The letter below is devastating to the atheist cause. We may as well pack it in right now.
Hi.Please can you answer my question? you can contact me directly if you want,by skype or email me etc.If the Bible has no truth about the ariel phenomenon it mentions and describes, then why did my wife and I see and experience a close encounter with a UFO in 2004 that looked and behaved remarkably similar to that which is mentioned in ancient text particulary the Bible.I reported the experience to scientists across the world ,to the MOD here in the U.K. and it is currently being investigated by reseachers.I have always be willing to talk about ti and would even take a lie detector test to prove what happened is the truth.The UFO DID behave intelligently,it tried on two occassions to stop our vehicle with some kind of small round circles,it was toroidal,rotated illuminating the surrounding air, manifested from within a strange thick vortex of vapour,released light down upon the bonnet of our car,it was being manipulated by something we could not see,and the air was blackened.Before this happened to us both I was a hardened skeptic as far as the UFO phenomenon is concerned,I was not a practicing Christian or anything like that and I was and still is a open minded individual who has great respect for science.
I don’t think I can even grace this with a reply, it would only cheapen it.
68 comments
Skip to comment form ↓
colubridae
December 20, 2011 at 2:23 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Strong the force is, in this one
sqlrob
December 20, 2011 at 2:33 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Send him the story about Shermer’s run in with a UFO and his subsequent alien abduction.
Rosita
December 31, 2011 at 12:23 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I missed that one! Please let me know where I can find it.
Curt Cameron
December 20, 2011 at 2:36 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Wow, a rotating toroidal UFO that tries to stop people with small circles and blackens the air, just like is described in the Bible. I think it’s near the back somewhere.
StevoR
December 20, 2011 at 2:39 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Strong ..something ..anyhow.
Ohh-kaaay so UFOs prove God – the Christian one specifically even – because ..?
Paul Beach
April 30, 2013 at 10:55 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
proves the scientology “idea” even more completely
VahnRPG
December 20, 2011 at 2:43 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
So I guess the movie Paul to this guy was a work of non-fiction, then?
billsheehan
December 20, 2011 at 2:56 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
What else can I say but:
Celeste
December 20, 2011 at 3:46 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Thanks for posting that billsheehan. I had to know the story of Ezekiel after seeing it, so I looked it up. Some people claim that it’s the first documented sighting of a UFO. Personally, I think it’s the first documented usage of heroin.
Katherine Lorraine, Chaton de la Mort
December 20, 2011 at 3:11 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
The Ariel phenomenon, eh?
“Under da sea, under da sea. Darlin’ it’s bettah, down where it’s wettah, take it from me!”
extian
December 20, 2011 at 5:48 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
That’s what I thought, too. And you can’t prove mermaids DON’T exist, so I guess he’s got us by the balls on that one!
Janice in Toronto
December 20, 2011 at 9:22 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Balls?
Or perhaps the ovaries…
had3
December 21, 2011 at 4:13 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Gonads. I believe that encompasses both.
David Hart
December 24, 2011 at 6:31 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Hey. Got us by the gonads – that even alliterates. I’ll try to work it into conversations:-)
sunnydale75
December 21, 2011 at 6:45 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
You know how an irritating song gets stuck in your head and you can’t get rid of it. Thanks to your Little Mermaid quote (which was quite funny, btw), I now have that song stuck in my head (when my younger sister was a child I would babysit her and she *always* wanted to watch the Little Mermaid. This was shortly after the movie was on VHS. She wanted to learn the words to all the songs, so she and I spent *countless* hours in front of the television pausing and writing down the lyrics to each song. Even now, almost 30 years later, I still remember some of the words, most especially those of “Under the Sea”)
Tony
rrpostal
December 21, 2011 at 3:53 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Wait! “The Little Mermaid” is how old? That means I’m how old? I swear it wasn’t that long ago.
Alt+3
December 20, 2011 at 3:52 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
The only thing this proves is that even the English don’t know english anymore.
davidct
December 20, 2011 at 3:55 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
“I had an experience I can’t explain therefore Christianity is true”. Well it was good enough for Paul/Saul, so why look any further. At least Shermer had been pushing his body to the limit when he had his UFO experience.
otrame
December 20, 2011 at 4:09 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I had a UFO experience once. I have no idea what it was and yet never once came close to “and therefore God ….”. Never even occurred to me. I wonder why.
sunnydale75
December 21, 2011 at 6:50 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
For that matter, wouldn’t the existence of non terrestrial life pose some problems for Christianity?
