What Would You Do If A Scientifically Acceptable “God” Revealed Himself?

[NoEvidence]

Those of us who are skeptical really need more than just testimonies to believe something so extraordinary as the God of Abraham,  or any God for that matter.   As the late Christopher Hitchens said “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence”, and as we can all see we still have no “extraordinary evidence” that is acceptable to science to prove that any God or Gods exist at all.

Now, I was watching a discussion between Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss and Lawrence mentioned he wouldn’t believe in God unless God showed up, which even then he wasn’t sure if he would believe in him.  This is where it gets tricky, this is something I think personally will never happen, but for fun, lets just throw it out there.

If a being does show up, and displays to everyone powers that go against all the laws we have scientifically established, and then the being also claims to be the creator and shows he can create anything at will, do we believe in that being as the creator?  If I remember correctly from my days in church, Revelations in the Bible warns about the antichrist and his beasts coming about performing godlike miracles convincing people the beast aka satan is God. (correct me if I am wrong)

On the plus side we will have physical evidence of the supernatural, on the minus side, we will have a book that we all have dismissed as fairy tale warning about such an event happening. lol

What would you do?

[Endemoniada]

Seeing may be believing, but it does not necessarily entail worshiping. 

[Galien]

Say "Hi, you and I have a few issues to discuss".

[Guest Babylonian Dream]

First I'd have a little interview with this God and ask him about all the mishaps in the world. And ask him why he lets it continue like he does? Or does he have control over it?

 

After our discussion, I'd proceed to go to my therapist and see if there is something wrong with my head. This is second because I know the temptation to inquire about God's lack of empathy would be too strong for me not to. But I might overcome the temptation, knowing it was likely a delusion. If he was in fact real, then I'd believe, but without a reason to worship him, why should I?

[boftx]

If I could even be persuaded to accept the existence of an actual being that was in fact God, I would probably ask why we were not given the ability to comprehend infinity. Then I would ask "who created you and what are next week's winning lottery numbers?"

[mwc]

     What the hell is a god?

 

     Seriously.

 

     For lots of folks it used to be some anthropomorphic dude and, without going over all the possibilities, it became some sort of all-powerful "entity" that just sort of exists in some way.  Others just think god is some sort of projection of the self, some universal energy or forces of nature.

 

     When essentially everything has been or has the potential to be some sort of god I simply see no reason to ever consider anything a god.  It really has no worthwhile meaning.

 

          mwc

[raoul]

I can't add too much to the other very astute and funny comments except 'So?'. Assuming the god depicted is the bible created go, any morally decent human being would be compelled to say the same. It's no different than the childhood schoolyard bully showing up, making threats, and other frightened kids submitting to his tyranny.

[roadrunner]

As the late Christopher Hitchens said “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence”, and as we can all see we still have no “extraordinary evidence” 

 

Hitchens lifted this quote from Carl Sagan and the first person that is documented as saying it was just some regular guy who wasnt famous. EDIT: The guys name was Marcello Truzzi.

 

However, I just can't wrap my mind around god anymore. I dont know what to imagine anything other than an old man with muscles and a long beard. We all have attributes that are beneficial on earth so a being outside of earth, where one didnt evolve under these conditions.....just I cant even put in in words its so stupid. Sorry, I tried....At one point I would have said I would bow in submission but I'm at the point know where I'd probably give him the finger. Killing kids and consenting to rape and slavery is nobody I would bow to.

[florduh]

I think by definition, the "supernatural" can't be examined or even detected by natural means. That's why the emphasis on faith in things unseen. According to the Bible there can be visible signs and wonders (magic) that is of evil origin, so any overt display that would negate the need for faith should be distrusted by the believer.

 

It does indeed take faith to believe in a posited world of undetectable beings and forces. That's why religions are free to make up any rules and scenarios they want; though they can't prove they're right, you can't prove them wrong either.

