinetics of vanillin loss suggests that the shroud is between 1300- and 3000-years old. Even allowing for errors in the measurements and assumptions about storage conditions, the cloth is unlikely to be as young as 840 years. http://www.ntskeptics.org/issues/shroud/shroudold.htm "The age-dating process failed to recognize one of the first rules of analytical chemistry that any sample taken for characterization of an area or population must necessarily be representative of the whole. The part must be representative of the whole. Our analyses of the three thread samples taken from the Raes and C-14 sampling corner showed that this was not the case....... LANL’s work confirms the research published in Thermochimica Acta (Jan. 2005) by the late Raymond Rogers, a chemist who had studied actual C-14 samples and concluded the sample was not part of the original cloth possibly due to the area having been repaired." - Robert Villarreal - Los Alamos National Laboratory http://www.ohioshroudconference.com/
bornagain77_{September 30, 2015
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Sean: The historical evidence that verifies the Bible is overwhelming. It is frankly embarrassing how much evidence there is for this book compared to the next best historical documents in terms of quantity and quality of verifiable historical facts. Therefore if you are going to use that line, you essentially have to dismiss or call into question all historic evidence pre-1600 say as questionable and unverifiable. The number of times people have mocked the Bible for mentioning historic figures (such as Herrod, King David, Solomon, the Canaanites - I could go on) they didn't have evidence for yet later clear strong archeology call evidence completely backed up is almost countless. Yet like the Palestinians and Hezbollah etc who do everything in their might to try and brainwash people into believing temple mount is not a sacred site for Jews and used to belong to them in their lengthy history (so they can claim it as a Muslim site alone, which massively post-dated Jewish sacred ownership of that site), I suspect you will only listen to the similarly biased "evidence" that strives to support the notion that the Bible is not that accurate. That is what your father wants for you though.Dr JDD_{September 29, 2015
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KF, I wouldn't use the term "levitation" if the person was in contact with the floor. Certainly it's possible the person could still be touching the floor and in a position which violates the laws of physics, but that's hard to judge without more detail. Dr Torley's case is simply easier to evaluate because the person was allegedly aloft for half an hour.daveS_{September 29, 2015
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DS, Someone in a dead faint, head and arms hanging down, entire back ~ 10 cm above floor, level as though on a slab, with hips and legs pinned (wearing the usual blue jeans) -- floor clearly visible beneath (ceramic tiled concrete slab) -- is not a "real" levitation? And with me standing in clear view about 4 m back, sightly to the left. Repeats several times across perhaps 90 minutes. I think that response rather makes my point. And it underscores why I am not going into further details, they would have no effect. KFkairosfocus_{September 29, 2015
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KF, If I recall, in the incident you are describing, the levitee was being lifted and pinned to the ground at the same time, so you are probably right in that I would not find it terribly convincing. However, Dr Torley's case involved a person hovering 6 inches off the ground/table for 30 minutes. I can assure you I would not dismiss it out of hand. If it was of sufficiently high quality, and there were no signs of a hoax, it could be very strong evidence.daveS_{September 29, 2015
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DS, I speak to a case where I (a trained scientific person) am eyeball, mark I with responsible others, under circumstances where people trying to take pictures would have been out of place. If you have a problem with that, no photographic evidence will suffice. And in fact, I checked; the phenomena I saw were not particularly unusual in former days. And, there were aspects I am not talking about that have revised my evaluation of things I once saw as innocent jokes. Moreover, on my own observations etc, I have a very different evaluation of the likelihood of other cases. E.g. I now take much more seriously the reports of poltergeist phenomena at a state house in another island, so much so that soldiers dreaded going there as guards. What I have seen and what has come to me from reliable witnesses and even victims, is consistent with the Gospels and Acts as well as sober minded reports of exorcisms. In general I only will say so much, I have no intention of glorifying malevolent, deceitful powers delighting in ugly intimidatory spectacles and torturing victims; instead I will glorify One whose very name is that of hope and release. That name, of the judicially murdered, Crucified One who rose from the dead with 500 unstoppable witnesses, is the name and paradigmatic case we should give careful heed to. Echoing Ps 95, the inspired writer pleads, today, if you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. KFkairosfocus_{September 29, 2015
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KF, I understand the interest in protecting the privacy of the levitee, but people are photographed against their will all the time. It's very odd that not a single example of such a photograph has ever surfaced (which wasn't an obvious fake).daveS_{September 29, 2015
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F/N: I note again Simon Greenleaf in Evidence, vol 1 ch 1:
Evidence, in legal acceptation, includes all the means by which any alleged matter of fact, the truth of which is submitted to investigation, is established or disproved . . . None but mathematical truth is susceptible of that high degree of evidence, called demonstration, which excludes all possibility of error [--> Greenleaf wrote almost 100 years before Godel], and which, therefore, may reasonably be required in support of every mathematical deduction. Matters of fact are proved by moral evidence alone; by which is meant, not only that kind of evidence which is employed on subjects connected with moral conduct, but all the evidence which is not obtained either from intuition, or from demonstration. In the ordinary affairs of life, we do not require demonstrative evidence, because it is not consistent with the nature of the subject, and to insist upon it would be unreasonable and absurd. The most that can be affirmed of such things, is, that there is no reasonable doubt concerning them. The true question, therefore, in trials of fact, is not whether it is possible that the testimony may be false, but, whether there is sufficient probability of its truth; that is, whether the facts are shown by competent and satisfactory evidence. Things established by competent and satisfactory evidence are said to be proved. By competent evidence, is meant that which the very-nature of the thing to be proved requires, as the fit and appropriate proof in the particular case, such as the production of a writing, where its contents are the subject of inquiry. By satisfactory evidence, which is sometimes called sufficient evidence, is intended that amount of proof, which ordinarily satisfies an unprejudiced mind, beyond reasonable doubt. The circumstances which will amount to this degree of proof can never be previously defined; the only legal test of which they are susceptible, is their sufficiency to satisfy the mind and conscience of a common man; and so to convince him, that he would venture to act upon that conviction, in matters of the highest concern and importance to his own interest. [A Treatise on Evidence, Vol I, 11th edn. (Boston: Little, Brown, 1888) ch 1., sections 1 and 2. Shorter paragraphs added. (NB: Greenleaf was a founder of the modern Harvard Law School and is regarded as a founding father of the modern Anglophone school of thought on evidence, in large part on the strength of this classic work.)]
