(February 9, 2020 at 7:51 am)anonymous89 Wrote: Greetings! I am currently at a crossroads in my life regarding my beliefs in the supernatural. I do not really want to go into it at this point. It is too messy to hash all out over a forum thread. Anyway, I have listened to a lot of Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss lately as well as the Atheist Experience. At this point, I am not really a proponent of Atheism or a specific religion. I am still a member of the Orthodox Christian Church.
I came across some videos online regarding a purported miracle that is claimed to take place every year on Holy Saturday before Easter. Basically the Orthodox Bishop of Jerusalem goes into the claimed tomb of Jesus. Before hand he is searched by an Israeli police officer for any lighters, matches, etc. He then emerges from the tomb with a lit candle that is said not to burn the skin for the first 20 or so minutes after the bishop emerges. Supposedly scientific research has been performed and the fire's temperature has been taken and it burns cool.
I have a video that has a pilgrim in Jerusalem holding the fire on his skin and running it through his beard. Please take a look at the video and respond with your thoughts. How is this individual's beard not even slightly harmed by the fire? Is there a scientific explanation for any of this? I have heard people claim that it could be white phosphorus that spontaneously combusts, but that would still involve heat.
Thank you in advance for any responses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kZu87tyqJ4
Here is also a video that discusses the supposed scientific study of this alleged miracle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgEL7kiMu40
The level of what is considered a miracle certainly has dropped drastically over the centuries.
Parting the Red Sea. pillars of fire, walking on water, living in a fish for 3 days, raising from the dead. Hell, even a century ago, there was the 'miracle of the sun' at Fatima, Portugal.
And now, all a god can muster is giving a Bishop the power to light a candle, and the fire allegedly not harming the Bishop. Yahweh certainly must be losing his powers.
I can guarantee that any magician with even a modicum of skills can reproduce this trick. I just google "self lighting candle magic trick" and returned pages of results.
You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
