From: doug@uuisis.isis.org (Doug Thompson)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.newage,alt.alien.visitors,sci.skeptic
Subject: Re: July 4, 1992 - Global Spiritual Independence Day
Date: 26 Sep 92 12:28:29 GMT
Organization: International Shared Information Service (Ottawa)

John_-_Winston@cup.portal.com writes:

>  So what do you think folks would a 20 minute old kid lie?

Well, since a 20 minute old kid hasn't got the brain development or
miscle tone to talk on her own we could ask who was talking through this
person? Nor would a 20 minute old kid, normally, have the moral
awareness sufficient to discern the difference between a lie and
truthful statement, let alone the linguistic mastery to make any
statement at all!

Religious traditions contain a number of talkes of spiritual beings
(like God, for example) talking through animals who normally have
neither the brain development nor the physical apparatus to 'talk'.

So while I'd consider it possible, if somewhat remarkable and
miraculous, for a 20 minute old child to say anything that was coherent
and comprehensible, in terms of whether it was a lie or not, you gotta
ask where it's coming from and all that and not jump to the conclusion
that the child in question is simply describing a recent experience in
the way that you or I might 'normally' describe something we recently
saw. 

Everything about this story is remarkable: the age of the speaker, the
content of the speech, the context of the speaking. So we really can't
understand it in the 'normal' way can we?

Can a 20 minute old child lie? Well, can a 20 minute old child speak?
The normal answers would be NO and NO. But this isn't 'normal' eh?

Therefore, on the assumption that the objective facts as reported are
correct, and that no other significant facts have been left out of the
story, I'd say we have an extraordinary phenomenon which would require
an extraordinary explanation because in the ordinary scheme of things
the whole tale is 'impossible'.

Personally I find nothing in the story to lead me to believe or
disbelieve the veracity of the content here any more than your average
'impossible statement' story.

Actually I'd like to know the rest of the story. Did this child speak
only once at age 20 minutes and then lose the ability to speak? Or did
she go on talking about experiences of a pre-birth experience? Is there
anything else remarkable or unusual about this child to suggest that she
herself possesses extraordinary abilities commensurate with this tale?

What of the parents and other family members? What do they think of this
and what effect has the unusual event had on their lives?

All of these questions, and a good many more, would have to be weighed
before I would be prepared to say anything beyond "I don't know" to the
question "would a 20 minute old kid lie?".

=Doug

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