Spectral evidence was used in court during the Salem witch trials. If someone (which they did) testified that they saw the shape of a person in their room at night in a dream, it was as good as them actually being there. The council then determined that the shape of a person was the same as a person, even though they had alibis and were miles away. Also, if one had a dream with a black cat or a wolf, that too could be used as evidence against the persons spirit proving they had connections to witchcraft based solely on an accusation. This is still the mindset we are up against.
Believing you saw something that might be a vision, might be historical, might be god, might be true, can be shared with others and accounts as hard evidence to Christians everywhere. It doesn’t matter that it can be explained neurologically, or that it can be explained naturally as a bump in a road, or that it can be debunked with updated methods or knowledge, to superstitious believers of gods that is irrelevant.
TheCommonAtheist 
Like praying that God sends you a sign that will help fix your life, you open your eyes and see the clock. The clock shows that it’s 12:34 at night… That’s a sign!
Then with the excitement in full tilt you manage to shake a BM that you’ve been hoping would happen soon. Is it the lords doing? Must be!
When socially established fear is precedent or experienced all measures are taken to forbid and eradicate it… there’s always forgiveness.
And, when experience of coincidental greatness arrives it must be celebrated and praised!
On which side does the monster lie?
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For a time back in the 60s and 70s I thought there was hope for the human race to go down a more rational path. But the resurgence in belief in the supernatural quickly shut down that belief. We ran an informal experiment when I was in college back in the 70s. It was more to prove a point to a “true believer” of fortune tellers and demonstrate how things like cold reading and basic research can fool people. I was pretty good at it and got better with practice as it proceeded. What was disturbing was that when we wrapped it up and told our unwitting test subjects what was going on, an astonishing number of them really believed I had some kind of psychic ability even after we exposed everything we were doing to trick them. They claimed I was unwittingly psychic all along. Some even got angry with me when I insisted it was all a trick, claiming I was lying to them for some reason.
What it boils down to is I am not at all surprised that the “testimony” described was accepted as truth, even when confronted with evidence to disprove it. Most of the “true believers” I know seem to have this desperate need to attribute supernatural causes to even mundane phenomena that overrides all logic, and I don’t think that’s ever going to change, alas.
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Jeez. The overriding desire in your explanation is scary. I have been tricked similarly and I was angry and determined to believe nothing without verification. Thanks for the great comment.
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With some people a belief in superstitions like, oh, astrology or Tarot card reading (which was what I was doing) can be dealt with through education, showing them the tricks that are used and how they’ve been fooled. But there are some who will not only continue to believe but who will even become antagonistic if this is pointed out to them. A long, long time ago I was a web designer for a small group that debunked things like crop circles, UFOs, ghosts, etc. It was astonishing at how a few would become so wrapped up in their belief that not even hard evidence could sway them. To a significant number of the true believers, none of that mattered. They either accused us of flat out lying for some reason, claimed our evidence was fake, that we were part of some kind of massive conspiracy of silence about it.
This kind of thing seems to be common with religious belief. Even if they are confronted with absolute proof of how they are being taken advantage of, they will refuse to admit it. Just look at Jim Baker, the TV evangelist. Even after defrauding people of millions of dollars, being caught at it, and going to federal prison for years, he’s back and on the air and doing it all over again despite the fact he’s a convicted criminal.
I think this kind of True Believer mentality is what’s behind a lot of the conspiracy nonsense that’s going on in politics. Things like “Pizza Gate”, Obama’s birth certificate, etc. are part of the same mental phenomena that causes this blind belief in superstition. The same symptoms are exhibited; refusal to accept evidence contrary to their belief, the development of bizarre conspiracy theories to try to explain the evidence, or just an outright refusal to even listen to a contrary point of view.
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Shouldn’t modern faith-followers and Christian apologists be allowing Spectral testimony of “silhouette” witnesses in courts today, since OF COURSE Supernatural events exist today like they did 2,000+ years ago via God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit? WHY are these exhibits of evidence not allowed in modern courts!? đŸ˜‰
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Well we’ll have to work on that. House Bill # ID10t will be on the Mississippi house floor in a week.
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Hahahaha! You know, I think I’d probably believe you there — since I was in MS for 16-years. LOL đŸ˜›
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I see the image on Donald Trump on my wall every time I eat an orange. My assumption is Satan if effing with me cause of my atheism.
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I don’t think Satan is evil enough to subject you to such a repulsive image on a regular basis. And he usually prefers to show something tempting. It must be God doing it.
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I had a dream last night that the Pope was a witch — well, at least I say I had that dream, and nobody can prove I didn’t. Shouldn’t he be executed just to be on the safe side?
At least such “evidence” isn’t accepted in trials any more — which is progress — but the basis of religious belief is just as flimsy.
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Well many of Paul’s account of what the lord told him were through dreams. And the christians take this to be real is not surprising then that you use a dream to punish someone you have already concluded is guilty
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