So, what if God, one day, undeniably proved his existence to the world, but...

I’m an atheist so, from my point of view, the whole thing would be hilarious and VERY fun to watch.

It would be blamed on a government conspiracy.

@Sakata: Well right. I’m an agnostic, but that would be a moot point if a God came along and proved his or her existence.

@MrMontpetit: I could see this. How would you react?

@cprevite I figure I’ve been a “non-believer” for so long that I was marked off His list a loooooong time ago. Nothin’ left to do at that point but laugh at the theologists.

Some of society would still refuse to believe. Others wouldn’t be so stupid. I would,however, be a little disappointed because all those that you mentioned are kinda pitiful compared to “my” God.

How funny would the Christians be?

“Oh I don’t mind since I know my God is still coming.”
OR
“When our real God gets here you’re all in trouble.”

Yea, he missed the bus to Earth. He’s on the next one though.
Psst… he’s not coming. Let it go.

How funny would the atheists be? All this time there was no scientific evidence of a God and yet here he is.. despite my best attempts at logic. I’m sorry I didn’t believe in you oh great flying spaghetti monster.

What would happen to Christmas?

I’m under the assumption that most atheists would give out a simple “are you fuckin’ kidding me?!” then move on with our day as described above.

@imhellokitty X-mas would continue on as planned, at least in the US it would. We Americans are much more stubborn than religious so we’re not going to give up a holiday or time off work.

What’s a Zues?

Oops. Sorry @AstroChuck. I meant, Zeus.

now answer the question, my friend

@imhellokitty: I imagine Christmas would return to its’ secular roots. Santa, stockings, trees, etc. would continue along.

Just because some creature came down and proclaimed it was God doesn’t mean all Athiests would burst in flames or fall crying on their knees or somehow be deserving of mocking, @NaturalMineralWater. As an athiest, I wouldn’t give a hoot because this God creature, as with Zeus and Thor and all other God creatures, has no influence/bearing/purpose in my life.

@dynamicduo: You would basically ignore him/her?

@dynamicduo That’s just crazy! You don’t think it would be life changing? You’d still use the logic that was proven to be flawed? That just seems utterly blind.

@NaturalMineralWater, his logic isn’t anymore flawed than you assuming that it would be a life changing experience. He’s just saying that even if a deity proved itself beyond a shadow of a doubt, he’d still remain apathetic to.

And though I may be biased, I think you’d have a lot less acceptance from the religiously minded than you would the non-believers. I can see the scientifically minded just attempting to study this “divine” creature and learn as much about it as possible; the exposure of a deity would violently sunder the religious landscape. There would be wars, people proclaiming that this creature isn’t really God but the devil, and worst of all, bitching and moaning. Gross.

Otherwise, I think it would just start to look like the Forgotten Realms campaign setting for D&D, where gods exist, it’s just a matter of whether you choose to worship them or not. And that is really kind of funny.

I myself (an agnostic) would love to know there is a god of some kind. I don’t think people on the whole would accept that this god, even though proved to exist, is the God. They’d either deny s/he was any god at all, or say that it doesn’t mean their god can’t also exist. It would cause a lot of turmoil and strife.

I think that most Evangelicals would react the same way they do to anyone who comes along with a message different than their own. It would be something along the lines of, “The Bible says that in the End Times there will be a great deceiver who fools the world into going astray.”

Atheists would continue to not believe because they would assume some kind of trickery was happening.

Agnostics would be happy that they had an answer since they weren’t attached to a particular conception of God.

I would probably be happy and go about my life the way I always have, unless there was a new message and reason to change.

Whatever showed up and announced it was God would fit my definition, however my first reaction would be extreme suspicion. I’d have to do some digging before I threw my hands up in prayer.

That is assuming of course, it is our real god.

It would not change my life. I might accept it’s existence, but I might not change either.

@cprevite: Pretty much. What relevance does this new being have on my life? They didn’t pay for my university. They don’t help me make my loaf of bread. They don’t provide anything that I don’t provide for myself, thus why would I care to listen to them? Sure I might listen for the first few minutes, but unless that god said “Sure I’m here, but I’m not helping you guys out at all, I’m just watching what I started” I wouldn’t care what they said as it simply has no relevance in my life.

