Mark Anthony the Psychic Lawyer asks a profound question

HumanityBlues

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HumanityBlues
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Don't know if anyone here has heard of this guy Mark Anthony, but he is also known as "the Psychic Lawyer". Anyways, I got a kick out of this profound question he asked:
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Makes you think right?;)
 
If you're talking to god, you may be mistaken and acting against reason, but generally people who talk to god are not acting in a particularly unusual manner. Many people do it all their lives and fit in to society pretty well.

People to whom god speaks are unusual, and what is more have a track record of doing some pretty dreadful things. Obeying orders is a poor defence when the person giving orders exists, when they don't, or at best can't be proven to exist, you're reason for acting is best put down to insanity.
 
This Mark Anthony chap didn't think this nugget up for himself. It was originally by Thomas Szasz, the famous 'anti-psychiatrist', who wrote:

"If you talk to God, you are praying; If God talks to you, you have schizophrenia. If the dead talk to you, you are a spiritualist; If you talk to the dead, you are a schizophrenic."
Click to expand...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Szasz
 
LOL, profound is right.;) A played-out pop philosophy conversation-starter.

Szasz is controversial for a number of reasons.

It's not true that believing God talks to you, in itself, automatically means you meet the diagnostic criteria for psychosis (let alone schizophrenia).
 
MatildaGage said:
It's not true that believing God talks to you, in itself, automatically means you meet the diagnostic criteria for psychosis (let alone schizophrenia).
Click to expand...

I would not disagree with that, my point was more to do with the fact that most times when we hear about people being told to do things by god it normally involves a murder or kidnap. However I would not be surprised to hear people do acts of charity because god told them to, clearly being nice doesn't make a news story (generally).
 
So, praying is okay — the reverse is not.
I propose a new word to solve the problem: rayping.

"God rayped me!" <world claps>


You're welcome.
 
"If you include god in any sentence you speak, it somehow ends up making you sound really stupid"

Wait a minute.
 
pristerognathus said:
most times when we hear about people being told to do things by god it normally involves a murder or kidnap.
Click to expand...


This rings a bell. I know a lovely, kind, honest, devout, and generous Church Lady about my age (fifty-something) who once dropped into the course of an otherwise mundane conversation about kids and husbands and housekeeping the information that "while I was at the store yesterday, the Holy Spirit reminded me that I was out of green beans, so I got some..." and then she rolled right on with whatever it was we were talking about. I have always remembered the matter-of-fact way she referred to the Holy Spirit as though it were merely a friend who was standing next to her and reminded her, "You're out of green beans", the way your kids, tagging along to the grocery store, sometimes remind you that you're out of milk.

So, not everyone who thinks that God talks to them is schizophrenic.
 
MatildaGage said:
LOL, profound is right.;) A played-out pop philosophy conversation-starter.

Szasz is controversial for a number of reasons.

It's not true that believing God talks to you, in itself, automatically means you meet the diagnostic criteria for psychosis (let alone schizophrenia).
Click to expand...

I think that would be because the "god talking to you" isn't even really defined by the believers themselves.

How many times has someone said something to the nature of god talking to them, and what they really mean is they read into a coincidence or event?

It is one of the weirdest bits of the christian mythology to me. Everyone wants to talk about a personal relationship with god, but his end of the conversation always seems to be a tiny insignificant event, interpreted in a way that enforces a previously held belief or course of action.
 
Goshawk said:
This rings a bell. I know a lovely, kind, honest, devout, and generous Church Lady about my age (fifty-something) who once dropped into the course of an otherwise mundane conversation about kids and husbands and housekeeping the information that "while I was at the store yesterday, the Holy Spirit reminded me that I was out of green beans, so I got some..." and then she rolled right on with whatever it was we were talking about. I have always remembered the matter-of-fact way she referred to the Holy Spirit as though it were merely a friend who was standing next to her and reminded her, "You're out of green beans", the way your kids, tagging along to the grocery store, sometimes remind you that you're out of milk.

So, not everyone who thinks that God talks to them is schizophrenic.
Click to expand...

" Holy **** lady, listen, your husband really likes green beans. And you know what, i have other **** to deal with. So why don't you just, me damned buy some, so i don't have to hear your spouse going 'dear god, please let her actually pick up some green beans this time' when i am trying to ******* get **** settled in the middle east. "

Not so much friend as annoyed acquaintance.
 
pristerognathus said:
I would not disagree with that, my point was more to do with the fact that most times when we hear about people being told to do things by god it normally involves a murder or kidnap. However I would not be surprised to hear people do acts of charity because god told them to, clearly being nice doesn't make a news story (generally).
Click to expand...

"Kidnap? I ******* said, take a nap, you tool. You were going on three days without sleep. "
 
I suppose God could talk like those speakers in airports, "Would Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent please board the plane? Yes, you. Stop swapping super undies in the men's room."

Actually, perhaps private comms are better.
 
Somewhere on the Net is a site that names about 10,000 gods of all sorts and powers.
How does she know which one she's talking to ?
 
pristerognathus said:
I would not disagree with that, my point was more to do with the fact that most times when we hear about people being told to do things by god it normally involves a murder or kidnap. However I would not be surprised to hear people do acts of charity because god told them to, clearly being nice doesn't make a news story (generally).
Click to expand...

In Tony Blair's case, god told him to invade Iraq. But it was an act of charity towards the Iraqis, you understand! :rolleyes:
 
George152 said:
Somewhere on the Net is a site that names about 10,000 gods of all sorts and powers.
How does she know which one she's talking to ?
Click to expand...


She was attending a Methodist church, so I suppose it was the God of Methodists. :D
 
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