Alien Abductions

[Guest Valk0010]

Keith Parsons has argued that if you believe in the resurrection because of evidence, that you would also have to belief in alien abductions.

 

Now the apologetic retort is that the recalling of events in alien abductions involves hypnosis(usually this follows by all the ones that they have seen).

 

Does this having validity, against the idea of believing alien abductions if you believe in the Resurrection.

 

Or is this claim wrong, about alien abductions and hypnosis just totally wrong?

 

Any thoughts will help, not sure myself about how to go about researching this, so any helps if very much welcomed.

[florduh]

if you believe in the resurrection because of evidence

What evidence? The Bible accounts?

 

At least alien abductions have some first hand descriptions while not under hypnosis, and there are living eyewitnesses who claim it really has happened. Much better anecdotal evidence than anonymous stories written decades after the supposed incident. Hypnosis has been demonstrated to be unreliable in retrieving true events from the past.

 

FTR, I don't believe in either one.

[Shyone]

if you believe in the resurrection because of evidence

What evidence? The Bible accounts?

 

At least alien abductions have some first hand descriptions while not under hypnosis, and there are living eyewitnesses who claim it really has happened. Much better anecdotal evidence than anonymous stories written decades after the supposed incident. Hypnosis has been demonstrated to be unreliable in retrieving true events from the past.

 

FTR, I don't believe in either one.

Yep this is true.

 

You can look up histories of alien abductees and most have not required hypnosis to recall the "probings". Or all that other interesting stuff.

 

Some recall things in dreams, others simply remember them, and some have vivid "flashbacks." Here is a site with a bunch of amateur abductions (and a number of UFO sightings). Here's a typical "report":

 

Reported by david from h-66-166-113-12.dllatx37.covad.net (66.166.113.12) on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 at 1:16AM :

 

it was around 4:30 in the morning on a tuesday in november, when the abduction took place. i was in little-rock, arkansas in the year 1968 at my cousins house. we had been up all night looking up at the stars and conversing. my cousin, ray, had spotted this oddly shaped glowing object in the sky. he pointed it out, and after that, i just remember being strapped down to this stretcher sort of thing completely nude. this very bright light was over me, so i couldn't make out what the beings faces looked like, but i knew that they were there. i looked over to my left, and i seen my cousin strapped down and also completely nude. i tried yelling his name, but he couldn't hear me...i couldn't even hear myself. it was very weird, it was like time was slowed down. seconds felt like minutes...and minutes felt like hours. i kept yelling for help, of course later on i realized it was no use, and i guess the beings,what ever they are, were tired of my yelling, so they poked me with some oddly shaped syringe and i wasn't able to move my mouth after that. they kept touching my body with their cold and dull fingers, or what ever they had for hands and all i could do was cry. i looked over to my cousin again, and what i saw was unbelievable! they had opened up my cousins back, and they were sticking some weird objects into his spine. despite the fact my mouth couldn't move, i could still hear. i could hear my cousin screaming in terrible agony as they were poking at his spine...but why couldn't he hear me? everything went black, and before i woke up, i felt a burning/poking sensation throughout my entire body, then i woke up...completely dressed, on the grass in the backyard of my cousins house. he was already awake when i woke up. he just sat there, terrified of what we concluded, later on , as an abduction. the next day, we went to the police station and tried to convince them that we were abducted. they just looked at us, and said that we need to see a therapist. we argued, and argued, and argued, until, we ended up in a psychiatric ward, where we stayed for 4 long years. in 1972, i was released from the ward...unfortunately, my cousin is still in the psychiatric ward and it doesn't look like he is coming out any time soon...i still visit him, but the visit is always cut short because he is still living in that same day that the abduction happened. the doctor said that he is in a permanent state of psychosis and will probably remain like that for the rest of his life...and he still has the scar on his back...

 

Or this one:

 

Reported by aaron howard from ? (74.231.144.126) on Wednesday, April 01, 2009 at 2:18PM :

 

iwas abducted by aliens in a sacer like ufo

 

The people making these claims believe what they say, and their testimony is more reliable than the New Testament for three reasons:

 

1. They are still alive and can be interviewed.

2. There are many more direct witnesses to alien abduction than the resurrection.

3. For those who were witnesses to the same abductions, their stories match in the details.

[skepticalme]

Anecdotes do not comprise evidence, at least in science. They are mearly claims.

 

 

[SilentLoner]

I can't say I believe them. But the thought gives me the creeps - I heard some very detailed stories about abduction accounts as a kid and it really scared me back then, I guess some of its still stuck in my mind.

 

This is always good for a laugh - even though 1:30 still makes me jump...

[oddbird1963]

Alien abduction stories (and ufo sightings in general) are about what the human brain can do to take normal but not well understood series of events and turn them into something extreme, outlandish or absurd.

 

So yeah, I think Parsons has a point.

 

The "hypnosis" remark by apologists is kind've a deflection. A red herring. The difference they point out is trivial. Humans take and twist phenomena over time. That makes eyewitness testimony problematic. Alien Abduction Stories and Resurrection stories share the same weakness.

