In the spirit of Halloween, read the following article about Superstition. What is the author's main argument and what rhetorical devices does he use to prove his point? Do you agree or disagree with his argument. Explain in depth and give examples and evidence from this text and perhaps an outside resource if needed to qualify or to counter his claims.
Here is some musical inspiration!!!!
Stevie Wonder Baby!
Who knows, maybe you can use the lyrics for evidence!!!!
Isaiah 8:19 gives biblical insight to the issue of Catholics and superstition. He said, "When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?" I agree with Trent Horn in his argument that Catholics need to believe only what is true and not go against the teachings of the church in any way. Many people think that Catholics will believe anything and that is not true. They believe what is taught by the church and all this is documented facts, not made up rituals used to brain wash a community. He uses many examples to help prove his point that paranormal activities cannot be proven as real. He then breaks each example down further to show how each one is abused. He appeals heavily to logos by using real scientific proof along with the teachings of the church. He also uses a concession and refutation at the end to further prove his point. He starts out talking about horoscopes and astrology. Horn explains that horoscopes are based off of astrology, or the position of the stars. Horoscopes never go into detail which is why so many people believe them to be true. Horn gave the example that Bertram Forer many people the same profile and all thought it was true of themselves. This goes to prove how phony they are. By giving vague details, they can apply to anyone. The CCC says that "all forms of divination are to be rejected... they contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone." Believing in these is a sin and they do not work, so they should be avoided at all costs. Next, he talks about mediums. They claim to speak with the the spirits of the dead in order to give information about the future. Again, vague things are said so they could apply to just about anyone. A medium will overlook any facts that they get wrong and focus on what they get right, which is another reason that they are not reliable source. Psychics supposedly are aided by demon spirits and therefore are not just fun entertainment for the day. The church is against necromancy, which is exactly what psychics are doing. Ouija boards are another example of summoning the dead for help. All of these things are sinful and should not be done. As a Catholic, I believe in things known to be true. Jesus walked this earth and taught of many things. He told us that trying to be God is a sin, and all of these forms of paranormal forces put us in the position of trying to be God. So, why do so many people consult the dead on behalf of the living?
ReplyDeleteI liked how you opened up your blog with a biblical insight on Isaiah. I also agreed with you on think that Trent Horn appeals to logos! I also enjoyed how you ended your blog with a question, I think this would kinda leave me guessing and thinking about what you asked! Good work!
DeleteI like how you said that Trent Horn appeals to logos, I employed the same logic in my interpretation. I also like how you said that the author used scientific evidence to back up biblical truths of the Catholic Church.
DeleteYou highlighted on the fact that people claim to speak to spirits and gain information about the future. Just because they claim to be able to do it doesn't mean that they actually can and that it's true. Over all it was a good blog and you covered everyone of his topics. Also good job relating the hoaxes with the catholic faith and beliefs.
DeleteThis is a great reply, particularly because you used outside resources and they so happen to be the "big guns". The bible and the CCC are GREAT ways to garner proof for controversial topics such as this. Nice work Hannah Lenz, nice work!
DeleteThis essay, The Perils of Superstition by Trent Horn, presents many controversial topics explained from a catholic standpoint. The argument concerns the idea that nothing is more powerful than God. A variety of of topics are discussed such as medians, astrology, necromancy, etc. These practices are deemed sinful by the catholic church because they have certain qualities that try to remove God from a person's life. This is not only a bad thing alone, but some of these people may truly believe they do not need god because they can "see into the future." The truth is, no one is more powerful than God, and these practices are false and do not work. The only possibility for the outcome of these practices is the contact with demons which are the work of the devil himself. People who consult these false practices say that the people who perform them are merely harmless entertainers, but these harmless entertainers are only trying to make money and mislead, or scare people. Some people believe that these practices work and spend hundreds of dollars trying to figure out the past or future. Why do this when God is all a person needs. God can provide the answers to these questions through prayer, and he will present these answers with regard to a person's Catholic faith and there is no deception involved. Medians and necromancers' sole purpose is to deceive, and deception is the sole work of Satan. Why would anyone want to consult these people for assistance when they will draw the person away form God and subject them to the evils of deception. This is where another main point Horn's essay comes up. He states that some people think that those who believe in God are extremely gullible because they have faith, and people who do not go to church are not as gullible because they have no faith. He also states that, in reality, people who do not believe in God consult the practices of medians and other acts of deception much more than people who have faith. Who is the more gullible, one who is strong in faith and believes God is the center of everything, or someone who is foolish to enough to want to be deceived by a median believing that the median is actually helping them? This speaks volumes for people of the Catholic faith. It is indeed very important for people of the faith to maintain a good deal of skepticism when facing strange practices, and always know when something related to deception is sinful. It is important that Catholics are never superstitious and always believe in God above all else. The author of this article presents this material in a way that appeals strongly to logos because he uses factual description. He also uses many allusions to the stories of the Bible which back up his argument because the bible is logical. These allusions also allow the piece to appeal to ethos because the Bible is the word of God, and who has more authority than god? Finally, I believe that the information present in this essay backs up the Christian faith well. I agree with the author's views and I believe all the practices he explained that the church deems sinful, are sinful. I simply do not understand why people believe Catholics to be gullible when those who are not faithful seek poorly informed, sinful practices of deception. God wants us to know the truth of everything and never intends to deceive us. I would believe a loving God before I believe some demonic summoning median who intends to deceive me.