@NaturalMineralWater – What logic are you talking about that was proven to be flawed? The only logic I use to prove to myself that there is no God is twofold: one, my personal experiences, which as I indicate in the paragraph above show that any God has had no influence on my life and it has been through my sweat and blood that I have achieved all I have achieved so far. Two, the existence of the universe and the history of it, of which I am a fan of the concepts described in “A Brief History of Time” by Stephen Hawking, of which there is a lot of scientific data to support the conclusions of how our universe came to be from the Big Bang on. Neither of these two logic paths are made wrong or proven to be flawed by the sudden existence of a God. Sure, a God could come and say He started the Big Bang, but that wouldn’t negate any scientific observations from that point on.

And for what it’s worth, @MrMeltedCrayon, I’m a she, not a he.

They’d have to do something pretty miraculous for non-believers to believe. I don’t know, I’d be more worried about why they are here. It’d be amusing to watch everyone’s reaction. I’m not invested in any religion, I don’t claim to know who God is.

I’m not sure why everyone is changing the question. The question says “undeniably proved”. There would be no more worry of proof or miracles or anti-christs.

@NaturalMineralWater Short answer… I still wouldn’t care.

@Sakata “Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all – the apathy of human beings.”

You’re just looking to fake convert all us nonbelievers. Shoo.

@NaturalMineralWater I LOVE my apathy.

@Fireside hit the nail right on the head.

Evangelicals would not change their minds, atheists would be positive it was a hoax, agnostics would not believe it unless they had a notarized piece of paper and a guided tour through Heaven. Christopher Hitchens would publish a book entitled Are You There God? It’s Me Chris. arguing that this thing claiming to be “God” was merely Stephen Colbert in disguise on a hunt for better ratings.

In short, I’m pretty sure that’s why God has decided not to do this, He knows the fallible humans He created would turn the whole thing into Godgate.

This is correct – “undeniably proved” was added on purpose.

@SuperMouse: How do you think you would react?

@SuperMouse Brings up another good point. People Humans are a horrible addition to this planet.

“Created in His image” my ass. If that’s true then God’s either a cockroach or a dolphin.

I beieve that there is a being higher than me. I don’t have a set image for it. I grew up in a poly-deity, goddess based religion. I believe that “god” is all of those gods listed above and more.

In short…I don’t think my views would change at all. They’re already set to believe in all the gods you listed. :)

@NaturalMineralWater you question whether the atheists would be wrong in going on as they believe, even in the face of “proof” yet you mention that those other gods listed are “pitiful” compared to your God…so why would you go along with it if you find it “pitiful” isn’t that just as blind? To follow something you don’t believe in?

@adreamofautumn didn’t say I’d go on as normal. It would certainly be life-changing. I’d merely be disappointed.

@NaturalMineralWater okay fair enough. I guess I just needed clarification. I think I just felt a bit…uneasy with the use of the word “pitiful”. But, I guess it’s just because it goes against my own personal views, but we are all entitled to ours, even if we disagee.

@adreamofautumn well said. I suppose my view of Zeus would change anyway if I found he was more than just a myth from mount olympus.l

@NaturalMineralWater – yeah, Zeus was a badass. Though definitely less agreeable than my current conception of God.

@Sakata I can’t get past the idea of a “list”. The creator of the universe couldn’t just remember her grudges, so she has to write them down? How very Eurocentrically, evangelically Christian. Deep down inside, Sakata, there is a Baptist trying to break free. lol

The problem is in the words “undeniably proved.”

Those of us who already believe in a God have already seen sufficient proof to convince us, and would be unlikely to be swayed by a mere demonstration of power.

Those of us who do not believe in a God would be unlikely to change their minds based on a mere demonstration of power.

So the question turns on what “undeniably proved” means.

Say a giant image of the God in question were to appear in the sky simultaneously all over the world. At the same time, every person on the planet heard a calm and reassuring voice in their head explaining that this is in fact the one true god. So there’s no question about it.

Hey, don’t laugh. This was a hypothetical question after all

@AstroChuck what’s a zues gahsundtiet

So I guess it would then be “ZeusBlessYou” following sneezes.

