Monday, December 03, 2007

The Miracle Detective - Randall Sullivan

I took this book from the library because it claimed that both believers and non believers will like this book. That its an objective book. And for the most part, it is. But the title is misleading , it should be The Miracle observer. The story is enthralling and for a curious non believer , it's quite difficult to explain away (assuming ofcourse the phenomena are accurately and honestly described).
The book deals with apparitions of Mother Mary in Medjugorje where Mother Mary makes a series of appearances to six children. A fascinating tale of how the people, the priests, the church react. And in some places , the author loses his objectivity, as he gets involved with the incidents.
The politics within the various factions in christianity are also referred to. As well as the fact that its not just the skeptics who would question the apparitions but also the devout (why would Mother mary show herself in the mountains and not in church?). The church ofcourse cannot say the apparitions are authentic (as it would lose credibility if proved false later) nor can it outright say the apparitions are false.
Reading this book , it was curious that all the people who didnt believe and then saw something that made them change their mind were all christians as some point or the other. Or to put it another way if I saw an apparition Im not likely to directly go for Mother Mary, but all the seers here seem to know it without the apparition telling them that it is so. And while some of the *facts* are such that science has no explanation, its curious that all the tests conducted are things like measuring brain waves or pricking the seers with pins. I would have thought that an easy test would be to ask questions which the seers wouldnt know the answers to, or is not common knowledge (i.e. things that you wont get to see in the bible) e.g. ask the apparition to speak in aramaic or ask questions based on the era christ lived in that is not common knowledge. It's easier to ask questions like which religion is right and get answers of the form there are no differences before God. Having said that , there is no evidence that would make a skeptic believe and there is no evidence that would make the believer disbelieve. Some incidents are red flags though. There is the story of Mother mary telling the seer's secrets , some of which pertain to *bad things* that will happen. And supposedly some bad thing didnt because enough people prayed. Full proof predictions is it not? I can do that. There shall be a great war unless you heed my words! and later if there is - see i told you so and if there isnt - thank god some of youll heeded my words and averted this!
Nonetheless the book is an interesting read.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

if you look closer randall sullivan is an anti-semitic and very bias reporter. He seems more full of himself than being a detective.