LongWayAround Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 A question for our christians: How would the world be different if god did not exist? Phrased another way, if the bible god were not real, like allah or apollo, but instead only exists in the minds of those who believe in him, how would the world be different. For example: Would there be less people healed or more people dead because god did not intervene? Would there be less suffering? Would the world be in chaos because people would be left to their own morality? Would my cousin have to walk farther to class because god didn't grant her a parking space close to the building? 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neverlandrut Posted October 3, 2014 Share Posted October 3, 2014 The world would not exist if god did not exist, duh!! -snarky Christian answer- The world be no different since the Christian god does not exist -snarky atheist answer- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gall Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 A question for our christians: How would the world be different if god did not exist? Phrased another way, if the bible god were not real, like allah or apollo, but instead only exists in the minds of those who believe in him, how would the world be different. For example: Would there be less people healed or more people dead because god did not intervene? Would there be less suffering? Would the world be in chaos because people would be left to their own morality? Would my cousin have to walk farther to class because god didn't grant her a parking space close to the building? We would already be colonizing other planets literally. hundreds of years of dark ages kept us from our rightfull place in science and space so far. If we had never had religion cause that we would have a very different world maybe worse but probably better and less violent. If all religion had never existed I am sure we would fight about something but maybe it would be which propulsion system works best in deep space. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
◊ crazyguy123 ◊ Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 A question for our christians: How would the world be different if god did not exist? Phrased another way, if the bible god were not real, like allah or apollo, but instead only exists in the minds of those who believe in him, how would the world be different. For example: Would there be less people healed or more people dead because god did not intervene? Would there be less suffering? Would the world be in chaos because people would be left to their own morality? Would my cousin have to walk farther to class because god didn't grant her a parking space close to the building? We would already be colonizing other planets literally. hundreds of years of dark ages kept us from our rightfull place in science and space so far. If we had never had religion cause that we would have a very different world maybe worse but probably better and less violent. If all religion had never existed I am sure we would fight about something but maybe it would be which propulsion system works best in deep space. The trouble is, even in a world where the Christian god did not exist, Christianity may still have existed anyway, so the dark ages might very well have happened. The world we live in now might actually be that example of what the world would be like if the Christian god did not exist. What I'd like to know is how the world would be different if the Christian god did exist. Perhaps Jesus would have returned thousands of years ago, just as he said he would in the Bible, and the Earth would be a paradise for all of the good, Christian sheep while skeptics like us would be tormented in Hell forever for the horrible sin of thinking critically about Christian dogma. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roz Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 A question for our christians: How would the world be different if god did not exist? Phrased another way, if the bible god were not real, like allah or apollo, but instead only exists in the minds of those who believe in him, how would the world be different. For example: Would there be less people healed or more people dead because god did not intervene? Would there be less suffering? Would the world be in chaos because people would be left to their own morality? Would my cousin have to walk farther to class because god didn't grant her a parking space close to the building? Hmmm, my thoughts on this: there would've been a different concept of god, or higher being, or beings. Something else would've taken christianity's place. Less suffering? Probably not. We're all evil hairless monkeys. No, I think we'd likely be where we are today, just instead of yeshitwa we might have church of bob or hupukanutu or justin beiber. Your cousin might be better off because she would've claimed her own parking space instead of waiting for superman... i mean god. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gall Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 A question for our christians: How would the world be different if god did not exist? Phrased another way, if the bible god were not real, like allah or apollo, but instead only exists in the minds of those who believe in him, how would the world be different. For example: Would there be less people healed or more people dead because god did not intervene? Would there be less suffering? Would the world be in chaos because people would be left to their own morality? Would my cousin have to walk farther to class because god didn't grant her a parking space close to the building? We would already be colonizing other planets literally. hundreds of years of dark ages kept us from our rightfull place in science and space so far. If we had never had religion cause that we would have a very different world maybe worse but probably better and less violent. If all religion had never existed I am sure we would fight about something but maybe it would be which propulsion system works best in deep space. The trouble is, even in a world where the Christian god did not exist, Christianity may still have existed anyway, so the dark ages might very well have happened. The world we live in now might actually be that example of