[par4dcourse]

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."--Arthur C. Clarke

[Thought2Much]

If this god existed, and if it was the god of Christianity, and if it actually said that it did all of the stuff that it did in the Bible, and if it told us that it allows all of the bad shit that has ever happened to humanity, and is still happening now, for some "plan" it has...?

 

Yeah, I might "believe" after that, but I couldn't ever love or worship such a thing.

[◊ crazyguy123 ◊]

If this god existed, and if it was the god of Christianity, and if it actually said that it did all of the stuff that it did in the Bible, and if it told us that it allows all of the bad shit that has ever happened to humanity, and is still happening now, for some "plan" it has...?

 

Yeah, I might "believe" after that, but I couldn't ever love or worship such a thing.

 

I agree. I would believe that the being was real, but then I would run away and try to hide, though that would be impossible. I certainly wouldn't be brave, or stupid, enough to tell him he is a dick who should burn in his own Hell to his face or backside, whichever part of him I can see without dying and going to Hell.

 

If a being that claimed it was God could be scientifically verified as being real, I would believe that the being existed. Would I believe it was a god? Maybe not. I would have my doubts as to what the being really was, regardless of whether I believed that the being was real. Just because it can do some cool tricks that no living thing on the Earth can yet do, doesn't necessarily mean it's a god. It could be an alien, demon, or some other type of being no person has ever conceived of and just showing off to make people think it was a god or God, the creator of everything.

[Margee]

This would be me if I met him face to face........... 

 

[raoul]

This would be me if I met him face to face........... 

 

They say a 'picture is worth a thousand words' and all I can say is you did it again kiddo - take a bow. That's a classic pic.

[Adrianime]

If a being showed up and gave proof it can create life, destroy life, or do anything at will.  I would be scared as hell of it and do whatever it wanted. 

 

Worship?  Yeah if that's what it wants.  As long as it keeps me alive.

 

The whole god + love thing doesn't make sense to me.  I'd imagine if such a being existed it wouldn't care much about the infinite things it could create.  Therefor, I wouldn't excpect it to love me.  I would live by its rules out of fear and reverence.

[DrNo]

I would ask him why the hell he's been hiding for so long. Of course, any being with the power of the cosmos at its disposal would probably regard us as little more than pond scum, so why would this being ever even reveal itself to us in the first place?

[SquareOne]

Seeing may be believing, but it does not necessarily entail worshiping. 

 

Exactly my thoughts.

 

I couldn't really offer genuine worship.  I mean - it would just be weird.

 

So you made me.  Big deal.  My mum and dad made me, and I love them, but I don't worship them.

[QualifiedCommenter]

 

 

If a being does show up, and displays to everyone powers that go against all the laws we have scientifically established, and then the being also claims to be the creator and shows he can create anything at will, do we believe in that being as the creator?  If I remember correctly from my days in church, Revelations in the Bible warns about the antichrist and his beasts coming about performing godlike miracles convincing people the beast aka satan is God. (correct me if I am wrong)

 

 

 

A lack of evidence would never convince me of a God. Just because this God would do things that our current knowledge of the universe and its laws of physics cannot explain does not mean they will never be explained. I mean, if I went into a time machine and went back in time 3000 years to show the people of that day what an atomic bomb is, they would freak out. I assure you that not a single person would attribute the device to anything but magic or what absolutely can never be explained if they were to see what happens when it explodes. But today, we understand them as practical human creations, no God needed.

 

The following is what I would need to be proved to me for me to believe. It simply cannot be done just by one big thing.

 

1: God would need to scientifically explain how he fits into physics and science. To do this, God would explain everything pertaining to the topic that we don't understand yet, and explain how it all works, and above all, why he needs to exist. If God, through all his explanations, still does not obviously need to exist for things to be the way they are, I would not feel convinced to believe this God is God.

