You have a good point re the  Blind Faith quote but at least mediums are trying to give evidence beyond what orthodox religions can offer!

 Re the messages that Edward passed on last night (Bagpipes, German Shepherd etc.).....surely the people in the audience would have said, "hey, we mentioned this on a form we filled in while we were sitting in the audience waiting for him to arrive on stage!" or "When I received the application form for tickets, it asked me if I had a dog and what breed it was and also if I had anyone playing the bagpipes at my wedding or if I molded chocolate into naughty shapes etc. I don't think these days people are so gullible.

  I also mentioned in a previous reply that one man, a sceptic, had only known he wsa going to the show two hours beforehand and said afterwards that he was now convinced that Edward wasn't a fraud. I

'm glad to see that you haven't ruled out the possiblity of life after death, though. Agnostics, according to this book I am reading by Paul Roland, have a real problem when they pass over as they find it hard to come to terms with what has happened to them!

 Do you think that life after death is possible without the existence of a higher force or God? I did until recently. Does the discovery of DNA make it more or less likely that God exists?

 Anyway, I think I have gone beyond the next life now and am onto what happens after that! Here is an extract from the book by Paul Roland (written by him)

"It is my understanding that this heaven of landscaped gardens and beautiful
marble buildings is not a real location but a state of mind, of awareness, in
which we create our own environment through the faculty of the imagination. But
it is only a transitional state between the physical world and the higher realm
to which we gravitate once we have cast off our emotional attachments and
desires. It is the bardo of which the Buddhists speak-not the pastoral paradise
beyond the tunnel of light which is accompanied by a sensation of bliss and
from which all who have experienced it are reluctant to return. In this
netherworld we linger for as long as it takes to lose our attachment to earthly
things. It is for this reason that the recently deceased rarely reveal any
significant insights into the nature of existence or the purpose of life when
communicating through a medium but are instead preoccupied with mundane matters
or talk in vague terms of the importance of loving one another. This is because
they are just on the other side of life in the bardo, this false heaven, not in
the higher realms. It struck me that no one older than a grandparent will
communicate through a medium. Presumably, older souls have long since moved on
to  higher states or been reincarnated." Bye for now!

razzamattaz:

 

 You have a good point re the  Blind Faith quote but at least mediums are trying to give evidence beyond what orthodox religions can offer!

 Re the messages that Edward passed on last night (Bagpipes, German Shepherd etc.).....surely the people in the audience would have said, "hey, we mentioned this on a form we filled in while we were sitting in the audience waiting for him to arrive on stage!" or "When I received the application form for tickets, it asked me if I had a dog and what breed it was and also if I had anyone playing the bagpipes at my wedding or if I molded chocolate into naughty shapes etc. I don't think these days people are so gullible.

  I also mentioned in a previous reply that one man, a sceptic, had only known he wsa going to the show two hours beforehand and said afterwards that he was now convinced that Edward wasn't a fraud. I

'm glad to see that you haven't ruled out the possiblity of life after death, though. Agnostics, according to this book I am reading by Paul Roland, have a real problem when they pass over as they find it hard to come to terms with what has happened to them!

 Do you think that life after death is possible without the existence of a higher force or God? I did until recently. Does the discovery of DNA make it more or less likely that God exists?

 Anyway, I think I have gone beyond the next life now and am onto what happens after that! Here is an extract from the book by Paul Roland (written by him)

"It is my understanding that this heaven of landscaped gardens and beautiful
marble buildings is not a real location but a state of mind, of awareness, in
which we create our own environment through the faculty of the imagination. But
it is only a transitional state between the physical world and the higher realm
to which we gravitate once we have cast off our emotional attachments and
desires. It is the bardo of which the Buddhists speak-not the pastoral paradise
beyond the tunnel of light which is accompanied by a sensation of bliss and
from which all who have experienced it are reluctant to return. In this
netherworld we linger for as long as it takes to lose our attachment to earthly
things. It is for this reason that the recently deceased rarely reveal any
significant insights into the nature of existence or the purpose of life when
communicating through a medium but are instead preoccupied with mundane matters
or talk in vague terms of the importance of loving one another. This is because
they are just on the other side of life in the bardo, this false heaven, not in
the higher realms. It struck me that no one older than a grandparent will
communicate through a medium. Presumably, older souls have long since moved on
to  higher states or been reincarnated." Bye for now!