what the world would be like if the Christian god did not exist. What I'd like to know is how the world would be different if the Christian god did exist. Perhaps Jesus would have returned thousands of years ago, just as he said he would in the Bible, and the Earth would be a paradise for all of the good, Christian sheep while skeptics like us would be tormented in Hell forever for the horrible sin of thinking critically about Christian dogma. well that is a pointless adventure for both of us isn't it... At least my way we get cool spaceships and fun places to explore I hear what you are saying I just think it would have gone down differently at this point it is just a discussion for amusement and what is already is. I can tell you that if some of the old greats in science had been allowed to foward their thinking so long ago without perscution from the church things would be different around here MAYBE. Maybe a comet would have hit us who knows. the only thing i do know is that we just don't know. I prefer to speculate about something fun rather than just same conclusion different story. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wololo Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 A question for our christians: How would the world be different if god did not exist? Phrased another way, if the bible god were not real, like allah or apollo, but instead only exists in the minds of those who believe in him, how would the world be different. For example: Would there be less people healed or more people dead because god did not intervene? Would there be less suffering? Would the world be in chaos because people would be left to their own morality? Would my cousin have to walk farther to class because god didn't grant her a parking space close to the building? The question is poorly phrased. Your question implies that the Christian God currently exists, which I'm sure you would vehemently dispute. I don't think God intervenes nearly as much as people say he does. No, there would be the same amount of suffering that there is now. Go back to ancient times before Christianity. You'd be looking at Roman morality. Look at the Vikings before Christianity. Those cultures are what you'd see...perhaps a bit further down the road and more developed though. LOL nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♦ nivek ♦ Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Vikings had fairly simple code. Eat, fight, fuck, wash, hand dry, start again.Not sure what we've done to improve that. Christians and their gutless god sure messed up a damn good thing. kFL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
◊ crazyguy123 ◊ Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 A question for our christians: How would the world be different if god did not exist? Phrased another way, if the bible god were not real, like allah or apollo, but instead only exists in the minds of those who believe in him, how would the world be different. For example: Would there be less people healed or more people dead because god did not intervene? Would there be less suffering? Would the world be in chaos because people would be left to their own morality? Would my cousin have to walk farther to class because god didn't grant her a parking space close to the building? The question is poorly phrased. Your question implies that the Christian God currently exists, which I'm sure you would vehemently dispute. I don't think God intervenes nearly as much as people say he does. No, there would be the same amount of suffering that there is now. Go back to ancient times before Christianity. You'd be looking at Roman morality. Look at the Vikings before Christianity. Those cultures are what you'd see...perhaps a bit further down the road and more developed though. LOL nice. No, it doesn't actually imply that the Christian god exists. The deal is that Christians do believe that he exists already, therefore, they are being asked to demonstrate how Earth would be different if the Christian god did exist from how Earth would be if he did not exist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator TheRedneckProfessor Posted October 22, 2014 Super Moderator Share Posted October 22, 2014 A question for our christians: How would the world be different if god did not exist? Phrased another way, if the bible god were not real, like allah or apollo, but instead only exists in the minds of those who believe in him, how would the world be different. For example: Would there be less people healed or more people dead because god did not intervene? Would there be less suffering? Would the world be in chaos because people would be left to their own morality? Would my cousin have to walk farther to class because god didn't grant her a parking space close to the building? The question is poorly phrased. Your question implies that the Christian God currently exists, which I'm sure you would vehemently dispute. I don't think God intervenes nearly as much as people say he does. No, there would be the same amount of suffering that there is now. Go back to ancient times before Christianity. You'd be looking at Roman morality. Look at the Vikings before Christianity. Those cultures are what you'd see...perhaps a bit further down the road and more developed though. LOL nice. Your answer also assumes that the christian god currently exists. Why doesn't it intervene? Why does it allow this level of suffering to continue? Was the morality of the Vikings worse than your god's morality condoning slavery, rape, and genocide? Why is finding parking spaces all your god can do these days when it used to raise the dead and heal the sick? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikey101 Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Whether a Christian god exists is a matter of faith. If Christianity didn't exist, I guess you'd have to look at history to try to understand. We know the West probably wouldn't have developed like it did. Christianity preserved and advanced knowledge through the Middle Ages (Dark Ages is an outdated term), and eventually leading to the science and medicine we know today. They weren't perfect of course, but without the Church things would be quite different. Even our music today. I'm not a Christian, just remembering what I learned in college. As an ex-Christian i recognize the good contributions of Christianity in Western history and I don't hate Christianity any more than I hate Buddhism. It's not my religion though, so I don't appreciate it when people say or imply I need to believe like they do (ie, a 'God'), or ultra-conservative groups try to change laws in their favor. