# Part 2 Another 'if you met God' how would your live change **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 6, 2011, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-2-another-if-you-met-god-how-would-your-live-change/577433 "2011-04-06T18:34:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-2-another-if-you-met-god-how-would-your-live-change/577433/21 "2011-04-06T21:23:33Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Faith that man is capable of figuring things out without divine help. Not exactly blind faith is it, considering how far we’ve gotten so far? In fact, it isn’t faith so much as it is expectation based on evidence-if the evidence changes, so do our expectations. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-2-another-if-you-met-god-how-would-your-live-change/577433/22 "2011-04-06T21:28:18Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > OK, lets go with: > Towards the end of the long count cycle you will be given a new vision that will show the intent of the heart, if the eyes shine forth with light, the heart is that of Love and good fortune will surround those people, if the eyes are dark so is the heart, there is no Love, and bad fortune will accompany those peoples. > > Again no specific verse is need, just that you see this ability in some scripture after you develop this ability. So it is established that for the sake of your hypothetical, people who have bad luck and misfortune deserve it because of their black hearts and dark eyes, while those that are prosperous and happy with their lot in life have eyes and hearts of light? This weird situation might convince me there is a devil, but a god…? ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-2-another-if-you-met-god-how-would-your-live-change/577433/23 "2011-04-06T21:28:51Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Not exactly blind faith is it, considering how far we’ve gotten so far? In fact, it isn’t faith so much as it is expectation based on evidence-if the evidence changes, so do our expectations. What you take is human progress based on human effort I take as human progress from divine guidance. The end result is the same, we see human progress. How that came about we would decide on our life’s experience and what makes sense to us personally. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-2-another-if-you-met-god-how-would-your-live-change/577433/24 "2011-04-06T21:30:14Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > If that happened? I’d first assume some cognitive malfunction. I’d probably try to do some sort of objective test, possibly getting someone to help me. For example, I’d read bios of people without seeing their faces and assign them a good vs. evil score, and then I’d look at people’s faces without seeing their bios and assign them a score, and then I’d see if there were any correlation between the two. I’d compare this to a control group in which I saw photographs of people. (I’m assuming that the light doesn’t shine from photographs. If it does, I’d ask a graphic artist to randomly cut-and-paste people’s eyes into a pastiche in the photos). > > If I was much better at predicting a person’s good score from seeing them in person compared to seeing them in a photograph, then I’d likely conclude there was something to it. If I scored the same from both in-person and photographs, I’d conclude that it was a visual/neural flaw that was interpreting normal facial clues as to a person’s decency into a minor hallucination. > > Reading a scripture about it would simply make me think someone else might have had the same experience at some point (or that I’d read the scripture before and forgotten) and would have no effect on whether I believed it was a real phenomenon or a hallucination. > > If it proved to have predictive value, I’d go public with it through some form. Pretty much my take as well. If it starts being verifiable and reproducible, then it has entered the realm of science and should be studied scientifically. Hypotheses as to them mechanism by which it works could be studied. But just because I can’t find the mechanism doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Oh, and if it did have predictive value I’d consult with Randi and try to win his million dollar challenge. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-2-another-if-you-met-god-how-would-your-live-change/577433/25 "2011-04-06T21:50:59Z")
I assume I wouldn’t notice. First, I’d guess that most people would be somewhere in between light and dark, which I assume would leave their eyes looking eye-colored. Second, I don’t go around making judgements about how evil or lucky anyone is. I try to avoid people who cause me work, whether it’s because they’re a jerk, or because they’re needy, or because they have a habit of monologing. But since I’m the one making the choice of who fits into that category, I assume that the choice says more about me than about them. You can be the most loving, lucky person in the world, but if you’re chattering constantly about how lucky and giving you are, I’m going to avoid you. (General You, not you particularly.) So I can’t imagine how I’d figure out that Light Eyes = Loving, let alone how that would benefit me. Given my behavioral SOP, I’d probably either not notice or, I’d notice it here or there, then tune it out. Seriously, we got a new person in our department today and he asked me if that squeaking noise was always there. Once I listened, it was a really obvious and annoying noise. And I had no idea when it had started. And once I stopped paying attention to it, I stopped noticing again. So my guess is that I’d go about my business. Do you go around deciding that people are “not full of light”? ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-2-another-if-you-met-god-how-would-your-live-change/577433/26 "2011-04-07T03:40:02Z")
So people are 100 percent lightness or darkness. They are not sometimes good, sometimes bad or sometimes neutral. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-2-another-if-you-met-god-how-would-your-live-change/577433/27 "2011-04-07T03:46:34Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > I refuse to believe it’s just me who finds these threads becoming interminably idiotic. I’m looking forward in a perverse way to Part 3. I’m also wondering if at some point God will grant unto the OP the ability to distinguish between the words ‘live’ and ‘life.’ ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-2-another-if-you-met-god-how-would-your-live-change/577433/28 "2011-04-07T03:55:13Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > So people are 100 percent lightness or darkness. They are not sometimes good, sometimes bad or sometimes neutral. And only bad people have bad luck. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-2-another-if-you-met-god-how-would-your-live-change/577433/29 "2011-04-07T06:25:36Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > So people are 100 percent lightness or darkness. They are not sometimes good, sometimes bad or sometimes neutral. Nope, quite a few are Chaotic or Lawful as well. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-2-another-if-you-met-god-how-would-your-live-change/577433/30 "2011-04-07T06:33:40Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > What you take is human progress based on human effort I take as human progress from divine guidance. What you are doing is stealing the credit for other people’s hard work. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-2-another-if-you-met-god-how-would-your-live-change/577433/31 "2011-04-07T06:46:02Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > What you are doing is stealing the credit for other people’s hard work. Standard religious tactic. Give all the credit for what _actual_ people do to God, whether its scientific research or rescue workers. Gratitude is not a feature of the believing mind. ---