[OpheliaGinger]

I have actually been completely immersing myself in alien encounters/contacts mainly because I see it fascinating on how the human mind works to create such stories--you could even call contactees like Billy Meier and Alex Collier to be prophets of the modern day mythos. What I have been seeing is that the human psyche is broken down into the many races of aliens--Dracos/Reptilians are our evil/sadistic side, Pleiadians/Andromedans/Vegans/Nordics etc. are our altruistic and caring side, Grays/Mantis (most forms although some side with the previously mentioned) are our zombie/non feeling/non caring side, and Sirians/Saurans are our political/structural rigidity side.

[centauri]

Keith Parsons has argued that if you believe in the resurrection because of evidence, that you would also have to belief in alien abductions.

 

Now the apologetic retort is that the recalling of events in alien abductions involves hypnosis(usually this follows by all the ones that they have seen).

Hypnosis is a secondary issue.

Here's an account of an abduction that could easily be attributed to aliens:

 

I was caught up to the third heaven fourteen years ago. Whether I was in my body or out of my body, I don’t know—only God knows.

Yes, only God knows whether I was in my body or outside my body.

But I do know that I was caught up to paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell.

 

This abduction story courtesy of St. Paul 2 Cor 12:2-4 (NLT)

This tale is deemed to be factual because it's in the New Testament, but it has no more credibility than stories told today.

[poopiebuttninja]

Sasquatch is my savior. The UFO's are his angels.

[VoiceOnWater]

OpheliaGinger, thanks for the info on this.

 

Until I can get more information, there's not much I can add.

Haven't seen one, haven't talked/communed with one, haven't seen any vessels that weren't made by the military.

The military...

[ContraBardus]

I've yet to see any evidence that Hypnosis works anyway.

 

It's a BS gag between two people. It requires compliance on the behalf of the 'hypnotized'.

 

In other words, it's someone giving a person willing to act like an idiot for their own amusement an excuse to do so by removing inhibition and giving them the excuse of 'I was hypnotized'.

 

I've yet to see any evidence it can awaken the subconscious, force anyone to do anything, or otherwise do anything it claims aside from entertain people in a stage show.

 

Any story resulting from hypnosis is just someone's own imagination playing around with an excuse to make ridiculous claims freely.

 

It's about as reliable and honest a practice as Lie Detectors, or Psychic Readings. It's on the exact same level as either one and nothing but a scam that's good for little more than mild entertainment.

 

They make great stage shows and can be fun if no one takes them seriously. Unfortunately, many people do indeed take those things seriously, and at that point it just becomes a scam.

 

Regardless of whether it's aliens, past lives, or clucking like a chicken, the whole of it is total bunk.

[J.W.]

Keith Parsons has argued that if you believe in the resurrection because of evidence, that you would also have to belief in alien abductions.

 

Now the apologetic retort is that the recalling of events in alien abductions involves hypnosis(usually this follows by all the ones that they have seen).

 

Does this having validity, against the idea of believing alien abductions if you believe in the Resurrection.

 

Or is this claim wrong, about alien abductions and hypnosis just totally wrong?

 

Any thoughts will help, not sure myself about how to go about researching this, so any helps if very much welcomed.

 

there might be some merit but as one that likes to argue I would scream "False Analogy" "Continuum Fallacy"

[VoiceOnWater]

ContraBardus, have you been hypnotized?

I've both hypnotized others, and have been hypnotized, but neither was to scan for traces of an alien presence.

I used hypnosis as a tool, to quit smoking.

You're right, a respondent must be willing.

 

Who ever is following this thread, check out the sketch I just posted up in the creative works forum.

[ContraBardus]

I've had people try it, but it never works. It's not because I'm resistant or anything either.

 

In the end, it's just a way to focus someone's attention.

 

It's about as effective as 'affirmations'. They don't really work as advertised, but can be beneficial by bringing something to mind on a regular basis. It's just a way to bring attention to and focus on a particular goal or problem, but doesn't actually actively do anything towards resolving or achieving it.

 

Hypnosis is really just a form of meditation when it 'works'. It's not something really spiritual, but rather makes it easier to focus on something, be it a particular aspect of consciousness, or an area of the body for example.

 

In the end, it's not a form of mind control and it can't make someone do something, change a belief, or unravel memories or anything of the sort. Those are just parlor tricks related to it.

 

On a side note, I'm one of those types who researches things before trying them. I've beaten the lie detector several times and love giving false 'pings' to psychics by controlling myself and giving false 'tells' or 'reads'. I treated hypnosis in a similar manner, and I've got an eye for the tricks of the trade so to speak.

 

It's nothing special really. Just a game of sorts for the most part, and a good way to get someone to focus their attention on something. It has uses, but for the most part it's really not valuable for much beyond entertainment. Therapists like to use it for various things, but from what I know, success is limited, and largely gives patients an excuse to do what they wanted to do in the first place.

 

It's successes are largely do to the placebo effect.