What Would It Take to Prove the Existence of a God?

[DeeKnow]

Originally posted by: JustAnAverageGuy

What Would It Take to Prove the Existence of a God?

a simple sighting will do for me...!
(I'm easy to please, as you can tell)

 

[Match]

Originally posted by: JustAnAverageGuy
Attempt to stir up discussion follows:

What would prevent Moses, Noah, Jesus, etc from making an incredible discovery(un-burning wood for example), use it, and say it was an act of God?

I'm not sure what you're getting at here (probably because I'm too tired). Moses reportedly did see the burning bush, but no one else was there at the time to see it iirc. If they did make such a discovery, they would probably see it as an act of God, and thus witness accordingly. How else could they explain such a phenomenon with their belief system?

 

[Krakerjak]

What would be the point?

Would you really change or live life differently if it were proven that God exists?
I don't think the world will change very much if it was a universally proven fact.

People will still "sin", murder, commit suicide, do drugs, exploit anything that can be exploited. I actually think that things would get worse if Gods existance were to be proven tomorrow. I don't know how it would get worse but I don't think this world would become a peaceful utopia where all people worshipped God their proven creator.

 

[Corporate Thug]

:camera: of god

 

[alkemyst]

Want for God is different for everyone, there is no way to explain why in one statement....closest you can get covering the most people is to say through God(s) there is HOPE when your mortal body fails.

To those that claim they don't understand the fear of death and they have none....it's laughable to me as usually those talking about that have no experience with even a close call to have a frame of reference. Usually they will talk about some dangerous sport they are in and how they cheat death 'every second' of the day :roll: . Most of these types when faced with possible death out of their control cry like little babies that dropped their pacifier.

Very few people will admit "Yeah I am scared to death of dying".

For those that claim to not understand why someone would want something more after life, you can't be that stupid I hope.

 

[MAME]

Originally posted by: ariafrost
If there is no God... how do you explain miracles? Such as a boy that drowns and is pronounced dead comes back to life and begins to breath 2 hours after... (check CNN).

why can't the body come back to life without god? explain to me how this even remotely has anything ot do with a supreme being

 

[Chu]

Originally posted by: JustAnAverageGuy
A thread similar to this caught my attention on one of the other forums that I found strangely through a irrelevant google search result.

One rule I found interesting was this.

Try not to 'shift the burden' as a means to answer questions.

Seems like a good enough rule, try to stick with it.

Religious people, particularly, those of you who were non-religious before

What caused you to believe? Were you raised in a religious family? etc.

Non-religious people

See thread title. What would it take to convince you that there was one?

Personally, I don't think there is one. I'd state reasons, but I want to hear others first.

I'm not looking for reasons to believe or start becoming religious, it was just an interesting thread, and I wanted to hear ATOT's thoughts on it.

I don't really want to post a link to the old thread because I don't want a rehash of the old ideas

Try to keep this civil (A hard request for ATOT, I know, but try )

I haven't read through this thread, but two things I want to bring up.

(1) Without faith, religion is meaningless. For this very reason if there is a god - I doubt we will ever know it.

(2) Something a lot of people in the religion vs. science debate just do not get. Science can only disprove - it cannot prove. What's really funny about this is that when pressed with the question 'is there a god,' the answer we get back isn't 'yes' or 'no,' it's essentially a shrug - which drives some people insane.

-Chu

 

[cquark]

Originally posted by: lobadobadingdong

Originally posted by: JustAnAverageGuy

Originally posted by: lobadobadingdong
just keep in mind not a singe thing has ever been disproven in the bible. (archealogically/scientifically speaking of course, most evidence actually supports the bibles historical accounts)

There are many things that have been disproven.

I'm not saying EVERYTHING in it is wrong, but most certainly EVERYTHING in it isn't correct.

name 1 single thing, that has been disproven beyond any doubt. that can be proven with actual proof.

...

The world was created in 6 days, isn't it possible our miniscule understanding of space/time realationships merit logic that 6 days of god's time table is not the same as 6 days of our perception of time. on the first day light was created, coulda been the big bang theory or just our sun (we won't know until we meet God), but at that point in time the earth didn't exist, so where is the one revolution of our little sphere able to be measured by man yet?

If a person is willing to be as flexible in their interpretation of as you are above and set the standard of proof as high as you do above (beyond any doubt), then there are no facts that will ever shake your belief, and that's fine, as long as you're honest and explicit about your standards as you are in the statements above.

theory of evolution has sooo many holes in it it's unfathonable. these guys bring up so many reasons the theory is more akin to fiction it's unreal.

There are many confusions in this statement, which I'll try to address individually. First, if you're flexible in your interpretations of either creation account in Genesis as you are above, then evolution is no problem for you. Second, it's important not to confuse the fact of evolution (allele frequencies change over time) from the modern theory of natural selection. Third, the creationists have never been able to present an argument against either the fact of evolution or the the modern theory of natural selection that's held up under scientific peer review. I'd suggest you find someone with deeper scientific knowledge than that radio site you cite above, though. Howevr, if you have such an argument, please write it up and submit it for publication in Science or Nature, as you could become a famous scientist.