KFkairosfocus_{September 29, 2015
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DS, I and dozens of others were present and I as representative report. I do not walk around with a cell phone but know what I and others saw, which I have accurately summarised. When I see the demand for more, more in the face of adequate evidence it tells me that there is something wrong. And frankly, I would have objected to photography or videos of the incidence, there is no need to further subject the family to public glare. Besides, were videos and photos produced, they would instantly be subjected to accusations of manipulation. In the end, when in recent weeks we saw the attitude to self-evident truth that has been so stridently advanced it changed the situation. Critics of that ilk and their fellow travellers simply discredit themselves from the pale of reasonable discussion. KFkairosfocus_{September 29, 2015
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SS, I clipped a cluster of points covering an indicated range of topics, leading in the headline with one that is particularly striking. Likewise you continue to be hyperskeptically dismissive of a far more than adequate record of the NT. KFkairosfocus_{September 29, 2015
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I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist (Session 3) - Norman Geisler, PhD - video The Unmatched Reliability of the New Testament https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8GN1k-ocLw&list=PL-0zpu2toenaPM19kDyBsPibjaGAxup9K&index=3 How Reliable Is the New Testament? – Dr. Daniel Wallace (16:30 minute mark of video “The New Testament has an ‘embarrassment of riches’ compared to other ancient texts”) – video (Dr. Wallace publicly debated Bart Ehrman 3 times) http://www.watermark.org/media/how-badly-did-the-early-scribes-corrupt-the-new-testament/2305/ The reliability of the New Testament compared to other ancient texts - graph http://visualunit.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/nt_reliability1.jpg J. Warner Wallace Lectures on the Evidence for Christianity - video Description: Cold-case detective J. Warner Wallace, and author of Cold-Case Christianity, presented this lecture via Skype at Reasonable Faith Belfast on Monday, 3rd December 2012. He talks about the nature of evidence, possibility and reason, the chain of custody for the New Testament documents, and much more. The lecture is about an hour (with great visuals), followed by about 30 minutes of Q&A. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiYQzOypD9o The (Unmatched Historical Reliability of the) Resurrection of Jesus - Dr. Gary R. Habermas (On Guard Conference 2013) - video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNdmSQKyzgcbornagain77_{September 29, 2015
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Dr JDD @5 The problem is, you also cannot verify the new testament. Things that can be neither verified nor falsified are unreliable and suspect. So, barring some verification that no one’s provided yet, the New Testament must be treated skeptically. sean s.sean samis_{September 29, 2015
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Falsify the historical veracity convincingly of the new testament and you'd be well on your way to falsifying demons and demon possession. The problem is you can't falsify that.Dr JDD_{September 29, 2015
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KF,
Just like, the utter lack of evidence of a gorilla sitting across the table from me is evidence of the falsity of such a claim as that one is there.
Sure, I agree that this claim is falsifiable. However, I really doubt that there is any way to falsify the claim I gave in my post #1. Any unfortunate event such as a natural disaster, a mass killing, etc., will likely be interpreted by someone as the act of demons or Satan. On another note, I've heard all sorts of stories, but have seen no convincing evidence. Dr Torley referred to an alleged incidence of levitation which lasted for 30 minutes, yet apparently no one bothered to take any photos or video. Cameras are ubiquitous these days. If these incidents are indeed happening, why isn't anyone snapping a photo with their smartphone?daveS_{September 29, 2015
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Your CASE A is an extract of something I wrote yesterday, something which does not even mention Satan; something I was not even thinking of. Tsk. This is an fabricated controversy. If Dr. Carson wants to be a politician, then he needs to accept the standard treatment political candidates get. If he can't hack it, he needs to find another calling. Satan has nothing to do with this. sean s.sean samis_{September 29, 2015
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DS, actually it is very verifiable and verified, with a very large number of eyewitnesses. Just, not very politically correct in the western, evolutionary materialism-dominated world that locks out relevant evidence. For instance, I have recently personally witnessed demonisation manifesting in levitation, in a semi-public situation, with many other eyewitnesses. (Stage magic tricks were not possible, and indeed the relevant people were studiously ignoring the matter to get on with the prayer-business in hand; and the victim, who was in a dead faint, did not know.) Also manifest was the liberating power of God. And on the wider matter, the positively transforming, liberating power of God is also manifest and verified with millions of cases in point, but this too is not even listened to by those determined to reject such a possibility. But then, we have seen right here at UD people in recent days refusing to acknowledge distinct identity and associated self evident first truths. At this stage the realities are not on trial, we are. KF PS: The logic is, that if something supposedly manifest and acting is instead not evident and verifiable through actions or consequences, there is no good basis to hold it. So in such a case utter absence of evidence would be evidence of absence. Just like, the utter lack of evidence of a gorilla sitting across the table from me is evidence of the falsity of such a claim as that one is there.kairosfocus_{September 29, 2015
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KF,
but whoever today still doubts the reality, the existence of demonic powers, has failed by a wide margin to understand the metaphysical background of this war.
Is the statement "demonic powers exist in the world today" falsifiable? (Edited)daveS_{September 29, 2015
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