**Author:** ![surrounded\_by\_literalists](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8baadc/32.png) [@surrounded\_by\_literalists](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/surrounded_by_literalists)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-2-another-if-you-met-god-how-would-your-live-change/577433/32 "2011-04-07T09:12:50Z")
I think God created very complex people. What if a mother killed her son’s rapist? What light would shine out of her eyes. What about the soldier who is fighting for his country, but innocent people get hurt in the crossfire? What about the truthful man who is only so because he either fears a diving spanking, or expects a celestial reward vs. the man who has no belief in God, yet has a personal dedication to the truth? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-2-another-if-you-met-god-how-would-your-live-change/577433/33 "2011-04-07T11:29:02Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Standard religious tactic. Give all the credit for what _actual_ people do to God, whether its scientific research or rescue workers. Gratitude is not a feature of the believing mind. When all is owed to God, nothing can be owed to others. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-2-another-if-you-met-god-how-would-your-live-change/577433/34 "2011-04-07T12:57:47Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > What you are doing is stealing the credit for other people’s hard work. No that is what we are doing in the current system. Rarely does one person do everything, but it is typically one person who gets the credit. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-2-another-if-you-met-god-how-would-your-live-change/577433/35 "2011-04-07T13:01:06Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > No that is what we are doing in the current system. Rarely does one person do everything, but it is typically one person who gets the credit. Changing that “one person” from “Bob the manager” to “God” doesn’t make it any more fair. On the contrary, it make it less fair since at least there’s a good change Bob actually did _something_. And Bob probably hasn’t killed the firstborn of any countries, either. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-2-another-if-you-met-god-how-would-your-live-change/577433/36 "2011-04-07T13:03:05Z")
Seems like pretty subjective evidence. You can light and darkness in people’s eyes but other people can’t see it and there’s no physical evidence. And you feel the light and darkness is related to good and bad luck. I’d want to see some objective evidence. You look over a bunch of people and tell me which ones have good luck/light and which ones have bad luck/darkness. Then I’ll run a series of probability tests to see if there’s any factual basis to your claim. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-2-another-if-you-met-god-how-would-your-live-change/577433/37 "2011-04-07T13:15:57Z")
Well, if the light in the eyes is red and accompanied by Latin chanting, that’s usually a bad sign. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-2-another-if-you-met-god-how-would-your-live-change/577433/38 "2011-04-07T14:27:02Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Seems like pretty subjective evidence. You can light and darkness in people’s eyes but other people can’t see it and there’s no physical evidence. And you feel the light and darkness is related to good and bad luck. Yes it was structured that any evidence would be subjective. What would it take to start trusting ‘your’ subjectivity over ‘group’ objectivity. To trust and have faith in your ability to see things as how they are regardless of what others may think or how they evaluate you or what tests say even when what they say is counter to what you say. > [@](#): > > I’d want to see some objective evidence. You look over a bunch of people and tell me which ones have good luck/light and which ones have bad luck/darkness. Then I’ll run a series of probability tests to see if there’s any factual basis to your claim. It was that good/bad luck surrounded them, in other words it was not them necessarily but those who had recent contact with them seemed to experience good/bad things. For instance you see a ‘dark eyes’ person one/month for work, after each visit you get pulled over by a cop that day. After visiting ‘light eyes’ person you get a new job, your tax refund and a bank error in your favor. This pattern seems to continue. ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-2-another-if-you-met-god-how-would-your-live-change/577433/39 "2011-04-07T14:44:15Z")
We already have a [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=603390)on this. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-2-another-if-you-met-god-how-would-your-live-change/577433/40 "2011-04-07T23:17:19Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > . . . It was that good/bad luck surrounded them, in other words it was not them necessarily but those who had recent contact with them seemed to experience good/bad things. For instance you see a ‘dark eyes’ person one/month for work, after each visit you get pulled over by a cop that day. After visiting ‘light eyes’ person you get a new job, your tax refund and a bank error in your favor. This pattern seems to continue. But I’m seeing people with light eyes AND dark eyes. Both. (And, presumably, neither). It’s not like I’ll only see one person each day, so that I can make notes on who’s giving me luck. And when I get a ticket, I don’t look for some random luck-sink to blame it on. I make a mental note not to do that illegal thing again. That’s the cause. There may be other sub-causes, but that’s the one I can control and therefor the only one I’ll worry about. Likewise, the job wouldn’t have come if I hadn’t applied for it. The tax return is due because I applied for it. And the bank error in my favor is going to be a pain in my ass because now I’m going to have to fix it and if they can make an error one way, they can make it another, so now I have to watch my statements more closely, dammit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-2-another-if-you-met-god-how-would-your-live-change/577433.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/part-2-another-if-you-met-god-how-would-your-live-change/577433.md?page=3)