All moot questions, because, as we know, Barry is a theist, in belief, if not in declaration.
He just prefers to call it intelligence. Otherwise he has no explanation for the belief in life after death views he's shared, including his own past life experiences. A better question would be how he explains that. I have previously asked him, and he says, as he likes to say about most things. "Doesn't matter. Nothing would change for me" Oooookayyyy. And then, there's the familiar Barry ploy of framing the believer point of view, in a narrow framework that really doesn't reflect the reality of the situation. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <turquoiseb@...> wrote : From: "TurquoiseBee turquoiseb@... [FairfieldLife]" <FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com> To: "FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com" <FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Friday, November 21, 2014 7:01 AM Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: A question for those who believe in God From: "s3raphita@... [FairfieldLife]" <FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com> ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <turquoiseb@...> wrote : If you were find out for sure that there is NO God, would you feel a sense of loss, as if your life had been diminished in some way or wasted believing in one? We non-theists wouldn't. It would have no impact on our lives whatsoever. Of course it would have no impact for non-theists! What a dumb comparison. The corresponding question for *non-theists* should be: "If you were to find out for sure that there IS a God, would you feel a sense of loss, as if your life had been diminished in some way or wasted not believing in one?" How would you answer that? Already answered in another thread -- absolutely nothing would change in my life. I suspect that a more interesting question might be, "What is it you're imagining that I would feel or how I would act if it were proved that a sentient God existed?" Would you imagine that I'd *praise* Him/Her/It? Fall down on my knees and say, "Hey God...good job inventing ebola and that typhoon you created last month that killed 12,000 of your human creations...you really nailed it with those two...great work." Would you imagine that I'd somehow change my behavior out of fear of what this God-thug might *do* to me after I died? That's SO not gonna happen. :-) So I'm interested in what you *imagine* that a non-believer might or should do, confronted with proof of God's existence. I'm happy to stand on "Not a damned thing in my life would change," but I get the feeling you won't be happy with that answer. Do you somehow imagine that I'd feel *bad* about not having spent my life worshiping or praising the thug who invented ebola? :-) I'm just foolin' around, having fun with ideas, but your question does bring up for me my incredulity about the whole notion of "prayer" or "praise." Whether it's kneeling down and asking some supposed God to change His/Her/Its rules just for you or singing to them and trying to influence them with offerings of fruit and incense in a yagya, I've just never gotten the concept. I mean, do people who do this have such a low opinion of their God that they think He/She/It can actually be *bribed* or *flattered*? That strikes me as a pretty puny God, if so...