ReplyDeleteI found your blog to be informative this week. I liked your second sentence that says "nothing is more powerful than God. I think that I what this was she way all about and you pointed that out right away in the beginning.
DeleteI love how to say that people should pray about what they are going to medians for, I believe this is true as well because God can help us through anything. Also, I think you did a good job tieing your own views into what Horn was saying. Your blog was very well written in my opinion.
DeleteSuperstition is defined by as excessively credulous belief in and reverence for supernatural beings. Superstitions have become away of our life. Through many centuries, it has been incorporated into our everyday works. I agree with the argument that Trent Horn is trying to get across about Catholics needing to believe what is actually true and not what is against the holy teachings of the Catholic Church. I feel that Horn appeals to logos a lot in this essay for example when he talks about the teachings of the church. Horn explains that horoscopes are based off of astrology, or the position of the stars. He also says that astrologers claim that they can give us secret knowledge by consulting the stars, and that mediums claim they can give us secret knowledge by consulting the spirits of human beings who have died. According to our Catholic Church teachings all of this type of stuff is against it. The of the biggest things that I notice around here is ouija boards. A ouija board is a board printed with letters, numbers, and other signs, to which a planchette or movable indicator points, supposedly in answer to questions from people at a seance or in other words it's just another object used for help of summoning the dead. Using any type of object to try to summon the dead is against Gods grace and is very sinful. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states superstition "in some sense represents a perverse excess of religion." "Superstition is a deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer the true God. When one attributes an importance in some way magical to certain practices otherwise lawful or necessary." I believe that everyone just just believe in their own God and not worry about talking to the dead
ReplyDeleteNice job brining the church teaching in when talking about why we really should not be doing these things. Also, your second sentence made me stop and rethink my life.
DeleteYou are right that superstition has become part of our lives. We see this in social media and in many television shows today. These things need to be proved wrong to people and they need to be shown what the correct teachings are. People just need to go to church!
DeleteI enjoy how you tie in ouija boards and how they are more relevant to us than some of the other types of paranormal media. Also, I think your tied in superstition well. I also found that he used a lot of logos in his essay.
DeleteCass, I enjoy how you opened up with the definition of superstition. You also did a great job explaining how we use it is used in daily lives by adding great examples such as the oujia board.
DeleteOuija boards are sinful because they open you up and make you vulnerable to the devil himself. If you engage in using things and people who invite the devil to enter your life, it is very, very dangerous. I think Trent Horn should have been a little more clear about sin and the dangers of sin. Sin is not just something we do to break God's heart, but something we do that breaks our own souls leaving us vulnerable to bad things that will make us sad.
DeleteThe Perils of Superstition by Trent Horn releases the Catholic Church's view toward superstition and outside controversies. Superstition can be described as a belief or and or behavior that is based on fear of the unknown and faith in either magic or luck. It is argued that God is our most useful and great source of power. We have the ability to do anything with the powers of God. The Catholic Church frowns upon the use of any outside practices. Becoming involved in these practices of power will lead to a dreary soul filled with sinful acts and mindsets. The church believes that participating in the actions like so will create burdens in our life, making it difficult to stay in the will of God. This is where it becomes easy for people to fall out of place and into devilish actions. They lose their feelings for our God and go into seeking a series of other beliefs. It may be extremely tempting to aboard what the church teaches us and go experiment with other practices just because it appears more entertaining and efficient. Horn in fact stated that, "Even God’s own house is not safe from superstition and false beliefs that believers must guard against". The temptations are real and it is up to us to choice wether or not we are going to go against God. I believe that Trent really appealed to logos as he persuades the audience of the Catholic Church with great reason and factual information going against superstitions. I agree with Trent Horn's argument as he gave out a strong text based on where Catholics stand with the supernatural and superstitions in this life. I believe a great example of superstition that occurs often today would include summoning demons. It seems to be that people are pretty skeptical and curious with the subject and are willing to get involved in it. Summoning spirits can become dangerous as it is very much against what our faith teaches.