 

2: God would need to explain how morality can possibly sprout from him, given the Divine Command Theory. God would need to explain how either our current views of the origin of morality are wrong, or how it fits in with a God like that existing. If God cannot prove that morals come from him, then this God is simply not God, since even he - to some degree - serves under the same universal morals as we do. This would put up a red flag that he's not so divine after all. (In the case he lays out a completely unknown set of morals that nobody follows, perhaps he entered the wrong universe with the wrong set of logic on accident.)

 

3: God would need to be a half-decent being that follows a perfect set of morals. This certainly wouldn't be the Christian god as depicted in the Bible, namely the Old Testament. I would never believe in that God even if he did appear simply since he is so ridiculously immoral. I would sooner believe he's Satan or an equivalent being. God would need to be the absolute definition of perfect, loving and understanding with no contradictions whatsoever in what we can see about his actions and how he speaks to us. There would need to be absolutely no humanesque corruption whatsoever, political or otherwise. This God would truly need to reek of perfection and love. Anything resembling a human and the corrupt way we go about things when in such power would never convince me. Again, I would sooner believe that being to be Satan than God.

 

4: God would need to explain to us the nature of his existence. If God existed outside time where things cannot be "made", how did he make time? How did he come to be? If God would not explain to us the nature of his existence, I would not believe in him, under the assumption that God cannot explain it to us.

 

Basically, I've thrown away the concept of divine faith. A God that wants us to rely on faith after giving us such amazing logical abilities is not a real God, and is far more likely a political device created by humans in order to control other humans. It's as simple as that. There is absolutely no way to rationalize a God who wants to confuse us by forcing us to believe in him purely by faith and by absolutely nothing else whatsoever. There cannot be a good God who would find joy in making us live in this way. Both of my quotes in my signature pertain to this. This God is either so absurdly cruel that it would be hard to consider him God, or he's not real. For me to believe in God, it would need to be a God that, for once, does not operate like this. However, since God has already not revealed himself, I can conclude that a God that I would believe in would never show himself in any remotely identifiable way.

[seeker001]

Anything supernatural is something science has yet to be able to explain. I'd still be skeptical about the divine nature, but if shown to be powerful I am willing to show the entity respect. I prefer to live to a ripe old age.

 

I highly doubt that God, provided one exists, would real itself to us mortals. It hasn't shown interest in intervening in mortal affairs before now that is provable. Why start now? Likely a ploy being used by powerful humans to enslave us. If you can't get what you want through reason, dazzle the masses with shiny and power. They will fall into line, the herd of humanity is stupid.

 

I may believe in the individual. The individual can be reasoned with, but mob mentality is toxic to critical thinking skills. Get the masses to believe and the individual is likely to fall into line or at the very least keep silent concerning any doubt. Especially with an 'or else' added to the end.

[Bhim]

Honestly, science has never been a barrier to my believing in the supernatural (which does NOT mean the same thing as belief in Christianity).  It would be nice if God did some public act that we could all recognize, but under the assumption that he exists it would appear that he has chosen not to.  Thus we're left with so-called personal experiences, i.e. someone has a vision, talks to a spiritual teacher, reads something in a book, etc.  These experiences are fine and good, but they can't be communicated to others.  The way I see it, if someone believes in God through these experiences, that's logically consistent.  But it doesn't make a good argument for convincing anyone else.

 

That's why I reject all Christian explanations about "things God has done in my life."  Usually the examples evangelicals give are frivolous, but even if they weren't, one person can't communicate his experiene to anyone else.

[TheBluegrassSkeptic]

Deities do not exist. Period. Anything that has powers we cannot comprehend is alien to us, not a god. Obviously, if this alien came to us and ENSLAVED us, I would not have a choice about servitude, but it would never be willingly, and frankly, I would probably opt for death. YOLO, why let it be controlled?

[midniterider]

Those of us who are skeptical really need more than just testimonies to believe something so extraordinary as the God of Abraham,  or any God for that matter.   As the late Christopher Hitchens said “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence”, and as we can all see we still have no “extraordinary evidence” that is acceptable to science to prove that any God or Gods exist at all.

