Hi IS MISE...

Yes indeed the three secrets. I 'think' it was young Lucia (I stand to be corrected) who had been given the secrets? Apparently she lived in seclusion, until her late eighties in a cloistered Catholic Convent at the edge of the holy area in the town of Fatima ? Apparently her two siblings died very early on, in their teens (or maybe younger), as was prophesied by ('Our Lady') during one of her appearances at that time c. 1913 ?

I'm sorry, maybe it was 'Marie' not 'Lucia' who survived to old age. Nevertheless legends abound as to what those three secrets contain. Nobody other than the Pope knows what they are, but he won't reveal them to the world ? There are two main streams of opinions as to what they are?

(i) The first, was an utter refutation or invalidation of much of the important doctrines that are taught and observed in Roman Catholicism;

(ii) The other, the complete annihilation of mankind, as a result of Nuclear Holocaust that will radiate from the Middle East.

I was there shortly after my discharge from the Military in 1969 so my memory's not that good.

Is Mise,

What I meant is that despite being taught to think for yourself and question everything, you apparently weren’t taught HOW TO think for yourself or question everything. I’m not sure how I could have said that much clearer.

Anyone who plods their way through life determining what they will and will not believe based on the Argument from Ignorance fallacy, and whose method of inquiry is to fallaciously shift the burden of proof by expecting others to prove negatives, hasn’t a clue how to ‘think for themselves’ or ‘question everything’ in a way that is ever going to produce reliable results. In most cases you will be wrong, and anytime you are right, you will only ever have been so by pure fluke.

Now, about those amputees…

Would I take up Spiritism?

No. I have my beliefs.
I'm not looking for new ones.
Yet many people apparently are as reflected in
the extraordinary range of contemporary faiths -
from long-established denominations to ephemeral cults, from
groups that demand self-denial to those that offer
self-indulgence, from those that search for a way back to
those that offer a way out. This variety is hardly
surprising, it arises out of a wide range of lifestyles
and wants. Many people use religion as a means forward
toward self-fulfillment and the establishment of their
identities. People seem to be increasingly apt to pick
and choose among religious organiosations rather like
customers looking for a particular product that best suits
their own needs.

Those who want mystical transcendence may join one group,
those who want strict, unambiguous guidelines for
behaviour may choose another. Many of the new religions
don't appeal, to the economically deprived, Scientology
comes to mind, Spiritism may cater to the psychologically
deprived - to people looking for meaning they cannot find
elsewhere.

I guess only time will tell whether some of these religions
like others before them will grow into denominations of
the future - or whether they will totally disappear.
Spiritism though appears to have been around for quite some time.

Toni,

<<Good grief... a computer fails to read a file properly and hallelujah, it's a frigging miracle. Spare me.>>

Firstly you fail to recognise how I was feeling and the views I had, being a teenager. These can be totally different to that of an adult. Yes the feelings were real and... "Immediately, I went into a stress mode, with my face very moist and in complete shock. It was unbelievable, and a feeling I would normally see in a cartoon, not part of reality."

Also on top of this was the fact of not having an assignment finished on time and the teacher not happy that I was failing the subject in question.

So when the computer file did not open and also being at a Christian school, I have felt there was an element of a miracle to it, simply because the teacher in question, could not accuse me of something (at all, as they had nothing they could use as evidence to prove any claim). I was at the same time offered relief and some basic protection from further pressure or claims.

The teacher had to walk away having no evidence to back up any claims or thoughts they may have had or any aims to get details re myself failing further in the subject in question.

Finally, I have never had a computer file not open since this incident, so it was very rare in that context.

o sung wu,

The sesrets have been long revealed, they're on Google.

Aj,

"That is a fallacious shifting of the burden of proof. It is not up to me to disprove those claims.
[no one asked you to do so]
It is up to those making them to provide evidence for them.
[this they do, to the best of their ability, by subjecting such claims to rigorous examination by medical experts]
Such a confused expectation, that others do the impossible by proving a negative, is only held by those who want to protect a cherished belief.
[I didn't ask for a negative to be proved, only that you give a reference to some reliable refutation]
It is not an expectation held by any rational, thinking person.
[yes it is, surely when a claim is made then someone can examine the evidence and disprove the claim, especially if a group of medicos claims that they cannot explain a cure then others versed in the science of medicine could come forward and disprove them.]

So far it seems that none of the miraculous claims have been disproved.

The opinions of doctors are often challenged in our courts, why cannot the opinions of the 40 or so medical people who make up the committee on claimed Lourdes cures be challenged?

Reliably challenged that is, see:
https://www.google.com.au/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1CAFB_enAU718AU718&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=lourdes+miracles+debunked

AJ,

I was having a gentle dig,
the sentence "Apparently you weren’t(?)* how to do any of that, though. So it was all for nothing." is meaningless

* taught or perhaps encouraged, allowed, expected.

"Anyone who plods their way through life determining what they will and will not believe based on the Argument from Ignorance fallacy....

Now, about those amputees"

Hoist on thine own petard?