schu

[QUOTE]Originally posted by marduck:
[QB]"Aw, you haven't been listening to Art bell have you? You didn't know Satan uses flying saucers as a fast mode of transportation,"

I actually got to talk to Art Bell very early one morning as I drove to DFW. The subject was UFOs and I gave him the skeptic's view, i.e. life in other parts of the universe probable, outerspace critters visiting us not very probable. He didn't seem to care for my position.

I was in New Hampshire in 1963 shortly after the Betty and Barny Hill abduction story was being circulated. Although at the tender age of 17 I was already an agnostic about religion, I hadn't a very well developed BS detector. Hypnosis was a subject I was interested in and because the UFO story was discovered through the use of hypnosis I gave it more credibility than I might have otherwise. It took me another 12 years and the lying Erich von Däniken to become skeptical of UFO stories. I know, some of us are a little slow.

JoshuaT

Artificial insemination.

fando

I don't believe in the concept of believing things.

seebs

I don't particularly believe just about anything people are typically skeptical of, but I don't particularly *disbelieve* most of them. I do disbelieve almost all conspiracy theories. I believe the moon landings were real.

Answerer

During the time of Jesus? No way man.....

Coragyps

Maybe not too likely, but certainly technologically possible back then. Maybe the turkey baster hadn't been invented yet, but they had hollow reeds that would serve the purpose. For that matter, pregnancy without penetration is supposed to be possible - I don't know if it's documented to have actually occurred, but sex ed classes and teen girls' magazines warn against the possibility.
Some girl in Greek myth was impregnated by a divine "golden shower" on her (clothed) lap, so at least some of the ancient world had the concept figured out.

John Page

Wish I'd said this. <img src="graemlins/notworthy.gif" border="0" alt="[Not Worthy]" />

Does this also mean you:

a) Believe in the concept of not believing things
b) Disbelieve the concept of concepts, or
c) Believe there is no such thing as the "concept of believing"?

Please check all that apply. Cheers, John

ohwilleke

Back to the OT:

I don't believe in:
(1) Extraterrestial, intelligent life forms (or anything made by them or communications from them which have been received) on Earth.
(2) Atlantis as a major continent existing tens or hundreds of thousands of years ago.
(3) Pre-historic civilizations with 20th century or better technology.
(4) Souls as entites separable from human bodies (e.g. as ghosts, afterlives, reincarnation).
(5) Telekinesis (i.e mental effort directly applying physical force at a distance).
(6) Clairvoyance (i.e. mentally seeing distant locations).
(7) Lepricauns, fairies, or the like.
(8) Instantaneous faith healing of physical injuries or mental health issues with physical causes.
(9) Karma as a supernatural force; or similar Star Wars or Taoist versions of a universal force with some sort of moral component.
(10) The effectiveness of remote prayer.
(11) Telepathy (i.e. mental communication over distance).
(12) Vodoo to cause remote pain.
(13) Any form of extra-natural intervention in creation or the development of life in the past 10 billion years.
(14) Vampires, superheros with superhuman powers, fire breathing dragons, dragon sized flying reptiles, flying horses, or werewolves (in each case, as described in popular stories).
(15) A worldwide flood.
(16) Perpetual motion machines.

I am agonstic about:
(1) The Loch Ness monster in some form.
(2) The existence of a factual basis for the Atlantis myth of some sort.
(3) Precognition (i.e. seeing your own future).
(4) The possibility of faster-than-light travel or at least communication in some distant future.
(5) The possibility that there are a few pre-homo sapien hominids in some isolated place that have escaped detection.
(6) The existence of some form of chi system in the body (as described by accupunturists and kinesian photography).

Major Billy

I do not believe hypnosis is a genuine phenomenon. The laundry list of extraordinary claims popularly attributed to hypnosis fall into just two categories: 1 - Ordinary psychology, such as pain control, or 2 - Complete nonsense, like past-life regression.