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NEVER LIKED SPOON BENDING?

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Goggs Mackay

Goggs Mackay

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Just happened across this video exposing Uri Geller's spoon bending antics. Now, I am not stating I don't think there are paranormal happenings in the world because I have encountered one with another person we could not explain.
But this looks very suspect indeed. Thoughts?

(Please please can a hardened-Geller fan post explaining this away? Pretty please?)

 
That is an excellent video that shows how a mentalist simulates psychic powers by slight of hand and how easily people can be fooled by them. Geller is obviously a clever entertainer but he has never given me any reason to think he was anything more than that. Even as a kid, watching him on Carson and the Mike Douglass show, I thought it was silly that this obvious entertainment routine was being presented as the proof of bizarre abilities. Watching the guy heal toasters and bend spoons with his miraculous powers was comical. Imagine having fantastic super powers like Professor X or Marvel Girl from the X-men and the best you got going is doing parlor tricks for rubes who are amazed and amused by the repair of small appliances and the destruction of kitchen utensils!
 
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Marvel worked out at least one super-hero trick for Geller. In this story by using his spoon bending powers, he was able to disrupt the wiring of the tank and disable it.
Geller might have had better luck with DC Comics, he could join the Legion of Substitute Heroes as Deactivator Lad. He can break your gun, but only if he can touch it.
 
Oh man. Exposed again.

So... what do y'all make of Dean Radin's alleged spoon bending? I mean, Geller is a showman, I think we all know that we have to take everything he does and says with a spoonful of salt.

But Radin? I always thought he was one of the "good guys" in this strange field. Honestly, I still do... that's why I'm also asking myself if Geller might have had some ability in the past, which helped him to convince people like Puthoff, Targ and Mitchell.
 
CitizenK said:
Wow! It's really sad when ppl. have to make things up to feel good about their self...
Click to expand...

Actually, I think he came up with the act to make a buck rather than to bolster his self-esteem, but I could be wrong.

Polterwurst said:
So... what do y'all make of Dean Radin's alleged spoon bending? I mean, Geller is a showman, I think we all know that we have to take everything he does and says with a spoonful of salt.
Click to expand...

If Radin is claiming to have bent a spoon with his mind then I have some serious problems with that. Radin's bent spoon is atypical as shown here. Most I have seen are bent on the handle. The only other thing that Radin could claim that would damage his credibility more in my view than this would be to say that human beings aren't or can't be making complex crop circles.
 
Forum readers of recent months may know my anti-religious views. As for 'good guys' in this strange field Polterwurst, I do think Jesus was a real person. He probably spoke a lot of truths that people latched on to. But do I think he turned water to wine, fed the 5000 etc? No.
But he was a nice guy!
 
goggsmackay said:
Forum readers of recent months may know my anti-religious views. As for 'good guys' in this strange field Polterwurst, I do think Jesus was a real person. He probably spoke a lot of truths that people latched on to. But do I think he turned water to wine, fed the 5000 etc? No.
But he was a nice guy!
Click to expand...

I highly suspect that the character of Jesus is an amalgamation of characters at best. The character and words that people associate with Jesus come from allegorical tales told by multiple authors over a large span of time. Different groups polish them up and spin them to suit their needs. While to the casual observer they all look the same, the Mormon Jesus is a different character than the Catholic Jesus who in turn is not quite the same Jesus of the Jehovah Witnesses and it just goes on and on. Was there a historical Jesus? There were several. Did he say what is attributed to him? Ehhhhhh. Can you get some good stuff out of there? Yeah.
 
I think that Jesus is certainly a historical fact. However, Jesus as are all of us is and was to complex to put a whole life into a few words of ancient scripture. I mean even my life (and I'm not great saint or leader) couldn't be put into a single book or even a series of books. As my favorite author once said in one of his books. "Bad paraphrase follows." Compared to even the lowest beggar or dullest person walking the earth. The most exciting character in a story is still just a Bag of Bones. So, with that being said "yeah, the person of Jesus was indeed layered with myth. But, I still think the gospels are close enough to at least show the reality of a person in a culture on the earth. I think he was trying to promote a clearer, cleaner more inclusive version of his own faith which was Judaism and not start a new religion. I gotta be honest here. I'm still (and I'm 55 years old) working out my way on this planet. My dogma got ran over by logic a long time ago. But, I still find worth and inner strength in my faith. Do, I think God is a man in the sky? No. But, then again once I shed this body (If we are indeed a conscious being and not a by product of chemical compounds or whatever) then what will I be? What have I been? I tend to lean toward a reincarnation viewpoint myself. Mainly for personal reasons having to do with my own experience. But, also from an evolutionary process which may or may not be true. But, at any rate the body is a vehicle (imo) and I have gotten waaay off the subject. Sorry. :confused:
 