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vigile Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 There would actually be fewer hurricanes and of course no more AIDS, given god's always in a smiting mood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vigile Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Go back to ancient times before Christianity. You'd be looking at Roman morality. Look at the Vikings before Christianity. Those cultures are what you'd see...perhaps a bit further down the road and more developed though. Wow, you mean it would be worse than the genocide of the 20th century and the never ending war on terror that is now active in more than half the countries on the planet? God's really holding this place together by a string ain't he? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♦ ficino ♦ Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 When I was a Christian, I would have answered that if God did not exist, nothing else would exist either. There would not be a world. I would have argued that even an eternal universe wouldn't exist on its own, without God. That's because an assemblage of entities going back eternally into the past is impossible, UNLESS one entity existed necessarily. And that's because, any entity that does not exist necessarily has its existence dependent on something else. So at some point, it can cease to exist. But in infinite time, a point would have come when all contingent entities would pass out of existence at once. Then reality would end. That would have happened by now if there was not a necessary being keeping everything else in being. But since we have reality today, we can tell that there must be an entity that exists necessarily, which guarantees the existence of everything else. And that entity is God. I might then have gone on to say, here are things that God in fact does in the world: heals people, even raises some from the dead (like the guy in Indonesia the missionary talked about at my cousin's church) answers other prayers, does other miracles gives us ecstatic experiences and NDEs sends us saints and angels, which people report seeing gives us an innate sense of morality provides purpose, goals, ideals for living I would not have stopped to think how poorly defined is theism, how it fails to explain anything. I also would not have stopped to think how Aquinas' Five Ways of proving God's existence all beg the question and don't get any farther than deism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mymistake Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Go back to ancient times before Christianity. You'd be looking at Roman morality. Look at the Vikings before Christianity. Those cultures are what you'd see...perhaps a bit further down the road and more developed though. So without God it would be like the Crusades, the Inquisition and the various witch hunts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roz Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Go back to ancient times before Christianity. You'd be looking at Roman morality. Look at the Vikings before Christianity. Those cultures are what you'd see...perhaps a bit further down the road and more developed though. So without God it would be like the Crusades, the Inquisition and the various witch hunts. Nah... because the catholic church is not the 'true' church! Protestant pilgrims persecuting catholics in the new world? They're not 'true' christians either... If christianity's goal posts were used in football, that would really kick ass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mymistake Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Go back to ancient times before Christianity. You'd be looking at Roman morality. Look at the Vikings before Christianity. Those cultures are what you'd see...perhaps a bit further down the road and more developed though. So without God it would be like the Crusades, the Inquisition and the various witch hunts. Nah... because the catholic church is not the 'true' church! Protestant pilgrims persecuting catholics in the new world? They're not 'true' christians either... If christianity's goal posts were used in football, that would really kick ass. It's a good thing Jesus didn't come back before Martin Luther started his reformation. Christ would be like "Oh me, there are no real Christians!". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seeker001 Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Alternate history hub did an interesting video about what may have happened if Christianity never caught on. Pretty interesting Say what you will about Christianity, but it did unite people for better and for worst 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amateur Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 A world in which the xian god did not exist would be exactly like this one, because that's what this is. People would've invented gods and religions just like people did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gall Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 A world in which the xian god did not exist would be exactly like this one, because that's what this is. People would've invented gods and religions just like people did. that is a giant assumption. There would be differences. It would be like going back in time and changing some event and then going forward again to see what the ripples in the timeline changed. Maybe they would still invent gods... maybe they would invent better cheese instead. No one can say for certain what outcome the future will have so no change in the past can be quantified in this way without actually travelling through time. Nothing just is what it is, it is what we make of it and if you go and start changing major events what we make of it changes drastically. Other than for fun this sort of speculation is irrelevant. But it is fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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