 

Now, I was watching a discussion between Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss and Lawrence mentioned he wouldn’t believe in God unless God showed up, which even then he wasn’t sure if he would believe in him.  This is where it gets tricky, this is something I think personally will never happen, but for fun, lets just throw it out there.

 

If a being does show up, and displays to everyone powers that go against all the laws we have scientifically established, and then the being also claims to be the creator and shows he can create anything at will, do we believe in that being as the creator?  If I remember correctly from my days in church, Revelations in the Bible warns about the antichrist and his beasts coming about performing godlike miracles convincing people the beast aka satan is God. (correct me if I am wrong)

 

On the plus side we will have physical evidence of the supernatural, on the minus side, we will have a book that we all have dismissed as fairy tale warning about such an event happening. lol

 

What would you do?

 

I'd ride off on my unicorn and hide.

[Bhim]

Deities do not exist. Period. Anything that has powers we cannot comprehend is alien to us, not a god. Obviously, if this alien came to us and ENSLAVED us, I would not have a choice about servitude, but it would never be willingly, and frankly, I would probably opt for death. YOLO, why let it be controlled?

 

Heh, well to be fair to this point, Arthur C. Clark did say that any sufficiently advanced technology would be indistinguishable to us from magic.  I will confess that this raises the question of what defines a god and separates such a being from someone with advanced technology who is simply outside the bounds of our natural experience.  Maybe such an individual wouldn't want to be worshiped in the first place.

[Yrth]

Those of us who are skeptical really need more than just testimonies to believe something so extraordinary as the God of Abraham,  or any God for that matter.   As the late Christopher Hitchens said “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence”, and as we can all see we still have no “extraordinary evidence” that is acceptable to science to prove that any God or Gods exist at all.

 

Now, I was watching a discussion between Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss and Lawrence mentioned he wouldn’t believe in God unless God showed up, which even then he wasn’t sure if he would believe in him.  This is where it gets tricky, this is something I think personally will never happen, but for fun, lets just throw it out there.

 

If a being does show up, and displays to everyone powers that go against all the laws we have scientifically established, and then the being also claims to be the creator and shows he can create anything at will, do we believe in that being as the creator?  If I remember correctly from my days in church, Revelations in the Bible warns about the antichrist and his beasts coming about performing godlike miracles convincing people the beast aka satan is God. (correct me if I am wrong)

 

On the plus side we will have physical evidence of the supernatural, on the minus side, we will have a book that we all have dismissed as fairy tale warning about such an event happening. lol

 

What would you do?

 

No. Contrary to the classic Christian syllogism, the ability to perform "miracles" does not prove that the performer is "the creator." All it proves is that someone has amazing abilities. To the extent that these abilities conflict with our science, we would attempt to readjust our understanding of how the universe works based on the new evidence.

 

But I see where you're going. What if some entity shows up now and actually proves that they created the universe? Well, shit, man, I suppose I would be extremely interested to know everything there is to know about the situation. Wouldn't you? 

[TheBluegrassSkeptic]

 

Deities do not exist. Period. Anything that has powers we cannot comprehend is alien to us, not a god. Obviously, if this alien came to us and ENSLAVED us, I would not have a choice about servitude, but it would never be willingly, and frankly, I would probably opt for death. YOLO, why let it be controlled?

 

Heh, well to be fair to this point, Arthur C. Clark did say that any sufficiently advanced technology would be indistinguishable to us from magic.  I will confess that this raises the question of what defines a god and separates such a being from someone with advanced technology who is simply outside the bounds of our natural experience.  Maybe such an individual wouldn't want to be worshiped in the first place.

See, that would depend on the technology we have on hand, our understanding of the known Universe, AND whether our minds are broad enough at that point to realize that ANYTHING we do not understand is alien to us. Doesn't mean we should deify it. I think we are ALMOST there. Not quite, but almost. Some of us, like me, ARE there and keep getting the message across.