Happy Atheist Forum

So firstly, I just want to say that I used to be a Christian but last year I realised that the world made alot more sense if God didn't exist. That's irrelevant, but anyway..

I was talking to people from my church and they told me about a guy who 'gets peoples phone numbers and names from God', and he was visiting the church today and yesterday. So I went today, and it was really weird, because he accuratly guessed the people's name, wife, where she works, and their dogs name, and he did this 3 times. I obviously dismiss it straight away, because everything he said could be easily found online prior to visiting (of the people he talked to, 2 of them were elders of the church/well known). After he tells the person this stuff, he then prays for them bla bla etc. No phone numbers yet, however I will go tomorrow and will let you guys know what happens.

ANYWAY.. the biggest issue I have with this is that if God reveals himself to the person through this man, isn't that against the whole "free will"/"God doesn't show himself otherwise it forces you to worship him"?

The main reason I came here was to ask if anyone remembers any Bible Verses to do with free will and how God speaks to people. It just doesn't seem right, and I want to tell my friends that go along with this man (with proof from their bible), that this is ridiculous.

Apart from that, it was impressive. I don't know how he did it, but I'm not giving any glory to God because a guy said someone's name.

It's actually a pretty good parlor trick, and it has it's roots in psychology.  I can't really explain it in detail here, but it's the same as David Blaine and others you see on TV doing "street magic."  It can be very impressive, I once saw a guy guess people's PIN numbers at an ATM by looking at their eyes and feeling their heart rate change as they "thought" of the digits.  Some people are very intuitive and learn to read people very well, but I assure you that it isn't Holy or from God at all.

Now, what you need to do is ask him to ask God to give you MY telephone number, then come on here tomorrow and tell me what he said.  IF he gets THAT right, then I'll give the guy more credibility toward being legitimate.

Peace

The normal weasel out, is to say that since he already believes in god, the miracles aren't forcing him to believe, just confirming his belief. Ridiculous I know, but all the same.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_reading


Old trick but it's still pretty effective. It can look effectice even when you know to look for it when someone is a smooth enough operator.

Ask him what my name, phone number and national insurance number is. If he gets them right, i'll convert to christianity (and i'll also start capitalising the words christian, christianity and god).

If god wants more followers, he'll totally give this guy my details.

So just got a phone call from a friend who told me that the pastor of the church had a meeting with this guy, and thoroughly questioned him, and he admitted he was faking it. He got all the details from online, the churches website, facebook, etc.

Notice how I said "(of the people he talked to, 2 of them were elders of the church/well known)". The other person was a pastor from another church that I didn't know about.

Oh well. It was fun whilst it lasted!

Quote from: "haiguisewhatsup"So just got a phone call from a friend who told me that the pastor of the church had a meeting with this guy, and thoroughly questioned him, and he admitted he was faking it. He got all the details from online, the churches website, facebook, etc.

Notice how I said "(of the people he talked to, 2 of them were elders of the church/well known)". The other person was a pastor from another church that I didn't know about.

Oh well. It was fun whilst it lasted!

I'm surprised he 'fessed up. Was there any stated reason for his behaviour?

I aparrently gave him to much credit. I would guess his scam is at least as old .

Quote from: "Tank"I'm surprised he 'fessed up. Was there any stated reason for his behaviour?

I don't know yet. If he admitted a reason to it (to the pastors), I'm pretty sure they wouldn't really announce why, if you know what I mean.

I'll let you know if he does. I just find it so funny as I even told my friend on the way home "he is just getting information that people can just find on facebook and on the internet you know?", which I said in the OP.

A bit of an odd bod to put it mildly!

This is a pretty trite parlor trick. I cannot remember where I saw the rundown for it but there was another preacher pulling the shame sham on people a few years ago. He would have people fill out personal information in various ways. It would mostly be cards they would use for a "raffle" if I am not mistaken. His wife would collect them up, pick out the more elderly members, and read the information to him via walkie talkie. He, of course, has a small, clear earpiece in that he receives on. I believe it was James Randy who debunked this. He took a radio frequency detector to the event, picked up a signal, tuned into it with a radio, and he listened to the whole ordeal. People should find it odd that God would give two shits about people's addresses or phone numbers .