ReplyDeleteI like how you used the fact that when we lose touch with God, we seek for something else to fill the gap where he used to be. Great job when you talked about the facts about what people are looking for when looking into these objects.
DeleteIn the world we live in today, it seems like as soon as October rolls around, there are few decorations for Halloween and as the holiday looms closer and closer, the Christmas decorations come out. But, on the fateful day of October 31, everyone has their scare on. This includes the fun things, like small children looking for a snack, ECC putting on a haunted house, and the Nightmare before Christmas. The thing is, along with these harmless scares, the other side also likes to come out. These include paranormal activity “sightings”, divination, and Ouija boards. These are completely wrong, as none of them have any science behind them. There are several types of divination, including but not limited to mediums, horoscopes and astrology. While some would just look at these things and say that they are harmless fun for those too stupid to know what they are saying is completely bs, it really is not. The Catholic Church clearly states in the catechism that forms of divination “contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone” (CCC 2116). Horoscopes are things that are supposed to tell the future, based on where the stars were places when one was born. This is completely wrong, as if twins were born on the same day, roughly the same time, wouldn’t they be exactly the same? Instead, society more often than not sees twins that are more different than most sets of best friends. Even though there is clear logic showing that there is no such thing as these things, the human race still wants to believe. This is also shown through the practice of mediums, which are known to be able to talk to the spirits who have died already. Even though most of the mediums one sees on TV look like they are real and only tell people the good things, they are completely wrong. There are bad mediums out there as well, often telling people scarring accounts of what happened to their loved ones, like their body is where it is dark with water rushing around it. One might be thinking now, where is the line drawn in between divination and Catholics praying to a saint to gain something? The thing is, some Catholics use divination, but have no idea what they are doing is really bad. Anything superstitious, like doing a certain act in hopes of gaining something, would be considered as something the Catholic Church is against. There is a difference between saying a prayer to Saint Mother Teresa, in hopes of trying to fix their life, and saying a novena in hopes that when one is done, the perfect life will be set out in front of them. In looking back to what he has written about the subject, one would need to look at their life to be able to agree or disagree with what he has said. Personally, I believe him on most of what he is saying. This is because what he said did have bible and catechism references, and let’s be honest, Ouija boards are freaking scary. I am still slightly confused on the difference between divination and catholic teachings. This is a subject that would need lots of work and much more time invested into it than was put into this essay that was read.
ReplyDeleteI like how you established a seasonal feel in the introduction of your blog, it helps the reader enter into the information in a happy way at first. You then gradually move into the arguments of the essay. I believe this was well done.
DeleteIsabeau, I found it very interesting how you actually incorporated the seasons into this blog. You did a great job expressing the points that horn covered. I also liked the way you talked about using prayer to fix mistakes.
DeleteYou really challenge the reader personally at the beginning of the blog and I like that. It puts the reader in rhetorical situation. Really, what about the haunted house. I wonder if Trent Horn celebrates Halloween. Some people do not. My mom's neighbor is anti Halloween. I do know it was originally a pagan holiday and that during the establishment of the Catholic church, they decided to jump on board and throw some holy stuff in, like all souls day and of course All Saints Day. Interesting perspective Isabeau. I like it.
DeleteIn his essay, Trent Horn argues that there is a difference between belief in God and the belief in supernatural activity. He goes over many types of hoaxes and tells what they are. He explains that even though many things may seem harmless, they can really have a deeper meaning. He breaks a lot of different kinds of hoaxes down and provides an example of each one. He gives real life examples of meddiums, legacies, and horoscopes. Some of these things may sound silly or never real but if a person believes that these things actually help you see the future or talk to the dead, you are going against the catholic faith. I agree that none of these practices should be used by good Catholics and people should not believe in them. People either use these things to make money by lying to or tricking people, or to try and call on spirits. Both of these things break Gods commandments. Many people claim to be able to speak to the dead or that God sends them messages. Not only are all of these things lies but they provide a false god for people to believe in. The reason that none of these things are true is that they can all be debunked and proven to be wrong. None of the things that people say that they can do is able to be proven with science. As Horn explains in his text, the Gospel of John says “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free” (John 8:32). This gives prof that if you believe in factual truth that you will be following God. All of these different hoaxes lead people away from God and should not be practiced.
ReplyDeleteI think you had a very good summarization of what this article was talking about. Good job!