Tony
grumpyoldfart
December 20, 2011 at 4:30 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
So this guy’s U(nidentified)FO is actually an I(dentified)FO
JT (Generic)
December 20, 2011 at 4:51 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
.I reported the experience to scientists across the world
Translated: I emailed a bunch of people people.
,to the MOD here in the U.K. and it is currently being investigated by reseachers.
Translated: They’re too busy researching something I saw, and can’t be replicated, to email me back.
MLR
December 20, 2011 at 4:52 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Ironically, the logic of “I saw lights in the sky, therefore Jesus” is not much worse than “I saw lights in the sky, therefore space aliens.” We have about as much evidence for the existence of alien spacecraft as we do for Jesus. Of course, like most skeptics, I’m totally open to the possibility of life elsewhere, even intelligent life, and even life more intelligent than us. However, that doesn’t automatically mean that super-intelligent aliens somewhere in the vastness of the cosmos get to violate relativity to come visit us. The distances are just too vast, even at the speed of light, and everything we know about the universe tells us that’s the speed limit (with only possibly neutrinos excepted). But anyway, my point is basically that this nutter’s logic is no worse (or better) than that of your average UFO fanatic. But I’m probably just preaching to the choir here…
Kassul
December 25, 2011 at 5:02 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
eh, assuming these aliens havec the power to get up to relativistic speeds(eg: 99.5% of c) (and means to shield against miniscule debris given their speed) travelling around the galaxy doesn’t take all *that* much time, subjective at least.
The time dilation can really help out, especially if you’re from a long-lived species, or one that takes a long view and is willing to go a generational route.
A lot of time(~650 years or so?) would pass here while they’re flying to us from Betelguese, but by the clocks on their spaceship only a few decades. With good reclamation facilities and sources of energy, that’s not too hard to imagine. Nothing says they have to be starting out hundreds of light years away either, nor doing it in one big jump(though obviously once you’re going at such high speeds it makes little sense to slow back down and then have to accelerate back up all over again).
I don’t happen to think that aliens are buzzing Earth, but relativity doesn’t just close doors, it opens windows at the same time.
… Provided you can get up to hilariously fast speeds. But tbh that seems easier to me than proposing hyperspeed and warpspeed and other FTL anyway.
JT (Generic)
December 20, 2011 at 4:53 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Even if he pointed to a verse in the Bible that seemed to match, how do we know he didn’t read the verse first and then just claim to have seen this?
I mean, that’s all it is – some weird guy on the interwebs claiming to have seen something.
fastlane
December 20, 2011 at 5:11 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I woulda thought this would make him convert to $cientology (or Raelianism (SP?)).
But I guess that would be (slightly more) logical.
warren grubb
December 20, 2011 at 5:39 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I particularly liked that he “would even take a lie detector test to prove what happened is the truth.” Sorry bud, it doesn’t work that way, lol.
pyrobryan
December 20, 2011 at 6:12 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Did anyone here say that the bible has NO truth in it? I’m willing to accept a lot of things in the bible. There are people and places mentioned in the bible that almost certainly exist(ed). Just because a book contains some truth doesn’t mean it contains all truth. Other side of the coin, because a book contains some non-truths doesn’t mean it contains no truth.
sqlrob
December 20, 2011 at 8:47 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Given the amount of non-truth and straight out internal contradictions, it’s safest to assume any claims are non-truth until there’s external verification.
a miasma of incandescent plasma
December 20, 2011 at 6:40 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Add in the Jebus part and Maynard already told this guy’s story in Rosetta Stoned.
http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/rosetta-stoned-lyrics-tool/c1f727f166af20b34825715e004e942c
noastronomer
December 20, 2011 at 7:40 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
“I woulda thought this would make him convert to $cientology (or Raelianism”
Nah, $cientology doesn’t want you if you’re already crazy.
Pete
December 20, 2011 at 7:41 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Wasn’t jeezuz an alien anyways, specifically with two knobs?
Guillaume
December 20, 2011 at 7:41 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Wow! So many beliefs all rolled into one! This is great, just like a spiritual sangria!
leftwingfox
December 20, 2011 at 10:23 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Sangria made from prison wine, moonshine and Rye Ergot, perhaps.
Reginald Selkirk
December 20, 2011 at 9:15 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
So many beliefs all rolled into one!
It’s hard to beat the “Bigfoot is an inter-dimensional alien” claim though.
