The important historical events that Christianity is based upon are so well extablished, not just from the New Testament record, but also from extra-biblical sources that as far as historical accuracy goes they are practically beyond dispute.

So, what is Derren saying? Is he saying that if what is recorded as happening in the New Testament really happened then that is the reason WHY he has a problem with God? That he has a problem with God becoming man and willingly taking on the sin of the entire world so that all who put their trust in His saving work can be saved? Or does he have some other problem that he is not secure enough in the strength of his criticism to reveal.

He says something completely false when he claims “my belief was just as prone to circular logic and self fulfillment as all the new-age nonsense which bugged me.”

This statement is nonsense! Precisely because the Christian faith is based upon concrete historical events where God explicitly reveals Himself to men. New Age belief is not based on ANY historical events where God reveals Himself to man.

Derren should actually defend his criticism of the Christian faith if he is going to make such genericly negative and dubious claims on his show.

1 button = X grams.

Explains why with a quick glance he guessed close the first time but not exact – scale had not settled.

Her guessed more correctly/corrected himself when the platter was placed on a flat surface.

NLP – yeah right. Listen, this stuff will NOT teach any of Derren Brown’s secrets. Derren Brown is a magician -a very good one mind, but still- and if you really want to know his secrets: know that most of his stuff is magic presented in a way which trys to give the viewer/spectator a feeling of realness. Read the following article; i don’t agree with writers argument, but it will give you a better idea . May i also suggest Derren’s book entitled ‘Absolute Magic’.(It does not contain any tricks and is really aimed at magicians, but it will give the intrigued lay man an understanding of how and why he chooses to present and preform his magic.)

My concern is that the skeptic is so narrow minded and irrational. Derren Brown admits to certain ‘intangibles’ in his methods. His cold readings are a process of
‘Getting into the subjects mind’. He says that with practise it becomes intuitive!
What process is he describing…something explained by ‘hard’ science?? No not at all. But something explained by ESP? Yes very likely, yet he may not admit this whereas some magicians do. Truth is hard to find, but being irrational and predjudiced is one way of acertaining that you live in a world or falsehood.

Comment by Nigel — 6/5/2005 @ 9:47 pm

Cold reading is not a psychic ability.
see:Cold Reading

Skepticism is not a very fruitful or clear conduct of thought or questioning.
It is simply as irrational toward open minded logical thinking as that of a blue eyed believer.
Debunking that which does not confirm their own set of ideas and only accepting those which do cater to the pseudo-intellectual ego of the thought-conduct.
Critical mindedness, inquisitive and investigative thought-conduct is however the balanced tool of the mind.
It continues to investigate and question both within and without, not waiting simply for one result to satisfy the ego but keeping this inquisitiveness as a striving, a mark of character. Skepticism does not, it leads the person into a highly satisfied experience of being right and the rest wrong or at best very doubtful.

To spot a “blue eyed believer” is not that difficult, still to spot and understand what a skeptic is about, is considered not as interesting for some reasons. Below here is a link eminently describing how the thought-conduct of a skeptical mind works

The Art of Debunkery
http://members.aol.com/ddrasin/zen.html

“I shall not commit the fashionable stupidity of
regarding everything I cannot explain as a fraud.”
– Carl Jung

Comment by Hans — 31/1/2005 @ 11:56 am “>

Daniel Drasin is attempting to debunk debunking, what an absurd pursuit.

Hints:
Science is work, like carpentry. It’s not sophistry.
Psychic’s do not read minds, fortunes etc. The very nature of the term Psychic precludes a real world method. In other words the possiblity of “Magic” aside from what an entertainer does is… bullshit.

Article from The Gurdian 2003

The publicity material described him as either brave or foolhardy. But Derren Brown, the illusionist who claimed he was playing Russian roulette on television using a live bullet, was revealed yesterday to be neither.
Brown’s controversial stunt backfired when police on Jersey, where it was filmed, said he had used blank ammunition.

The illusionist, dubbed Britain’s answer to David Blaine, had boasted he was risking his life. In fact it was an elaborate hoax.

Article continues

Comment by Rob James — 1/9/2005 @ 12:08 pm

Elaborate hoax? When David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear, no one cried, “Hoax!”. Why? Because it’s inappropriate. Copperfield is a magician. We all know it’s not real. Even if Copperfield said, “And now I’m going to make The Statue of Liberty vanish into thin air.” Darren Brown is a
magician/mentalist/hypnotist. How he presents his material is often times not how the ends are achieved, ie exactly like Copperfield.