morningstar2651 said:
Christianity appears to have mixed feelings about divination, but the majority view it as a sin. (Gen. 1:14, Jg.5:20, Mt.2:1-2, Lk.21:25, Dt.18:10-12, Is.47:13-14, Jer.10:2)
Most scientists that I can think of would call divination "bunk", or something to that effect.
I now present to you a form of divination that is not considered bunk by scientists and is practiced by many Christians -- meteorology/aeromancy.
div·i·na·tion
n.
- The art or act of foretelling future events or revealing occult knowledge by means of augury or an alleged supernatural agency.
- An inspired guess or presentiment.
- Something that has been divined.
aer·o·man·cy
n.
- Divination from the state of the air or from atmospheric substances; also, forecasting changes in the weather.
me·te·or·ol·o·gy
n.
- predicting what the weather will be [syn: weather forecasting]
- the earth science dealing with phenomena of the atmosphere (especially weather)
There's a lot more to it than that. Those scientists who would tell you divination is nonsense are saying that from the perspective of the most common fields of science, which all have hard evidence supporting them and have been around for years. They aren't educated or
knowledgeable in the obscure fields of science which research psychic ability and so, even though they're scientists that reject it, they're probably ignorant of the specific field.
In other words, biologists are scientists too, but that doesn't mean they're knowledgeable of
all science.
Anyway, there are many reasons to support the idea that although there might not be 'divination', exactly, there
are proven experiments which
might be evidence of psychic ability, but they're not exactly sure. This field of studying potential psychic ability is called parapsychology, and unlike a lot of wacko research fields like Ufology, etc, it's actually fairly respected because it
does have some interesting results.
For example, it's a well-known fact that many animals have the ability to sense shifts in the magnetic field, being able to 'predict' earthquakes. Most insects communicate in a way we've identified, but there are some which don't communicate through scent, sound, or dance, and yet the hive moves as if it were one group, and the only possible explanation so far, is some kind of limited psychic link.
There was an experiment done with dogs, where they tested a canine's ability to know when it's master had come home. They made sure that the room the dog was in was sound-proof and did not give any view of their master. And yet, even though the dog had no way of knowing that their master was home, they'd still immediately stand up at the door, as they approached (even though they made the time somewhat
random!) This suggests that dogs have some extra-sensory perception.
And even in Psychology, they now say that human beings may have the ability to detect shifts in the magnetic field, including radiation given off by other human beings. People within martial arts have claimed something similar to this for years, at being able to 'sense' someone's presence rather than having to observe it. (In our own language, we have the phrase, "the feeling that someone is watching you." Perhaps there's more truth to that than we realize.)
Oh, and about radiation given off by the human body. This isn't related to divination, but still rather interesting to Christians, I think. A while ago (somewhere around 20 years, I believe), a man discovered that human bodies give off an
extremely small field of radiation, on all sides of their body. It's not unhealthy, though, because of the small amount, and it has something to do with energy generated by the cells in our bodies. This also wasn't a
standard sized field of energy and it was different from person-to-person.
Well, to a non-Christian, you could call this an 'aura.' To a Christian Fundamentalist, you could suggest that it's a possible reason for why saints would have had halos. Either way, I thought it was fascinating.