I wish I was making this up.
sunnydale75
December 21, 2011 at 6:58 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I am SO going to have to look this one up. Wow.
Tony (btw, does anyone know if the “Finding Bigfoot” show on Animal Planet is supposed to be a serious documentary or tongue in cheek? I watched one episode out of sheer boredom and wow, the leaps in logic made by the ‘foot hunters is just as great as religious believers. So much so that I found myself questioning whether the show is intended to be taken seriously. Having seen previews for the next season, I see more ridiculous claims that “no human could make that sound” or “only a Bigfoot could have made this track”. I wonder if there is a disclaimer at the end of the show saying “this television program is completely fictional. If you actually believe that any of the material presented is truthful and supportive of the existence of the fictional creature known as Bigfoot, you should seek immediate psychological attention”)
David Hart
December 24, 2011 at 6:35 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Nah, that’s easy to beat. Here, let me have a go.
Bigfoot was Jesus, who is an extraterrestrial (and who is just crawling with thetans and crystal energy).
Traveler
December 25, 2011 at 8:33 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
And he came to give us the secrets of acupuncture.
John K.
December 20, 2011 at 9:24 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Oh noes! We are undone!
This also proves the Men In Black movies were documentaries! Now what are we going to do?!
Longjocks
December 20, 2011 at 9:51 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I think someone needs to show this person that dreams/reality picture from Father Ted.
http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lrv7kdGy8S1r08eqio1_500.jpg
colubridae
December 20, 2011 at 10:26 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
ariel? did he mean ‘areal’ as in ‘not real’
sumdum
December 21, 2011 at 4:25 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I think he means aerial, like airborne.
jacobfromlost
December 20, 2011 at 11:25 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
It’s not a coincidence that Christian apologists rarely drag out Ezekiel in defense of their claims. I used it once when debating a theist by simply asking him what the text LITERALLY means, what was happening LITERALLY beat by beat in that narrative. Not surprisingly, they don’t know. I’ve never met a Christian who did know, or was much interested in finding out (but they believe, uh, whatever it is that is happening, in every word! lol).
A professor I had in college, who as a bible thumping Calvinist, freely admitted he had no idea what was going on in Ezekiel. He didn’t think it was a big deal that he didn’t.
maxamillion
December 21, 2011 at 9:03 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
If they weren’t anally probed, then it didn’t happen.
F
December 21, 2011 at 11:31 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
colubridae
That’s hilarious.
But if it was a serious question, he meant “aerial”.
unbound
December 21, 2011 at 12:32 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Wouldn’t a UFO encounter make him a scientologist instead of a xtian?
ParticleMan
December 21, 2011 at 5:40 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
This guy needs to lighten up on the crack pipe.
Aquaria
December 21, 2011 at 7:36 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
So that everyone knows the reference to Ezekiel being bandied about here:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel+1&version=KJV
Somehow, the loonies always forget the first verse:
This is how Ezekiel starts, by telling people outright: I’ve suffered a delusion. Obviously, schizophrenia wasn’t understood at all in that time.
Fun note: The fourth month in the Jewish Calendar is known as Tammuz. I always get a laugh at that.
Nume
December 21, 2011 at 8:37 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
so some aliens have the knowledge to come to earth,and when they try to stop a car they fail twice.
DrewN
December 21, 2011 at 10:03 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Verily he hast seen the Cosmic Teapot! Verily!
JT (Generic)
December 21, 2011 at 10:09 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
So when do I start speaking in tongues?
Which Way Is Up?
December 22, 2011 at 4:13 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
That just makes me sad.
Dude
December 22, 2011 at 4:37 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I believe its called a bad trip… It happens when a person consumes an hallucinogen and enters a so called “bad trip”…
dougal445
December 23, 2011 at 1:13 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
do i need to point out the dangers of drink / drug driving?
Strategically Shaved Monkey
December 23, 2011 at 7:17 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I don’t know about you, but i’d take this as a sign.
A sign that the traffic lights are working and it being a foggy night maybe i really should stop.
Greg
December 23, 2011 at 7:38 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Marijuana doesn’t make you see wheels in the sky no matter how hard you try.
Reginald Selkirk
December 23, 2011 at 7:53 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Quintus: People should know when they are conquered.
.
Maximus: Would you, Quintus? Would I?
Godlesspanther
December 24, 2011 at 4:50 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
This is interesting. Heaven’s Gate is one of several UFO cults that consider The Bible to be a sacred text and revealing of a higher truth.
