King's Business - 1965-10

^ ^ ^ © » S e N N S Q \ r V c - e ^ V s C iV s Science and the Bible by Bolton Davidheiser Chairman, Science Division Biola College EXTRA SENSORY PERCEPTION (Continued from last month)

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the supposed ability of some people to foretell with an accuracy signifi­ cantly better than chance the ar­ rangement of unseen symbols as much as ten days before the sym­ bols are arranged. He says that in time of war in an area likely to be bombed, chemically treated cards should be set up which would devel­ op prearranged symbols only under conditions of bombing. People who have ability in ESP would send in daily reports of their mental im­ pressions of the arrangement of the figures. About ten days before a bombing occurs in this area, the in­ formation given by these people should change from random guesses to an arrangement which is correct to a degree significantly better than guessing. When this occurs, the area should be promptly evacuated, to save lives and valuables. But Dr. Price seems to have over­ looked some things. This is based not only upon the assumption that some people have this ability in ESP, but also upon their being able to make their significant report only because of a real bombing occurring in that area and developing the fig­ ures on the cards. But what if, when the enemy received a report of the evacuation, it decided not to bomb there after all? What if the evacua­ tion occurred before the decision was made to bomb, and because of the evacuation the decision never was made? Or suppose that while the area was being evacuated, some­ one got the idea that there was no point in wasting the still undevel­ oped cards and that it would be a good idea to take them along and use them somewhere else? In each of these three possible cases the cards would not develop their symbols, although it was only because they were going to develop them that the scheme was considered practical. This is rather confusing. Studies in ESP may appear in­ teresting and even fascinating, but Christians should let such activities alone, for they can be spiritually dangerous. (Concluded next month)

M o st s c ie n t is t s will not accept extra sensory perception as a real phenomenon because it defies explanation by any known scientific principle. It is for the same reason that they will not accept miracles as having happened. Some have gone so far as to say that if mathematics shows that ESP is a fact, then mathematics should be questioned rather than ESP accepted. In a lengthy article in Science some years ago, Dr. George R. Price eliminated the various arguments against the truth of ESP until there was just one left—deliberate fraud on the part of those doing the re­ search. He is a strong disbeliever in ESP, and he thinks that in spite of refinements in the experiments, the possibility of fraud has not been eliminated. He says that if he were trying to duplicate the results ob­ tained by other workers, he would seek some confederates. The more confederates he had, the easier it would be to produce the deception; but also the greater the number of confederates, the greater would be the risk of the deception becoming known. He would therefore select four. He says, “ In recruiting I would appeal not to desire for fame or material gain but to the noblest of motives, arguing that much good to humanity could result from a small deception designed to strength­ en religious belief.” (He is not really interested in religion and be­ trays his opinion of it by suggesting this method of obtaining confeder­ ates in deception.) Researchers in ESP point out that the number of people working with them is many times the four Dr. Price 'thinks maximum for se­ curity, and they say that if they re­ sorted to the deception he suggests, it would have become a scandal long ago. They believe he has done them a service in narrowing the criti­ cisms of their work to deliberate fraud, for they feel this is a ridicu­ lous criticism. Although Dr. Price does not be­ lieve in ESP, he suggests a practi­ cal application which he believes would work if claims made by some workers are true. It is based upon

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THE KING 'S BUSINESS

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