considerations regarding claims of apparitions at medjugorje
Some of the most interesting footage of the supposed visionaries at Medjugorje was filmed by French Canadian professor Louis Belanger in the 1980's.
This footage is available on Youtube and has been mentioned previously on this blog.
The footage is intended to refute the possibility that the visions are real.
My assessment is as follows.
1. The footage shows a man in front of the visionaries suddenly jabbing his finger towards the teenage visionary Vicka's eye.
2. Louis Belanger claims he did not know that this still unidentified man was about to stab his finger into Vicka's eye.
3. Louis Belanger claims that he did not arrange with the unidentified man to stab his finger into Vicka's eye in order to test the reality of Vicka's visionary experience.
4. I do not believe Louis Belanger's claims in this regard. I believe Louis Belanger arranged this test and was a party to it. I do not believe it is credible for Louis Belanger to suggest that he just happened to film the event and to capture this footage.
5. Louis Belanger's narrator on the Youtube segment Carol Vorderman claims that the appearance of a momentary flinch by Vicka when a finger is stabbed towards her eye invalidates the possibility of a genuine quality to her visions.
6. I believe the narration being read by Carol Vorderman is not scientifically correct. I assert that there is no scientific basis to the claim by Louis Belanger, as read by Carol Vorderman, that a visionary who flinches from a finger being jabbed into her eye, is not having a vision.
7. Louis Belanger claims that he himself did not see the stabbing motion of the unidentified man's finger towards Vicka's eye nor the slight flinching movement from Vicka herself, until he reviewed his film. If the stabbing motion of the man's finger was not visible to Louis Belanger who was filming it, we must ask ourselves is it reasonable to suggest it was visible to Vicka? If it wasn't why did her body momentarily flinch? The additional question has to be asked: Did Louis Belanger's accomplice actually stab Vicka in the eye with his finger? I mean, did he actually make contact with her eye? If he did, the notion that her flinching refutes the genuineness of her claims of apparitions, becomes even more tenuous. Louis Belanger's film does not provide a clear indication whether the finger contacted her eye or not.
8. After the apparition Louis Belanger continued to film in the apparition room. He claims he did not realise his camera was switched on.
9. I do not believe Louis Belanger's claim that he didn't realise his camera was switched on in the apparition room at this point.
10. Louis Belanger also continued filming when Vicka entered the room again and another individual asserted to Vicka that her vision was false because people had seen her flinch.
11. Louis Belanger claims he was unaware that his camera was switched on as he filmed this attempt to entrap the teenage Vicka.
12. I do not believe Louis Belanger's claim that he was unaware his camera was switched on as he filmed this attempt to entrap Vicka.
13. We are told in Louis Belanger's Youtube extract the Vicka answered this attempt at entrapment by saying she had moved suddently because the Blessed Mother in her vision appeared to nearly drop the baby Jesus.
14. I do not accept that Louis Belanger's accomplice was correct in asserting to Vicka that any movement by her when a finger was stabbed towards her eye, invalidated her visions.
15. I do not accept that Louis Belanger's accomplice was correct in stating to Vicka that witnesses to the apparition were upset because the film showed her flinching. The questions put to Vicka were leading questions based on false premises. Any lack of credibility in her answers as translated by Louis Belanger and his team must be balanced against this fact. The film doesn't in fact show anything very clearly. Any flinch appears to have taken place in a micro second, ie in less time than a person could consciously control or repress the activity. Is that a flinch?
16. Louis Belanger's 1980's footage remains the best footage of the supposed visionaries from that period.
17. I do not think it shows what he says it shows.
This footage is available on Youtube and has been mentioned previously on this blog.
The footage is intended to refute the possibility that the visions are real.
My assessment is as follows.
1. The footage shows a man in front of the visionaries suddenly jabbing his finger towards the teenage visionary Vicka's eye.
2. Louis Belanger claims he did not know that this still unidentified man was about to stab his finger into Vicka's eye.
3. Louis Belanger claims that he did not arrange with the unidentified man to stab his finger into Vicka's eye in order to test the reality of Vicka's visionary experience.
4. I do not believe Louis Belanger's claims in this regard. I believe Louis Belanger arranged this test and was a party to it. I do not believe it is credible for Louis Belanger to suggest that he just happened to film the event and to capture this footage.
5. Louis Belanger's narrator on the Youtube segment Carol Vorderman claims that the appearance of a momentary flinch by Vicka when a finger is stabbed towards her eye invalidates the possibility of a genuine quality to her visions.
6. I believe the narration being read by Carol Vorderman is not scientifically correct. I assert that there is no scientific basis to the claim by Louis Belanger, as read by Carol Vorderman, that a visionary who flinches from a finger being jabbed into her eye, is not having a vision.
7. Louis Belanger claims that he himself did not see the stabbing motion of the unidentified man's finger towards Vicka's eye nor the slight flinching movement from Vicka herself, until he reviewed his film. If the stabbing motion of the man's finger was not visible to Louis Belanger who was filming it, we must ask ourselves is it reasonable to suggest it was visible to Vicka? If it wasn't why did her body momentarily flinch? The additional question has to be asked: Did Louis Belanger's accomplice actually stab Vicka in the eye with his finger? I mean, did he actually make contact with her eye? If he did, the notion that her flinching refutes the genuineness of her claims of apparitions, becomes even more tenuous. Louis Belanger's film does not provide a clear indication whether the finger contacted her eye or not.
8. After the apparition Louis Belanger continued to film in the apparition room. He claims he did not realise his camera was switched on.
9. I do not believe Louis Belanger's claim that he didn't realise his camera was switched on in the apparition room at this point.
10. Louis Belanger also continued filming when Vicka entered the room again and another individual asserted to Vicka that her vision was false because people had seen her flinch.
11. Louis Belanger claims he was unaware that his camera was switched on as he filmed this attempt to entrap the teenage Vicka.
12. I do not believe Louis Belanger's claim that he was unaware his camera was switched on as he filmed this attempt to entrap Vicka.
13. We are told in Louis Belanger's Youtube extract the Vicka answered this attempt at entrapment by saying she had moved suddently because the Blessed Mother in her vision appeared to nearly drop the baby Jesus.
14. I do not accept that Louis Belanger's accomplice was correct in asserting to Vicka that any movement by her when a finger was stabbed towards her eye, invalidated her visions.
15. I do not accept that Louis Belanger's accomplice was correct in stating to Vicka that witnesses to the apparition were upset because the film showed her flinching. The questions put to Vicka were leading questions based on false premises. Any lack of credibility in her answers as translated by Louis Belanger and his team must be balanced against this fact. The film doesn't in fact show anything very clearly. Any flinch appears to have taken place in a micro second, ie in less time than a person could consciously control or repress the activity. Is that a flinch?
16. Louis Belanger's 1980's footage remains the best footage of the supposed visionaries from that period.
17. I do not think it shows what he says it shows.
posted by heelers | 6:34 PM
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