The Bible, containing so much vague ambiguous text can be a great tool for paradolia. UFOs in the Bible — of course, that and whatever else you want to read into it.
sc_2fb74a052780cff3f0a13ade2cd261fa
December 24, 2011 at 5:20 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Reading this reminds of the first time I read Dhalgren, WTF!!!!
marlorocci
December 25, 2011 at 6:13 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
That must have been some good acid, man.
Herk
December 26, 2011 at 2:06 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Space aliens. Ha! I don’t believe in ‘em.
No, it’s obvious these came from inside the earth, and you can only enter and leave at the north pole. Now where did I leave that tinfoil hat?
Obscure Tenet
December 26, 2011 at 3:15 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I think some joker back in the day, who did not believe the bullshit slipped one past the editor. He was thinking “man, the future people are gonna freak out when they read this one”.
Foster Disbelief
December 27, 2011 at 3:56 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
HA! Take that, atheists! Q.E. Mutha f’n D!
Mike Haynes
December 29, 2011 at 7:41 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
“I have always be willing to talk about ti and would even take a lie detector test to prove what happened is the truth.”
Ya got me! I’m sold! Sign me up with Fox Mulder!
pentatomid
December 29, 2011 at 8:08 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Hmm… Pretty good stuff, but not as good as this little beauty though: it seems Jesus has a borg cube ship:
http://io9.com/5864585/awesome-new-ufo-theory-approaching-comet-is-really-a-borg-cube-from-jesus
Brian Hearst
December 30, 2011 at 6:14 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
So THAT’S where my RC hovercraft model went! Lost it in the fog over Greenland. Never did clear up the ‘smoke rings from the exhaust’ problem.
Orlando
December 31, 2011 at 6:11 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
This would fall under the well-known “anal probe, therefore god” argument. Fail.
darkstar
February 12, 2012 at 12:13 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[please read to the end before jumping to conclusions about what I'm saying; I realize this might come across the wrong way on a first read]
I think that the response here to this guy is entirely unhelpful to him or (possibly more importantly) to future readers who might be looking for answers about their own personal experiences.
First, we need to acknowledge that, as a simple matter of fact, people DO have spontaneous ecstatic or hallucinatory experiences (what those experiences mean is an entirely different question). By some estimates ~10% of the population has at least one occurrence of such an event during their lifetime.
Sometimes it’s from stroke, stress, illness, injury, autohypnosis, meditation, dancing, drumming, chanting, or just plain-old brain chemistry gone awry (or possibly ‘right’ in the case of psychoactives).
Shamanistic cultures have thousands of years of reports of interacting with other ‘beings’. People used to report interacting with and even having relationships with Faeries. Now it is predominately reported as ‘alien abductions’. But there are common themes running through all of these such as feelings of being immobilized, presence of other beings, sense of sexual or reproductive manipulation, experiences of having a child in the ‘other’ realm, or just generally being probed, studied, or sampled (etc).
I have had similar experiences myself from meditation. Some of the experiences are incredibly realistic. But I KNOW that they are only in my mind. They are wonderful illusions, powerful, emotional, and meaningful to me. But illusions nonetheless.
What we need to be doing is helping this guy understand that his experience is fairly common because it has an entirely mundane neurological explanation. He’s not crazy or demented, just uninformed. He’s had an experience that he cannot explain, it can be very confusing – hopefully this post takes a few steps towards explaining it and demystifying it (but I know from experience that is unlikely – but maybe some reader will find it helpful).
The brain is perfectly capable of synthesizing entire ‘alien’ words in the sense of dreams, but it can do this while you are awake as well. Just because your brain says you are experiencing something does not mean that it is actually happening in reality.
There isn’t enough detail in the email to really comment on specifics. But the fact that it is reported as ‘shared experience’, in no way, makes the reality of the event any less illusory. People often cue off of others both verbally and non-verbally. “Psychics” exploit this all the time. They mention something and you respond, they talk real fast and distract you, and then pretend like they reveal some information that you JUST told them but you’ve already forgotten that you said anything. And despite the 50 things they got wrong, you’ll pick that one thing as evidence that they are truly psychic (Confirmation Bias combined with statistical in-expertness).
When you think of someone having a personal experience here is what you should envision: Double Rainbow. Your ‘amazing experience’ is no different from Hungrybear9562′s.
It can be profoundly moving to you because your brain is what is assigning the meaning and significance but there is no external reality to what you are experiencing.