Possibly. But I recognize that, if I performed the most diligent search for threads, many of which you have already provided, and went through them wth a magnifying glass and cut and pasted to to my heart’s delight, we could go back and forth without my convincing anyone that I am even a tiny right correct , unable to persuade many readers who’ve decided in advance that I’m a lying sack of shit, so I’ll just attribute my perceptions to my own biased p.o.v. and let it go at that, in the interest of saving time and energy. I suspect I’ll be in much the same place after going through an elaborate cite-war with you, so–just as you choose to–I feel such nonsense is not “worth my time or energy and …Life is too short to get upset over minor stuff.” Why don’t you just chalk me off as someone who is spectactularly unimpressed with your even-handed Modding, and you (or anyone) can review the threads in question if you ever want to explore them for your own edification or improvement, because that’s where we would end up anyway, with you claiming “I don’t see where I was anything other than the perfect unbiased Moderator” and me ending up "Oh, save me, Jesus! :rolleyes: " If you read those threads and say that a neutral Mod would have made the same decisions you made in regard to Poly and badchad, purely on the basis of deliberately giving offense and abuse, then what’s the point of even raising the subject, other than to register a minority point of view?
Is that the last time you’re going to bring up the subject of Tom’s supposedly unfair modding (assuming no new incidents occur)?
So you cannot choose now to believe in God, right?
Well, in my case, I am only responding to your (repeated and repeatedly unsupported) accusations. Our exchange over the last two days had everything to do with my disagreement with your claim that the law (and the SDMB rules) protected theists in ways that they have left non-believers exposed, with a sidebar, (originally addressed generally to several posters who had commented), of whether one could choose to be a believer.
But then you had to tack on one more gratuitous charge of personal bias on my part, to which I replied and to which you are now running away saying that it is an issue with no resolution.
You are free to keep inserting the issue into discussions whenever you choose. But every time you insert the claim I am going to point out that you refuse to supply evidence of your charge. I am willing to let your false charges drop; are you?
Look, Pseudo, it’s a simple concept.
Can you choose to believe the Earth is a cube?
I can’t. No matter how much I try, I can’t convince myself the Earth is a cube. There are those pictures from space, Magellan circumnavigating the globe, lunar eclipses, all kinds of evidence that convinces me the earth is a sphere. And I can’t choose to believe things that are clearly false.
I can choose to have a sandwich rather than pizza for dinner, but I can’t choose to believe the Earth is a cube. I can choose not to have sex with a woman who is not my wife, but I can’t choose to not be sexually attracted to other women. I can choose to have sex with a man, but I can’t choose to be sexually attracted to other men. I can choose to attend church and mouth empty words and perform empty rituals, but I can’t choose to believe in God, much less that Jesus is God, much less Ganesh, much less Zeus.
I think “watermelon” is closer.
But what about Clapton? 
Rev 21:4 – draw your own conclusions! 
I love that verse! It’s one of my favorites, especially because from God’s perspective, it has already happened. 
But you continue to have the time and energy to make the uncited accusations against Tom. As long as you make unfounded claims and put yourself in such a position, you will continue to feel marginalized. Like religious fundamentalists, you will continue to think that the solution to everything is taking charge of the beliefs of others. Meanwhile, if you ain’t yourself, pseudo, you ain’t nobody.
A teacher points out specific mistakes for correction and gives examples. A schoolyard bully, no matter how worthy of our compassion, throws rocks and mud at a selected target.
[singsongy 7-year old voice] Aaauuhhmmm. You said “ain’t.” I’m teeellllin’. [/singsongy 7-year old voice]
Something totally unrelated. I was thinking about something you said in a post I can’t find and wanted to ask a question.
You’ve said before in regard to your experiences that we can’t know if activity of the limbic system is the source or if God used the limbic system to give us the experience. Is that close? I’ve had some pretty powerful spiritual experiences myself which are the reason I still believe. In thinking about this I did wonder, since God is a spirit, why would it even be necessary for our limbic system to be stimulated for us to have such an experience? Why would there be any measurable change in our brain activity at all if the experience is a spiritual one?
Because (speaking metaphorically of course) the spirit (meaning the essential you) gives the brain “orders”. It (the spirit) makes moral decisions to which the brain responds in turn by ordering the body to carry out the wishes of the spirit. Consider my oft used illustration of the little old lady on the street corner. Here are two examples, where tou’re approaching her and notice her for the first time…
1
Spirit: “I hold her to be morally worthless.”
Brain: “Okay, hand, there’s a gun in the vest pocket. Get it ready.”
2
Spirit: “I hold her to be of great moral worth.”
Brain: “Okay, mouth, say something really sweet to make her day.”
The spirit makes only moral decisions. The brain makes decisions about tactics, strategy, and logistics in implementing the decision already made by the spirit. The universe is neither moral nor immoral, but is simply an amoral stage upon which we act out our moral play.
I understand that. I tend to believe that we all have full access to all the spirit offers but we’ve closed it off for ourselves by accpeting as real, the illusions and values of this world. We’re indoctrinated into a physical reality where the physical is more real and more important. Jesus says, don’t put your value in the fleetiing. Value the etrnal qualities. I look back and see times when my inner voice warned me and tried to guide me in the right direction but I squelched it and chose a path thst ultimatly proved to to be a bad call. I also wonder about that. The various motivations and voices that determine our choices. but I digress.
I’m not sure your explanantion applies to my vision. There was no action involved. Lying in bed very emotionally distraught Suddenly I saw myself rising up out of myself and without going into detail, something happened that was symbolic of what was going on that I was upset about, and explained it to me in a way that melted away my anxiety and I felt a profound sense of peace and understanding. A total acceptance of what was moments before totally unacceptable and painful.
When I woke up I felt that same sense of peace and acceptance that actually lasted for a couple of days. It was like the best high I’d ever experienced.
In order to deliver that kind of emotional knowing and serenity, and a vision, why would any brain activity be required? Am I making sense?
Because that’s where emotion is: the brain dumping out chemical cocktails. The spirit informed the brain that you had been morally uplifted or edified. The brain responded in the only way it knew how — with joy.