You'd be amazed just how compliant and gullible people are in that kind of environment.  I'm not sure if you looked at the Edward cold reading technique described in the 'John Edward Revisited' article which I mentioned in an earlier post..here's a quote from it:

"There were only 3 of 23 guesses that emerged as correct, and each was less than spectacular, yet this man was not fazed or disappointed one bit. How can Edward ever fail, when he has such victims to feed on?"

Even if these people did not supply all the stated information on an application form or survey on who they want to hear from, you cannot rule out the fact they may have mentioned the details in response to being led by Edward's questioning.  Remember..it's edited for effect and to enhance the success rates.  The lines Edward gives may in real time have been spoken minutes after some sucker mentioned a cat or a dog etc and it is later used to tie in with something else.

Here is a far more transparent example of that happening.  Search YouTube for 'Rosemary Altea caught cheating' and you'll see a very blatant example of cold reading and data gathering.  It's absolutely shocking but a very common technique....but yet people don't seem to question it as they need to believe and are happy to comply in that environment.  The guy in the video looks over the moon..but the explanation behind it is clear.

As for life after death without a God or divine creator; an all powerful and all knowing entity.  I'm not sure one can survive without the other but that's only a personal opinion.  If there is an afterlife, it must have been designed by someone or something if you catch my drift.  With regards to the DNA question, I don't think the discovery of it makes it any less likely a God could exist.  I'm sure that as science and medicine progresses even further we'll discover many more things just as ground breaking as DNA but again, I don't think any single one could rule out a God....except if someone manages to find a secret hidden DNA type of coding which reads as 'Made in Taiwan' when it's decoded   I'm also of the opinion that evolution may not even rule out the existence of God...it can just be used to explain the design of species but not the reason behind them or why they were originally created.

Very interesting passage you added from the Paul Roland book...kinda gives a green light to the cold reading babble that many mediums tend to drone on about when they're listing mundane, vague references that tend to apply to people demographically ;)

Hi, Nick. I have had trouble getting signed in. I don't think we can take this debate much further really! I'll have a look at the info about James Randi. I saw him make the challenge on (I think it was ) The One Show a couple of years ago. Has he got $1M!?

By the way, I saw Colin Fry in Southport on Thursday night and was very impressed by him. No-one had to fill a form in, by the way! and I searched under my seat for microphones as did my sister, niece and brother-in-law and only found three A lady in front of me got a reading. Unfortunately for me, there was a giant screen on stage and my face enlightened it for  fully 15 minutes while she got her reading. I was totally . Re Edward, well we can debate this until we both pass over to wherever! I just think he is 100% honest and you don't. That's part of our debate, though, isn't it? I watched a bit of him last night and a lady who had got a message spoke to the camera after the show and said that she hadn't been convinced. So this proved to me that at least not everything is edited!

I have really enjoyed this chat and I wish you all the very best, Nick!

razzamattaz:

Hi, Nick. I have had trouble getting signed in. I don't think we can take this debate much further really! I'll have a look at the info about James Randi. I saw him make the challenge on (I think it was ) The One Show a couple of years ago. Has he got $1M!?

By the way, I saw Colin Fry in Southport on Thursday night and was very impressed by him. No-one had to fill a form in, by the way! and I searched under my seat for microphones as did my sister, niece and brother-in-law and only found three A lady in front of me got a reading. Unfortunately for me, there was a giant screen on stage and my face enlightened it for  fully 15 minutes while she got her reading. I was totally . Re Edward, well we can debate this until we both pass over to wherever! I just think he is 100% honest and you don't. That's part of our debate, though, isn't it? I watched a bit of him last night and a lady who had got a message spoke to the camera after the show and said that she hadn't been convinced. So this proved to me that at least not everything is edited!

I have really enjoyed this chat and I wish you all the very best, Nick!

Likewise razzamattaz...it's been great chatting with you.

I don't have a problem with anyone who believes in the paranormal or psychics, I just urge people to delve deeper but even if they don't, everyone is certainly entitled to their opinions.

Hard luck to Safina and Del Potro but it looks like Fed is off to a great start against Soderling.  Really hope Fed wins, would be the icing on the cake for him plus there's still room for more...the guy epitomises tennis imo.  That aside, I don't think tennis has ever had this much quality in the higher ranks.  We've usually had periods of one player's dominance but at the moment, there isn't too much to separate to the top 5 (although it's hard not to put Nadal on the top of the bunch).  Great stuff :)