If God were real... what now?

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   bottlerocketeerposted 10 years ago

   This question is mainly for fellow atheists, just out of curiosity.  If some evidence were presented that God did actually exist (the Judeo-Christian god, if you find yourself primarily in contention with those faiths but possibly some other god if the worship of that deity is prevalent in your area - no Zeus, Odin, Ishtar, etc. please), what would your reaction be?  Would you change anything about your lifestyle?  Assuming you could communicate directly with him/her/it, what would you say?
   
   I do not wish to discuss here whether or not there IS evidence for God of any form or kind, just only what the effect of such evidence would be on your life and philosophy, if any.

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      Dave36posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I'm what you might call a practicing atheist i don't believe, but then again i don't "not" believe in the possibility of a creator of some kind..A Buddhist if you like, but not a Buddhist..I'm on the fence, & still looking at all the evidence..I can't for the life of me see how anyone, could think any differently than that..Atheists believe what they read from books that other people have wrote,  they've done "no" experiments/investigating themselves but their 100% sure in the big bang & evolution!lol..It's exactly the same for religion just stuff read from books etc, nobody can be sure 100% but they all are!lol..However "if" like you say some convincing evidence of a god was put forwards, everyone & i mean everyone in the world would change their ways instantly..They would all cheat & pretend to give a s**t about other people etc, & the whole game would be finished..That is why i say nobody will ever prove to another person the existence of a god, what good at all would it do anyone?..I will say i reckon a person could feel god themselves, but even if they did no one would believe them at all..So if you like it's a great way to test humans, as everyone's got to do life the hard way, & on complete faith always.....So your an atheist by choice & no matter what, i bet you won't entertain any evidence to the contrary what so ever..Exactly the same as a religious person, who won't entertain any evidence to the contrary..Atheists & Religious people are both brainwashed in my opinion, & only someone still on the fence like me isn't..You should take the Zen way, the middle way.

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         bottlerocketeerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks for your response! 
         It's possible I misunderstood, but when you say that everyone would suddenly 'change their ways,' I assume that you would include yourself in that group as well.  Is that correct?  I would imagine that there would still be people who might remain defiant of such a being in the event that it was revealed to actually exist.
         For example, some might view the Judeo-Christian god as he is represented by the various religions and sects as a tyrannical being to be overthrown somehow or at least resisted.  Of course, that's assuming that the god revealed matches up with the descriptions offered by religions at all.

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            Dave36posted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I doubt whether any of the various religions knocking about today, are anything to go by..I mean how can anyone religious profess to know god, & then go around killing others who disagree with them?..And no matter what a religion says on the afterlife, they are surely all theories & can't be taken literally..Believe it or not i wouldn't have to change my ways, but i would be disappointed if god turned up which i don't believe will ever happen..The people that know their bad will change instantly, but then there's all the people that's only being good just in case there's a god..No Iv'e worked a lot of stuff out through my own deducting using logic, i mean god could just be logic itself..So I'm more of a believer in consciousness than god at the moment, & if we're fully aware of our actions at all times & do the logical thing every time, we should logically be able to predict & even shape our future..That often isn't the case & even though a person has done all the logical things they could have done, something still might happen that turns their world upside down for the worst..People call them coincidences, but I'm not so sure not from my own experiences...So i have worked on an all round theory, but wouldn't post it as it wouldn't be possible to prove it to another person, as their mind wouldn't except it because of fixed beliefs...If you look at the universe logically like philosophers do you find that it has to be gods mind & can't be anything else, & I'm using the word god loosely here just like anything i name..Only a mind can when you think about it be infinite, & it's supposed to be a scientific fact that we're all made from energy..If you collected all your actual matter from your body, you could fit it on the "pointed" end of a pin!lol....So where does that all fit in with the evolution hypothesis, & the big bang theory?....It's funny because Iv'e meditated on a similar question to yours for months now, & it was would i want a sign from someone/something up above or where ever, so i knew for sure there was a creator of some kind..Iv'e gone backwards & forwards with a possible answer, but now i know for sure the answer would be no..I wouldn't want to know, because then everything i did after would be completely meaningless..So i try to live a decent life & help & fight for others along the way, & people/atheists might say what a waste of time as it's all for nothing..I only do it because it's honestly what feels the best, & whether or not god does exist isn't why i do it..I'd be disappointed if i knew for a fact god does exist because i do suspect a god/creator exists, & yet still find it difficult to always be positive & good to everyone although it is getting easier..I'm like i said before a Buddhist but not a Buddhist, that definitely smokes too much weed!lol..

