Sorry, folks. Should be up by lunch-ish PST.

Yep.

Model is not  mine, Lightwave is my primary 3D software.

Damn. Good post.

Another great, articulate post. (That I happen to wholly disagree with.) In any case, serious thanks are in order for having this conversation here and for putting up with our crazy atheist bullshit on the show and on the forum.

That being said, it would be unfair for me to not admit that I greatly look forward to Mike's response and the continuation of this conversation.

Great post, thanks for sharing.

As to your last two paragraphs, because I have no reason to think "God"* exists (neither do you, since as mortal beings we all have the same evidence to look at and critique), I'd chalk what you experienced up to your friend having a hunch, and your faith acting as a placebo.  (Perhaps intensified due to your great pain and lessened coherence.) Presumably afterward you followed up on the matter medically, and it hasn't been a problem since.

*I use quotation marks not to be a dick, but to imply that I mean a persona specifically and not some general flow of energy and hormones, intuition, and probability.

What just happened? It's a tie.

Because I understand the enthusiasm of the yes-es, I'd be interested to hear the reasoning of some of the no's. The only viewpoint I've heard to approach that angle is this one, which I do understand. Is this your feeling?
_____________________________

Kyle Mattingly: I don't know if this is representative of the rest of the fan feedback, but as a rule I'd rather hear you, Dorkman, Trey, and Brian than lose one of you, even if you scooped Peter Jackson for your LOTR commentary or something.

ieatyouremo: really?

Kyle Mattingly: Serge and the guy you got for Orgazmo and all that... that's cool, but personally I find myself sitting there going "I really want to hear what Dorkman has to say about this.

Kyle Mattingly: Friends in my head, man.

Kyle Mattingly: I'd rather hear the crew talk about Star Trek than lose two of you to accommodate Shatner and Nimoy.

Kyle Mattingly: Don't get me wrong, I know it does wonders for your podcast to book a "name" on the show, trust me I get that. But it's kinda like wrestling- sure, you can bring in 500 fans if you pay a famous guy 3 grand to show up, but next month when there's no names your regular crew's going to be working in front of 30 people. The ultimate goal is to make the audience emotionally bond with the regulars to the point where they don't care if the 3 grand guy is there so much. You guys have, at least with this particular mark, accomplished that.

Kyle Mattingly: Probably because you all fill a very specific role, whether you noticed or not.

ieatyouremo: to the first: yeah. see what you're saying.

Kyle Mattingly: Dorkman is right about everything, knows what he's talking about, and always has a viewpoint that you never considered before ever. Trey is sarcastic and awesome and old and snorted coke out of model's assholes and brings an old school perspective. Finifter... god fucking bless the boy, he's got more genuine youthful love and enthusiasm for the movies.

ieatyouremo: ROFL

Kyle Mattingly: Trey is Egon, Dorkman is Ray, Brian is the black guy.

ieatyouremo: that makes me bill murray.

Kyle Mattingly: Sir.

Kyle Mattingly: Nobody is Bill Murray.

Kyle Mattingly: You're Venkman if he'd been played by David Spade.

Jeffery, it would be. Then again, so far, the results are overwhelming. So it looks like a no as yet.

I never got the vibe that she didn't believe in god as a result of her dad dying. I don't see how they're related.