What would you do if you found out God existed?

freshpopcorn wrote: »

Just pretend you wake up tomorrow morning to find out that God has sent a messenger to the word preching his message. His message is basically telling you to be a good Catholic(not perfect) in order to get into heaven. Your proof that this person is telling you the truth is they can tell you exactly what your loved ones who are in heaven are like and he can preform miracles.
Would you change to being a better Catholic? Or would you carry on in your sinful ways?

Carry on as normal. I decide how I live my life. It's only sinful if you choose to believe that rubbish. Normal human biology is not sinful.

If god existed I'd prefer for it to appear in person rather than some "messenger"..

"Messengers" are usually the main problem with religion.

I'd go up to him/!her and say in my best Miley Byrne from Glenroe accent impression.... 'Well, holy Godddddd!!!'

I'd want to check the data, make sure it's reproducible in triplicate, or sufficient to bring the p < 0.05, in multiple test centres around the world.

Then <insert Stephen Fry interview>.

Kill the **** for George Dubya Bush, and for letting McDonalds do away with the McRib.

Even if god was real I wouldn't want to worship it anyway, so I'd carry on as normal.

I mean, why would you worship a being that will send you to hell if you don't bow down and pray to it? Always seemed odd to me.

freshpopcorn wrote: »

Just pretend you wake up tomorrow morning to find out that God has sent a messenger to the word preching his message. His message is basically telling you to be a good Catholic(not perfect) in order to get into heaven. Your proof that this person is telling you the truth is they can tell you exactly what your loved ones who are in heaven are like and he can preform miracles.
Would you change to being a better Catholic? Or would you carry on in your sinful ways?

So basically change nothing then?

I think I could work with that

No one can answer this as well as Stephen Fry Imo


Gay Byrne:
... suppose it's all true and you walk up to the pearly gates and you are confronted by God. What would Stephen Fry say to him, her or it?

Stephen Fry:
I will basically (it's known as theodicy I think) I'll say, "Bone cancer in children? What's that about? How dare you! How dare you create a world where there is such misery that is not our fault! It's not right. It is utterly, utterly evil. Why should I respect a capricious, mean-minded, stupid god who creates a world that is so full of injustice and pain. That's what I'd say.

And you think you're going to get in?
Oh, but I wouldn't want to. I wouldn't want to get in on his terms. They're wrong.

Now, if I died and it was Pluto, Hades and if it were the twelve Greek gods, then I'd have more truck with it because the Greeks didn't pretend not to be human in their appetites, and in their capriciousness and their unreasonableness; they didn't present themselves as being all-seeing, all-wise, all-kind, all-munificent; because the god who created this universe (if it was created by God) is, quite clearly, a maniac - utter maniac, totally selfish.

We have to spend our life on our knees thanking him? What kind of god would do that?

Yes, the world is very splendid, but it also has in it insects whose whole life-cycle is to burrow into the eyes of children and make them blind. They eat outwards from the eyes. Why did you do that? Why? Why did you do that to us? You could easily have made a creation where that didn't exist. It is simply not acceptable.

So, you know, atheism is not just about not believing there's a god - but, on the assumption there is one, what kind of god is it? It's perfectly apparent that he is monstrous, utterly monstrous, and deserves no respect whatsoever. The moment you banish him your life becomes simpler, purer, cleaner - more worth living in my opinion.

ShoulderChip wrote: »

No one can answer this as well as Stephen Fry Imo


Gay Byrne:
... suppose it's all true and you walk up to the pearly gates and you are confronted by God. What would Stephen Fry say to him, her or it?

Stephen Fry:
I will basically (it's known as theodicy I think) I'll say, "Bone cancer in children? What's that about? How dare you! How dare you create a world where there is such misery that is not our fault! It's not right. It is utterly, utterly evil. Why should I respect a capricious, mean-minded, stupid god who creates a world that is so full of injustice and pain. That's what I'd say.

And you think you're going to get in?
Oh, but I wouldn't want to. I wouldn't want to get in on his terms. They're wrong.

Now, if I died and it was Pluto, Hades and if it were the twelve Greek gods, then I'd have more truck with it because the Greeks didn't pretend not to be human in their appetites, and in their capriciousness and their unreasonableness; they didn't present themselves as being all-seeing, all-wise, all-kind, all-munificent; because the god who created this universe (if it was created by God) is, quite clearly, a maniac - utter maniac, totally selfish.

We have to spend our life on our knees thanking him? What kind of god would do that?

Yes, the world is very splendid, but it also has in it insects whose whole life-cycle is to burrow into the eyes of children and make them blind. They eat outwards from the eyes. Why did you do that? Why? Why did you do that to us? You could easily have made a creation where that didn't exist. It is simply not acceptable.

So, you know, atheism is not just about not believing there's a god - but, on the assumption there is one, what kind of god is it? It's perfectly apparent that he is monstrous, utterly monstrous, and deserves no respect whatsoever. The moment you banish him your life becomes simpler, purer, cleaner - more worth living in my opinion.

God can't interfere,if he did people would say well why did he allow my business to fail,why did my kid break her leg or why the miserable summer?
Basically blamed for everything.

Most of the ills of the world are within the wit of man to cure.So instead of asking why does God allow such things to exist ask why do we allow them to continue.

ShoulderChip wrote: »

Handy that, like me sending a forest fire to your neighbourhood which sets you and your friend on fire, then saying I am sorry I only have enough juice in my fire extinguisher to put one of you out, so off you go on your way, its fairer if I don't interefere, if only you had been cleverer and worn anti fire suits.
by the way if you dont want this fire for all eternity you need to praise me as you were born evil and need to redeem yourself by telling everyone how I am such a nice bloke and living the life i have thought u to live as humans need me for a moral code as ye are too stupid to figure out to be nice otherwise.

Nothing like that.

Timberrrrrrrr wrote: »

I know a 5 year old who will die soon from a disease, pass us on that cure please horse

Most I said .

Check Twitter to see if it's trending Worldwide.

Then I'd do nothing. My daily life isn't based on the existence or non-existence of God.

kneemos wrote: »

God can't interfere,if he did people would say well why did he allow my business to fail,why did my kid break her leg or why the miserable summer?

Well why do people pray for him to intervene then? What about all those people who went to Lourdes and apparently had miraculous cures? Are you saying it was medical treatment that cured them?

At the end of the day, if he can't interfere then he's not much use, is he?

kneemos wrote: »

Most I said .

The majority of people die from disease, how is it within the "wit" of man to cure this?



http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs310/en/index2.html

kneemos wrote: »

Have to die from something.

Yup

And it is within this "gods" power to make that a fast, painless process. Instead he allows diseases like cancer to eat a child's body alive and for that child to die in agony because he is a loving "god" :rolleyes:

Timberrrrrrrr wrote: »

Yup

And it is within this "gods" power to make that a fast, painless process. Instead he allows diseases like cancer to eat a child's body alive and for that child to die in agony because he is a loving "god" :rolleyes:

I postulated that if he interfered he would have to interfere with all mans mishaps.
Children do die of cancer,they die in droves everyday across the developing world of even simple diseases,all kinds of unimaginable stuff happens.
No idea why it is this way.If you create life it's going to have good and bad I suppose.

I wouldnt do anything until we got an apology