You don't "experience" non-existence. The stop watch on your experiences begins when you achieve sentience and become aware of your surroundings.
sure you have. we all have. simply ask yourself, "what was my life like 3 million years ago?" i don't know about you, but i certainly can't think of anything. that's what non existence is. as i've said before, imo being alive is the result of your brain turned "on." you weren't aware of your existence before you were born, and you won't be aware of it when you die...imo.
if you didn't exist, how did it go by in a blind of an eye? you didn't exist to compare it to anything. who says you existed before your existence now? what is the rule saying you had to? why is this life not your only one? as for previous life experience being stored somewhere, why would they have to be stored somewhere?!?!? does a misquito's life get stored somewhere when it dies? does that misquito come back and live another life? the existance of all living things are the same. i don't care what the bible says. my death will be the same as death for a worm or a dinosaur. there is no difference. we are all just animals living our life on planet earth.
Gordon, If you don't experience something, how can you compare it to something else you have experienced? I've never experienced non-existence and have no proof that it even exists. One could say that nonexistence is just as hard to prove as god. Yeah, the body might die, but what happens next? Nobody knows, so how can it be debated? 3 million years ago I existed. Every atom in my body has existed for ever. They just somehow managed to get together from a series of events that took place to create me. Now THAT'S something to think about. What are the odds that all the atoms that make you up somehow would manage to orchestrate a meeting to produce your sentient life? Now THATS amazing.
Thunderbolt, I went to your evolution link on PBS and, you have to admit, the evidence that we evolved from other animals is pretty strong. However, I don't understand why hard-core Christians have a problem with evolution? Is there really a big deal about evolving from other creatures? God, if it does exist, didn't have to just snap his fingers and have humans walking around. There is probably a little more to it than just that -- and evolution could fill in the gaps. I think you can say that evolution and creation theories can be combined nicely if you just consider the fact that god "created evolution."
I like to think that God created the world in seven days. He created it to APPEAR much older than it really is, to test our faith! And He also created fossils and other archeological props to try and sway us away from religion. What a jokester He is, eh?
3 million years ago the atoms existed, yes. however, you are the collective organization of those atoms. this organization which makes you who you are DID NOT exist 3 million years ago...so i don't think it's a good point to say you existed 3 million years ago just because your atoms did. my house is made of pieces of wood. did my house exist 3 million years ago because the wood's atoms did? no.