Todd Bentley’s revival continues

Mary wrote to me on MySpace to tell me that the healing revival in Florida, with Todd Bentley, will be on at 7:00 PM this week. Since I missed the shows on Saturday and Sunday, which I wrote about, I decided to watch tonight. It’s still on now…

I tuned-in at 7:00 PM. After about ten minutes, I realized the music portion of the show was to come first. I flipped back and forth, checking for something new. The band played what sounds, to me, like one boring, never-ending, horrible song. The keyboard player / singer actually whistled at one point.

Todd Bentley didn’t come on stage until 84 minutes into the show. From the first time I saw him, he was lying. Seriously, he was outstretched on the floor, shaking his head, and possibly drooling. I call that metaphorical Freudian foreshadowing.

It’s now almost 9:00. He’s still preaching / ranting. So far, there has been no healing, or even any “healing.” The only highlight was his anecdote about seeing a “light” in Applebee’s earlier today. And then “the angel of the lord” appeared there. Unbelievable.

I simply can’t tolerate anymore of this. I held out as long as I could. Holy shit!

Florida Healing Revival – LIVE

…anyone who can demonstrate the existence of the supernatural and/or paranormal. I am also interested in meeting anyone who can demonstrate faith as a valid epistemic strategy.

That’s what I wrote on my profile at MySpace in the “Who I’d like to meet” section. So far, no one like that has come along. It’s possible, however, that things are about to change.

Earlier this week, a MySpace friend, Mary (click with caution: awful religious music, plus the typical religious cheese), suggested in my “comments” section that I should watch the Florida Healing Revival, live with Todd Bentley. She said he may be able to demonstrate the supernatural or paranormal to me. Yay!

A few days ago, I posted a bulletin about a revival going on in florida that you can watch live over the internet, or if you have Direct TV, it will be on live the 18, 19, & 20th on ch.365. A man named Todd Bentley, is the one who went there to have a conference, and now he doesn’t know when he’s leaving. I know it will interest you. The man is strange, not like any “preacher” you’ve ever seen, he’s got tatoos all over, and says weird things. It will entertain you to say the least, and I thought you might enjoy it. This is not like watching a church service, when he comes out, all kinds of stuff starts happening. Just thought it might be of some interest to you. So if you’re bored at 7P.M., click on, http://www.ustream.tv/channel/great-florida-healing-revival

He may be able to “demonstrate the supernatural or paronormal” to you, since different things happen every night, and you have stated you want to meet somebody like that. I am reading one of his books, and I haven’t even heard of some of the things he says, like, transporting, (your body going to another place) being able to go into the heavens, seeing the supernatural. I honestly have never met a christian that believes the way he does.

I checked it out. The “healing revival” airs the 18th and 19th on GodTV (seriously) at 7:00PM ET on DirecTV channel 365. I have my satellite box set so I won’t miss the show, if I’m around to watch. So, will it convince me that the supernatural and/or paranormal are legitimate? I’m skeptical. Here is my response to her.

You’re right that I am interested in meeting those people who can demonstrate the supernatural or paranormal. Seeing someone perform on television doesn’t qualify. I have seen the shows of a number of tele-evangelists in which they claim to heal members from the audience, or receive and relay messages from “god.” I’m not convinced. I have no way to know if they are actually doing what they claim. The same will likely apply to the performer in Florida.

We’ll see what happens. On a side note, I’ve been watching (mostly listening to) GodTV while writing this. I find it naive, overly dramatic, and vomit-inducing. Christianity has a special ability to be lame, cheesy, and disgusting in a way of which no other endeavor is capable. Amen.

*Update (21 April): I was gone all weekend, so I didn’t get the chance to see the show. If anyone has a link to highlights or reviews, post them below.

Merry USAmas

Back in December, I saw something which caught my attention. I was on my way to the local transfer station (recycling center), when I drove past a residence decorated for Christmas. I didn’t have a camera with me, so I was unable to capture the moment. I’ve been back to the facility twice, and forgotten my camera both times, but the decorations were still there. Today, the 16th of April, I remembered to take a camera.

I haven’t seen this lit, but I imagine it radiates with glorious liberty, spawning patriotism among the passing drivers. (click for full size)

Get Service?

I stumbled upon this short clip on YouTube not long ago. Though it’s meant to be religious, I still like it a lot. Instead of rambling on about what I think it’s about, and what we can learn from it, I’ll just get to the video. Oh, and if you figure out what “get service” means, please let me know.

T-Shirt Feedback

I am considering purchasing a shirt for myself. After a bit of searching, I narrowed the selection down to a few that I like to greater and lesser degrees. I thought I would ask my extremely broad, varied, and attentive audience which one(s) they like best.

1. “ATHEIST“
2. “ATHEIST“
3. “atheist“
4. “atheist.“
5. “100% all natural atheist“
6. “agnostic atheist“
7. “I believe in freedom from religion.“
8. other (post link)

Clinton and Obama will debate faith but not science

This is an email I received today from the ScienceDebate 2008 website.

Dear J.S.,

I am sorry to send two emails in such short succession, but I thought you should know that after declining our invitation to debate science in Pennsylvania, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton yesterday agreed to attend “The Compassion Forum,” a forum of “wide-ranging and probing discussions of policies related to moral issues.”  CNN will serve as the exclusive broadcaster of the “presidential-candidate forum on faith, values and other current issues” at Messiah College near Harrisburg, Pa., April 13 at 8 p.m.  You can read more here.

Perhaps among the moral issues discussed should be whether they have a moral obligation to more fully engage on science issues, since the future viability of the planet may hang in the balance, for starters.  Is there a larger moral imperative?  How about the future economic health of the United States and the prosperity of its families?  Science & engineering have driven half our economic growth since WWII, yet but 2010 if trends hold 90% of all scientists and engineers will live in Asia.  Then there are the moral questions surrounding the health of our families with stem cell research, genomics, health insurance policy, and medical research.  There’s biodiversity loss and the health of the oceans and the morality of balancing destruction of species against human needs and expenses, there’s population and development and clean energy research, there’s food supply and GMO crops and educating children to compete in the new global economy and securing competitive jobs.  Science issues are moral issues.

I would encourage you to write letters to the editor, emails to the campaigns, and blog postings pointing this out.  And if you can, support our ongoing effort to turn this country around.

Shawn Lawrence Otto

ScienceDebate2008.com

The Mist

I just watched the scariest movie I have ever seen- The Mist. Holy fucking shit am I scared of religious people!

That ending… made me cry like a baby.