Honestly? If I saw the embodiment of god in front of me, I would probably get checked for early schizophrenia or some mental illness resulting in hallucinations.
Leros
Lifer
- Jul 11, 2004
- 21,867
- 7
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There is no way to prove to myself that what I saw was a god. I would probably think I saw some kind of illusion or that my mind made it up. This question does not work, because for us to beleive we saw a god, we have to beleive that a god exists. The question only works for agnostics, not atheists.
BoomerD
No Lifer
- Feb 26, 2006
- 66,405
- 14,799
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[So, all you heathen athiests and fellow agnostics, when we meet THIS person we'll KNOW who's who..Right?
Captante
Lifer
- Oct 20, 2003
- 30,354
- 10,880
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Reminds me of the original Star Trek episode where they run into Apollo.
I have to think hard about just what "God" would have to do to convince me he/she/it was what they claimed to be & not simply making use of a highly advance technology of some kind to deceive me.
I have to think hard about just what "God" would have to do to convince me he/she/it was what they claimed to be & not simply making use of a highly advance technology of some kind to deceive me.
We weren't discussing Christianity specifically.
It's a different discussion, needing its own thread, of whether accepting the Bible as literally or allegorically true satisfies my conditions 2 and 3. For example, a God who condemned all except christians to eternal torment because other good people failed to follow rituals of proper worship would fail (for me) the test of a good and ethical deity. Even knowing I was under threat of torture would not cause me to worship such a being. I realize some christians claim they are just saying "men are so feeble they will fail on their own" but if so, isn't that the mark of an incompetent creator?
Any deity that demands surrender of my will and worship fails my personal tests. Respect is the most that any truly good and ethical creator should require of its creations in my opinion.
Originally posted by: Coolone
Ok first of all, while I myself am religious, I respect others rights to believe that there is no god, fine with me.
The question is:
Lets say for the sake of argument that there IS a deity of some sort, it doesn't have to be the Christian god or Hindu or anything, just ANY kind of deity. And then lets say that this deity all of a sudden saw fit to appear to you face to face (assuming it has a face). Would you all of a sudden believe in a god? Or would you need further proof? Would you even care that you just met the creator/s of the universe and just continue to live out your lives?
This is something I'm genuinely curious about, so please don't crap on this thread.
Very interesting question. Its hard to say. How would 'it' prove it was a (or the) god?
Perhaps if it could answer where 'it' came from and make sense then maybe. But I'll always be skeptical of anything that can't be proved with some sort of scientific knowledge.
This is something I have to ponder for a while.
Sorry, but that's a silly question. Its like asking "if I show you a proof for a theorem, will you start to believe in the theorem".
Exactly.
Atheists believe what they believe because there is no proof that a diety exists. Zero, none, nada.
If proof was made available of course an atheist would change his/her tune. You make them sound like idiots.
It would be the same if we could prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that there are no dieties...would religious people still continue to believe? Sure, maybe a few, but I bet most would realize that they've been brainwashed and start thinking for themselves.
This strikes me as similar to asking a religious person whether they would continue to believe if there was solid proof that there was no higher being.
It's a shady question to begin with.
It's a shady question to begin with.
oh look the loch ness monster is to my left and a martian to my right.
you are more bloody likely to prove that than you ever are that there is a god, and either one of those will show up before a god type thingy.
you are more bloody likely to prove that than you ever are that there is a god, and either one of those will show up before a god type thingy.
Why go to church, sing, and pray if not to worship? Sure Christianity isn't only worshipping god, but a big part of it is.
Originally posted by: Coolone
Ok first of all, while I myself am religious, I respect others rights to believe that there is no god, fine with me.
The question is:
Lets say for the sake of argument that there IS a deity of some sort, it doesn't have to be the Christian god or Hindu or anything, just ANY kind of deity. And then lets say that this deity all of a sudden saw fit to appear to you face to face (assuming it has a face
This is something I'm genuinely curious about, so please don't crap on this thread.
I'd need some proof. I mean, if something just appeared to YOU, you wouldn't second guess your own senses, first? Think you were hallucinating? Seeing things? Unless this was some apparition that more than one person was seeing, and it was proven it wasn't some sort of hoax, and this deity proved his powers, then im not sure id believe it.
Originally posted by: Coolone
Ok first of all, while I myself am religious, I respect others rights to believe that there is no god, fine with me.
The question is:
Lets say for the sake of argument that there IS a deity of some sort, it doesn't have to be the Christian god or Hindu or anything, just ANY kind of deity. And then lets say that this deity all of a sudden saw fit to appear to you face to face (assuming it has a face
This is something I'm genuinely curious about, so please don't crap on this thread.
No matter what happens in the future or who shows up, I will not believe in a God, and here's why.