 

[cquark]

Originally posted by: lobadobadingdong
just keep in mind not a singe thing has ever been disproven in the bible. (archealogically/scientifically speaking of course, most evidence actually supports the bibles historical accounts)

One last important point: people keep stating the Bible in this thread, ignoring the important question of which Bible? There are four major BIblical canons: Ethiopian, Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant, all of which call a different set of books, The Bible. There are also the Eastern Christians who broke away from the Orthodox church, such as the Copts, who use an older version of the Orthodox Bible, and modern Christians who accept ancient books discovered in the 20th century, such as the gnostic Gospels, as canonical. Then of course there are the many differences between translations. It's obviously difficult to prove or disprove anything given such a moving target.

 

[Vikaden]

Religion is a form of control for the weak minded and general masses.

 

[imported_Richard]

First you have to define "a God". You may have done this somewhere in the 7+ pages of posts, but I'd rather not read all of them.

Richard

 

[upsciLLion]

Originally posted by: Vikaden
Religion is a form of control for the weak minded and general masses.

So is government. Now run along and pay your taxes like a good little citizen.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Vikaden
Religion is a form of control for the weak minded and general masses.

You keep telling yourself this....maybe you will be cool someday. They may say 'look at vikaden, he is so AngSt filled and dreamy'. As far as the general masses comment goes, what is your separation from it? You are posting on ATOT, not exactly the borderlands of society.

There are many strong minded people that believe in God or a Diety. Many that would serve your a$$ on a nice platter, eat the flesh medium rare, burp and knock back a couple beers while deciding on a concubine for the night. Good job on the shallow thinking though....you just lumped yourself into the weak minded and general masses together.

Don't confuse the martyrs and zealots out there with those that just don't think life was a spontanious combustion process.

 

[Cawchy87]

I have been a beliver my whole life. But after reading A brief history of time by: Stephen Hawking that confermed everything. Just thing about all the laws of the universe and that govern us, they couldn't have come just by chance. Friction for example, we could not function without friction. just something to ponder.

 

[Harvey]

I gave up on religion around the age of 16. Winning the lottery might do some convincing, but I think the odds are better for that than the existence of any deity. :wine:

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

Originally posted by: Cawchy87
Just thing about all the laws of the universe and that govern us, they couldn't have come just by chance.

Why not?

Originally posted by: Richard
First you have to define "a God". You may have done this somewhere in the 7+ pages of posts, but I'd rather not read all of them.

Richard

You can change the number of posts per page from 20 to up to 100 here. Only page and a half that way

 

[Honkus]

When the heavens part and Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Christina Aguilera and Nicole Richie are put on the same airplane and are sent hurtling downward at high speed over a large body of water. Then I would believe.

In Jeebus name I pray, Amen.

 

[Wuffsunie]

Originally posted by: lirion

Originally posted by: bonkers325
if a gigantic food descended from the heavens and squooshed somebody.

You mean like a giant burrito or a bowl of corn flakes or something?

No, no no. We need a reenactment of the destruction of Midian (sp?) by a giant loaf of barley bread. (As told in the Passover hagadah.) What city it dosen't matter, though I might get some private satisification out of it being East St. Louis.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: AcidicFury
I know for me, I started truly believing in God after my confirmation. I just felt that I had a connection with a divine presence, and so I felt that it was indeed God. You can't actually prove the existence of God, its just a belief system. You have to BELIEVE that He is there. If you listen with your mind and heart, you could probably feel His presence.

Bah, that's just something drunk people say...

 

[flyfish]

Existence is proof of God.

 

[badmouse]

One way to prove the existence of god is to re-define god. If "god" is "round pieces of silver alloy with 25c on them", and I have a quarter in my hand, then it's pretty easy to prove the existence of that god.

This argument is pointless, since we must first define god to the satisfaction of all parties involved in the discussion. Then we have to agree on a definition of prove, and a definition of existence.

Interestingly, I take the words "the", "of", "a" and "to" on faith.

 

[conjur]

No way to prove the existence of God as there is no God.

Just a man-made concept born of fear and ignorance.


I think there's a greater chance Jesus was a space alien.

 

[slurmsmackenzie]

give the book of daniel a go. if you can actually understand the sybolisms. some very startling revelations about the world as we know it today. don't let the corruption and perversion of God by organized religion be you definition of what God is or is professed to be. it would be like calling america a democracy. sure, that was the basic idea of it, but through years of self serving, power hungry individuals all aspects of it are lost. now faith is generated by fear and nastalgia, a less obvious propaganda.

it's funny how people pit science and christianity against each other. on most fronts, the two agree completely.

oh yeah.... jesus built my hotrod

 

[purepolly]

quote:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you listen with your mind and heart, you could probably feel His presence.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



That's your conscience not God.

Let the flames and war begin.


Listen longer to the stillness inside yourself and you may begin to feel his presence. With time you will begin to be able to discern the difference between your conscience and his presence.

That being said, I will also admit I have heard the voice of god once.

 

[bobbybe01]

Originally posted by: purepolly
quote:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you listen with your mind and heart, you could probably feel His presence.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That's your conscience not God.

Let the flames and war begin.

What a great way to tackle somebody's sacred beliefs. Plus, witnessing of your lack of belief won't help this soul, anyway. Nice try.