Well, I think that from what I've read of both liberal and conservative scholars that the gospels are an accurate record as far as a person named Jesus walking the earth. Also, there are one or two other ancient non biblical references (if memory serves after all these years.) Anyway, to me at least I "believe" there is enough evidence to say Jesus did walk the earth. At least as much as there is for other "ancient personages." I mean in all honestly William Shakespear may or may not be who we thought or think he is. There is a whole literary debate unto itself on that one. Anyway, I'm not really interested in getting into a big back and forth on this one. I think Jesus walked the earth and I think he changed the world. I think my life experience and my own inner life is all I really know for certain. Everything else is up for grabs and I'm OK with that. So, believe he walked or believe he was an amalgamation of myths. I don't care. I'm still working my own thoughts out on this one as well as other life questions. I ain't trying to convert or save or enlighten anybody but myself at this point. My only religion these days is to treat other people the way I want to be treated. Trust me, that's hard enough and I often fall far short of that mark.
 
I used to believe Jesus was a historical character myself at one point but from everything I've since read, that couldn't possibly be the case. I would also point out that there are multiple "beliefs" about who and what of Jesus was all allegedly emanating from some version of the Bible or another. Trying to get most people to define who or what they mean by using the word Jesus can be just as nebulous and frustrating as asking them to define what they mean when they say "God." I think the real key is understanding what the Bible is and where it actually came from as opposed to the stories we are generally told about it true nature and origins. It's like the MJ12 documents ok, once you see they were created with the purpose of perpetuating a myth your thinking naturally has to change about the contents. While there were many would-be messiahs and some were named Jesus, due to how the Bible was constructed it seems extremely doubtful that the collection depicts (or that its individual books were even intended to) a biographical account of someone's life. The concept of the allegorical story predominated ancient literature. I maintain that reading ancient holy scriptures like they are news reports is like mistaking another eras comic books as historical accounts of real events. But that's just me, to each his own.
 
I have a client named Jesus and I restored the only known family photo of his great grandparents, grand parents and parents. He was so happy he said "I love you"....

Jesus loves me, this I know.
 
Who would name the "son of god" one of the most common names of the period? "John" seems like a name that his mother could have related to.
 
Nice one sneaking the Pythons in, mackay. :D

goggsmackay said:
As for 'good guys' in this strange field Polterwurst, I do think Jesus was a real person. He probably spoke a lot of truths that people latched on to. But do I think he turned water to wine, fed the 5000 etc? No. But he was a nice guy!
Click to expand...

But if he had a website and posted something like "yeah guys, I really did that. Instantaneous transformation is real"? Would you still think he's not kidding you?

That's what Radin did with his spoon bending. And I'll be damned if he didn't think thoroughly about posting that first. Because he's really had a hard time building a reputation as someone with a purely scientific approach. He must have known what this little spoon bending thing would do to his credibility.

I'm afraid, I want to believe him, though. That's one of the reasons why I can't totally discount that even Geller might have had some real ability back in his youth. But as usual, I might be totally wrong.

Erm... I wonder what Radin would say about people talking of him and Jesus in the same post. Maybe I should send him a link...:D
 
If there was a Jesus, there's a possibility that the story of his life may have been off on a few facts. Look at what happens when the Beatles are looked back on, 1000 years from now.

 
i met Geller and observed his show from the front row. it was pretty cool. i could see no fakery but then i was about 19 years old. i brought a watch that was broken in an accident i was in that resulted in my first of two broken necks. at one point in his demonstration he asked people to take out any broken watches they may have brought. (this was encouraged in the promotional ad in the local paper) he said to keep an eye on our watches because they would start running any second... mine did start running and ran for about 20 minutes or so and never ran again. i am not saying i believe in his abilities, i am just reporting what i witnessed first hand.
 
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