DeleteI think you drilled the concept that something that may seem harmless actually has major effects on a person. I think you really explained how believing in things that predict the future is sinful very well.
DeleteIn today's world, religious people are seen by non-religious people as easily deceived, or as people who believe in silly things that cannot and do not exist. Yet, at the same time, non-religious people fall into the belief of evil spirits coming to haunt us or the summoning of the dead. When looking at it from a catholic perspective, this view is sort of ironic. The author of the article "Superstition" uses this irony to prove his point, that psychics and astrology do not exist. In his writing, introduces by bringing up the fact that no one has been able to scientifically prove the existence of supernatural interference with the physical world. He then moves on to bring up several types of beliefs in the supernatural, and he uses the catholic religion, the Bible, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church to disprove these beliefs of non-religious people. In this writing, the author is not really addressing the non- religious people who believe in spirits, he is more addressing the religious people reading this article and proving why these beliefs are wrong. He used lots f factual evidence in his writing to prove his point. I, personally, do agree with his ideas. He is stating that the supernatural is not only make-believe, but that it is wrong to believe in these types of things in the catholic faith. He does not completely disprove the existence of ghosts and spirits, but he reiterates that in the catholic faith, it is wrong to interact with these beings. He states that "All forms of divination are to be rejected," so despite the fact that these things may exist, we are not to believe in them or interact with them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you completely and I am happy that you added the part that people of faith are not easily deceived. We search for explanations that look back to the message of God. I thought you did an exceptional job with that. Good Work!
DeleteI enjoyed how you noted the hints of irony within the text, and I agree. I also agree that he didn't come out and say ghosts and spirits don't exist.
Delete"Hey, you know if you spell orange backwards, it spells gullible." This silly little joke explains, to me, Trent Horn's argument about the Catholic stance on superstition at a minor level. His argument is that such superstition as horoscopes, mediums, urban legends, etc. are lies meant for entertainment purposes and personal financial gain. All of the superstitious acts can be disproven not only through Catholic beliefs, but through science and other methods of reasoning. He also explains that superstitions may seem harmless, but they create sadness in the hearts of those effected by the readings, conjur demonic spirits, and cheat people out of their hard earned money. He frequently used exerts from meeting with mediums as well as words from a horoscopic reading. Trent would then proceed to explain, logically, why these practices do not make sense or are simply an illusion. He did all of this while still supplying a steady sense of unity with the ideas of the Catholic Church, which most likely was the audience to his article. I, as a Catholic, could relate to almost every situation that he illustrated in his writing. I personally agreed with the idea that, yes, superstition is a sin, but how can a little bit of superstition hurt anyone. He really changed my mindset on this topic in his paragraphs under the subtitle, Not a Harmless Fun. In these paragraphs he explains mediums con people out of money at small to large scales, all while causing greater guilt in the person's heart. Even the seamingly harmless Ouija board can be extremely serious and dangerous because it can conjure spirits, and as Trent states, "the spirits who are summoned by the Ouija board may not be the friendly kind. These risks greatly altered my thinking, and I really find his rhetorical strategies to be effective. For Catholic, as people of faith, it is our duty to live our lives in accordance with God's will, not that of a superstition.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your mention of gullibility, because one would almost have to be in order to believe such poorly construed ruses. Good connections to the Catholic faith as well!
DeleteIn the series of short paragraphs having to do with the church versus hoaxes of all origins, the author tries to prove that the greatest distinction between the numerous falsified subjects is that religious people aren't simpletons. Trent offers the reader a multitude of statistical resources, which give a bit of proof to the fact that the church goers are actually less susceptible to supernatural deception than those who aren't religious. He quoted Rodney Stark in stating that only 8% of church goers fall victim to falsehood of the supernatural, as opposed to the 30% OF of people that never attend church. The use of this statistic, as well as other innumerable truths, merely helps to prove Trent's point that the religious do base their beliefs off of logical and viable concepts. Our ministers and other great theologians do not simply immediately believe everything they're told about our history, in fact, they take almost a scientific approach. Theologians search for true answers that actually able to proved or disproved, unlike some phony medium who get by on mere guesswork. Even when using methods of seeking out supernatural devices aren't total malarkey, they're often completely vile and unacceptable to use. Processes such as using Ouija board to speak with the dead or drawing demonic summoning circles to summon spirits is completely morally and spiritually wrong, and in the eyes of the Catholic Church it is completely unacceptable to take part in any form of necromancy. By participating in necromantic activity, the user is clearly stating that they'd rather seek answers out from evil and wicked sources rather than God. Spirits summoned by these methods are almost never of the amiable sort, so it's just plain trivial to even consider conversing or interacting with such tormented beings.
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