Humans need reasoning as to why they are placed on Earth. Yet some fail to realize that we are here due to the millions and millions of years of evolution. Just because we are highly biologically complex and intelligent enough to ponder the origins of life doesn't make life itself a creation of a deity. Life has evolved to where it is currently because of evolution - years and years of DNA refinement and improvement over the last generation. In fact, it is common knowledge that humans share the majority of DNA with numerous species, some of which don't even resemble us such as plants, bacteria, etc etc. Plants & bacteria aren't wondering about a God - they only exist to pass on their DNA to future generations. And if a random mutation in their DNA causes them to improve their chances of survival, then that new strain or species will dominate over the old version, and hence, pass on their revised DNA.
The problem with creational thinking is that creationists have a black or white mentality of complex human organs when in fact it is natural selection that have created the organs.
Having this kind of mentality is like saying "I'm going to randomly type gibberish into this post, and eventually somewhere in this post I will have created the source code for the ultimate search engine". The chances in that happening is soooooooo minute that one would think it is a miracle if it did happen.
Creationists like to use the human eye as evidence that something that complex cannot evolve and must be created. Again, many of them fail to realize that the eye did not evolve overnight. It took millions of years, if not billions, to evolve the eye and evidence of that is prevalent everywhere today.
Leaves, for example, are light-sensitive. Some species have poor vision, others better. Some have night vision, others use echo/sonar to "see" at night. Others use smell or touch to "see". The many stages of the evolution of the eye is displayed in nature. It just happens so thanks to natural selection that the human eye has the perfect balance to help its species propel ahead of other species, otherwise we wouldn't be here!
Just because all-man made objects has a purpose doesn't mean life itself has a purpose, generally speaking.
And that, my friend, is why I will never believe in any God.
If he gave a bunch of cool powers(immortality, being able to throw fire and lightning balls from my hands, superhuman strength, and the ability to shift into a really hot chick so I could feel my own tits and have lesbian sex would do fine) as proof of his uberness, yes I probably would.
I've seen similar threads crop up at different times, and they all seem to beg the question of what is God. I'd consider myself about as atheist as a reasonably intelligent person can be, I've never been the sort to cover my ears to the truth, but a lifetime thus far of studying science makes you wonder. We study laws and constants in the universe, further subdivide and recategorize. Many things we accept on faith though we haven't actually observed the phenomenon described, and even if we had we accept conclusions based on the evidence presented. Where will our knowledge ultimately end? Will we be limited by our humanity in our understanding of all things or, at some point, will we know all there is to know? I guess what I'm saying is there are fundamental truths to the universe, some organization underlying all things below our ability to perceive and reason. What separates that structure from what people would describe as some deity? What you're talking about isn't a visitation, but instead enlightenment. I'd hope that, if such enlightenment occurs in my lifetime I will be able to make it part of my understanding of reality.
Oh for god's sake!
The whole idea as to why atheists think the religious are tards is becaue they believe in something that clearly doesn't exist. Apparantly, a lack of evidence to a theist is evidence enough that a god does exist. As an atheist, it could be great to believe in a magic man floating around in the sky, sorting out the world (although he's doing a well sh!t job if he is), and that you don't die but float up to magic land with angels and faries... it'd be really nice, but unfortunatley no rational adult mind can believe in these things. You'd think a forty year old who still belives in santa was quite the loser, wouldn't you?
If 'god' did appear on his magic carpet, performed some magic tricks and provided stong -irrefutable- evidence to his existance, then yes, of course I'd believe. This is the scientific way. Atheists don't try to *not* believe in a god, they just use their brains, check out the "evidence" and come to a rational opinion. It's all very simple. Only someone who has be indoctrinated and brainwashed all their lives would find this difficult to figure out.
The whole idea as to why atheists think the religious are tards is becaue they believe in something that clearly doesn't exist. Apparantly, a lack of evidence to a theist is evidence enough that a god does exist. As an atheist, it could be great to believe in a magic man floating around in the sky, sorting out the world (although he's doing a well sh!t job if he is), and that you don't die but float up to magic land with angels and faries... it'd be really nice, but unfortunatley no rational adult mind can believe in these things. You'd think a forty year old who still belives in santa was quite the loser, wouldn't you?
If 'god' did appear on his magic carpet, performed some magic tricks and provided stong -irrefutable- evidence to his existance, then yes, of course I'd believe. This is the scientific way. Atheists don't try to *not* believe in a god, they just use their brains, check out the "evidence" and come to a rational opinion. It's all very simple. Only someone who has be indoctrinated and brainwashed all their lives would find this difficult to figure out.
shortylickens
No Lifer
- Jul 15, 2003
- 80,287
- 17,082
- 136
Well, I'm not an atheist but to answer the hypothetical question:
I dont know if I could be sure it was god or just some weird shiat going on with my brain.
Maybe some bad shrooms or something.
I dont know if I could be sure it was god or just some weird shiat going on with my brain.
Maybe some bad shrooms or something.
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