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A comment on I Flew to Lagos and Got Beaten Up Because of a Nigerian Email Scam. Parent comment

Re:I Flew to Lagos and Got Beaten Up Because of a Nigerian E... by Crito on Monday December 16, 2013 @09:34PM (#6919255)
There is no fundamental difference here. Clasping your hands, asking a god for guidance in your head, then interpreting your own thoughts as the advice of a god is really no different from asking a god a question, putting your hands on a Ouija board, letting the ideomotor effect do its thing, then interpreting the output of the ideomotor effect as the word of your god.

The only difference is that mainstream Christianity blesses one method, and derogatorily refers to the other methods as witchcraft or divination.

Different religions all have their own forms of blessed divination, and forbidden divination, and they all assert that their blessed methods are fundamentally different from the others, but it is all the same stuff.

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Re:I Flew to Lagos and Got Beaten Up Because of a Nigerian E... by tedunangst on Monday December 16, 2013 @09:40PM (#6919271)
There is a major difference: physical manifestation.
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Re:I Flew to Lagos and Got Beaten Up Because of a Nigerian E... by Crito on Tuesday December 17, 2013 @12:25PM (#6922305)
Physical manifestation? It is all physical! You cannot escape the physical. Whether you are making the decision in your mind then convincing yourself the conclusion is an idea that came from a god and not yourself, or if you are making the decision in your mind, spelling it out, then convincing yourself the conclusion is an idea that came from a god... either one is magical thinking and either one is taking place in the 'physical world'.

You don't need the Ouija board for one of them, but you are just listing your personal whitelist criteria to me. Either one is still magical thinking.

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Re:I Flew to Lagos and Got Beaten Up Because of a Nigerian E... by spacehome on Tuesday December 17, 2013 @12:03AM (#6919695)
Only if the mind is not part of physics.
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