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#CharlieCharlieChallenge – Why isn’t anyone asking followup questions?

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by Joshua Hull – Manager of Internet Platforms at Ave Maria Radio

If you haven’t seen the Charlie Charlie Challenge on your Facebook or Twitter feeds yet, allow me to fill you in. The Charlie Charlie Challenge is a divination challenge where you use a piece of paper with a yes/no grid on it and two pencils laid along the axis of the grid to ask a Mexican demon named Charlie questions. You initiate dialog with Demon Charlie by asking “Charlie, Charlie are you here?” If the top pencil rotates to yes, Charlie is present and you may ask him questions.

There are many things that point to this being bogus. Let’s talk about a few of them.

1. The pencils are balanced one on top of the other, perpendicularly. With a set up like this there is very little friction between the two pencils. A nudge of the table, a breath, a ceiling fan or even if the pencils aren’t perfectly balanced means the top pencil will move. This is way to easy for a supposedly divine power! Why does there have to be two pencils? Why can’t we just lay down one pencil flat on the table? Is Charlie that weak?

2. No one asks follow up questions. Once Demon Charlie answers in the affirmative you are supposed to be able to ask follow up questions, but in every video I’ve seen, no one asks a follow up question! If there are people asking a second question they aren’t uploading their videos. Why is this? One can surmise it is because the pencils aren’t moving a second time. The first and only movement of the top pencil balances the pencils out and they are not going to move again. This makes for a boring video that won’t get you many retweets. Or maybe Charlie just doesn’t like your questions.

3. Has anyone ever heard of a Mexican demon with the name Charlie?

Now, just because this trend is absolutely bogus and ridiculous does not mean there isn’t anything wrong with trying it.  The Catechism warns against engaging in anything related to divination:

2116 All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to “unveil” the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.

By setting up this challenge and asking Charlie if he’s around you are opening yourself up to demonic activity. Satan isn’t picky with how you invite him in. He doesn’t even care if you call him Charlie, just as long as the intent is there. Also, if Satan or Charlie don’t take your invite, you’re filming yourself talking to a couple of pencils. So you lose either way. In the end, this is a silly social media trend that acts as an excuse to get some attention and have a chance at being “Twitter famous”. Please, for everyone’s sake, put the pencils and your iPhone down and walk slowly away.

Parting thoughts. If you ask “Charlie, Charlie are you here?” and the pencil rotates to no, is that Demon Charlie’s roommate Steve?

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