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      Hayden Stoneposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I tried to imagine what evidence would possibly make me believe a God did or does exist, but if such scientifically verifiable evidence did present itself I would change my views on the subject of whether or not God exist.
      
      I would see no reason to change anything about my lifestyle. I live with humankind and strive to maintain harmony with those around me. Finding evidence of a deity would not change how I viewed mankind or myself.
      
      If communication were possible the first question I would ask is "What took you so long?", and then (assuming I wasn't struck down by lightning or something) I would want to know the deity's intended action(s) towards our existence. I do not understand why some people believe that goodness is an innate quality of a God.

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      Lybrahposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      That's an interesting question.   What would I do if God revealed Himself in the flesh?  Most definitely, I'd still worship Him and beg forgiveness of my sins.  If another god, such as Brahma or Allah proved to be real, well...I guess I'd be SOL.

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         oceansnsunsetsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I think its a great question, because I think it could cause some to really examine what they believe and why.  They could consider if their views stand up when put to the test.  I think whatever is true will line up with the god of the universe.  They can't be contradictory.  Two opposing views can't be true at the same time.  Leaving god out of the equation for the moment, just looking at our views can let us know if we are on the right track or not if truth about such things is our goal.  This is how I look at it anyway, and it makes sense to me.
         
         Doing deep searching and truth seeking, then responding.... I don't think we can try harder than that.

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   psycheskinnerposted 10 years ago

   If God was real, and Heaven, I would be motivated to get into Heaven.

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   Zelkiiroposted 10 years ago

   If God were real, then our first priority would be to find some way to build a weapon to kill it. Because anything that "lovingly" designed guinea worms, wolverines, zombie flatworms, goblin sharks, and Richard Simmons should not be allowed to live.

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      oceansnsunsetsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      That makes great sense, to kill the thing that created everything?  Um....

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         Zelkiiroposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         And the monster had absolutely no reason to want to kill Dr. Frankenstein.
         
         /whoosh

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            oceansnsunsetsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Apples and oranges, if we are being reasonable..  Even without establishing your point that God deserves death for making things you don't agree with or find awful, it is illogical to kill the creator of everything even if you could.  Even if you could, I suppose you just don't want to think that far ahead to the consequences that could come with it.

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               Zelkiiroposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               If the monster kills Dr. Frankenstein, the monster wouldn't suddenly vanish, so there would be no real consequences.
               
               Same deal. And even if the universe collapsed as soon as it was dead, good. No one wants to live in a world where these things exist.

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                  oceansnsunsetsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  Right, in the Frankenstein scenario, there are no real consequences to the death of that creator.  In our case, our universe is at risk, and that includes us and our gripes about what a possible creator creates that we may not prefer.
                  
                  As for that last comment, aww, come on now! I am not sure I believe you.  You would rather give up your life, than live a peaceable existence with those crazy critters?  All to have the right to gripe about God? Another question or way to look at it, is that you just made a case to not exist with those creatures, OR you are seeming to make a case that you REALLY only aren't happy with them, IF a god exists and allowed for them to evolve or be created, right?  Which all points to just griping about a God, in some sense.  Or it seems that way anyway.
                  
                  At the very least, I WANT to live in that universe, and not only that, I DO, AND I am thankful for living in that universe where those things exist!  We may just differ that way.

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      Hayden Stoneposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Can we hold of on the God killing weapon long enough for me to ask what is the purpose of Prions? I've been very curious about those for sometime now.

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         wildernessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I'd be more curious about the purpose of creating humans - children, friends or just dog food?

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            Hayden Stoneposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I'll keep the humans and dog food question in mind if the situation ever presents itself.

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               wildernessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                 Well, I like to think I'm more than that, but who knows what a god would make of such an inferior life form as a (shudder) human being?

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      Dave36posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Maybe our creator ("if" there is one, before anyone starts telling me I'm brainwashed!lol), created those things to add a bit more confusion to the game..Sort of like a red herring but if you add a bit of yin/yang logic to that, your'l find that everything in the world can't just be beautiful & great..If everything was beautiful & great it would eventually become the "norm" & boring, so to have good we have to have bad etc as we need reference points for everything..By the way folks i said "if" there's a creator of some kind, as I'm still on the fence on that particular subject.

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