@cprevite – HAHAAH Now I have to find that ” last thing that made you laugh out loud” thread and put you on there. Thanks!!!!

@cprevite So if the God in question could get inside everyone’s head anyway then how would there be any nonbelievers? Makes the whole thing pointless if He’s got mind control. That being the case even I would be down on one knee.

Oh look, a penny!

Are there any scientists here?

Whatever showed up would be measurable, to some degree, and we could make theories about the nature of this new phenomenon, and test them, and given the assumptions of the question, they would be reproducible. We would set about discovering the capabilities of this god (say it was Thor or Loki or Hera), and then we would behave appropriately, so as to maximize our utility.

It’s not as if this hasn’t happened before. Galileo and Einstein each, essentially, discovered a new “god.” I.e., something that dramatically changed the way we interacted with our universe. This would just be one more force, and we’d have to discover it’s nature. Perhaps it would behave randomly, to some degree, and be unpredictable. Perhaps it would want us to do things we consider strange in order for it not to kill us. Who knows?

Really, it doesn’t matter what nature the god had, and it doesn’t matter what we “believe” about the world. The world will act the way it acts, and if we try to violate laws, we will suffer the consequences. Anyone want to try violating the laws of the god named Gravity? How about Radiation? I thought not.

It already happened when a 90 foot Jesus appeared to Oral Roberts and told him to solicit millions from Robert’s followers. There is nothing more real than God asking for money.

And Zeus only works if you are dealing with the Greek Pantheon. What about Jupiter, Zeus’ Roman alter ego?

@gailcalled- Everyone knows that Juno is the real power behind him.

@Sakata: I didn’t say mind control. Just the ability to speak into our minds. You can still think for yourself.

I wouldn’t be disappointed because I don’t really have an expectation of God. The idea that a certain group of people worships the right God just doesn’t make sense to me. What I mean is, I believe there is one God… we just all happen to call it by a different name. I know I believe in God, but whether God is male or female, a spirit in the sky or in nature… I don’t know and don’t really care, to be honest.

As far as how society would react, I think a lot of people would freak out. Many people think the only true God is the one they worship. Don’t they see that it’s all the same, just called by a different name?

I agree with harp. Even great feats that show power, strength and/or supernatural ability would not necessarily convince me of godhood, no matter the name. If I had my way it would be Ishtar. Doesn’t everything lead back to her anyway?

Didn’t this kind of sorta already happen. You know like 2000 years ago. Someone came to Earth proclaiming that he was God in the flesh. I don’t know maybe his name was…Jesus or something like that. Any way, I don’t think it would matter too much. It might start a new religion. Like Christianity was started after Jesus was around. But there were still plenty of people who did not believe and still don’t believe. This ties in a bit to what I think dynamicduo was trying to convey. That even if something showed up claiming who knows what, not everyone would believe. And some would just go along with what they already believe. Just as people did 2000 years ago.

@lukiarobecheck Good point.

@lukiarobecheck the difference between the Manifestation you mention, the Manifestation I believe in (Baha’u’llah – I am Baha’i’) and the god cprevite describes is that God sent these prophets to a world where people had (have) freewill to chose whether to believe or not and in order for people to believe it takes a leap of faith that not all are willing or able to make. The god cprevite is speaking of makes it perfectly clear to all that he is the one true god.

@cprevite, I believe in God, so I like to think it wouldn’t come as a surprise if something like this were to happen. If I knew without a doubt this god was exactly who he said he was; first I would fall on my knees and praise him, then I would ask as many questions as he would allow.

@Bri_L: I am to please.

@SuperMouse: What’s ironic is that I don’t believe in God and I’d probably react very similar to you.

@All: What I find fascinating about many of the responses is how many of us feel the need to find the loophole in the scenario so we can continue believing or not believing as we do now.

According to the Baha’i belief in Progressive Revelation, all religions come from the same source. So to me it isn’t a big leap to love and honor God no matter what form in which he appears. I know the spiritual teachings that have been reflected in almost all faiths and those would help me to discern the presence of God.

Oneness of religion

This whole question actually depends on what “Zeus” does after he manifests himself to everyone. Does he just pop in one day and say, “Hey guys. I’m God. Just wanted to let you all know I’m real.”, and then just disappear again? If so, nothing much changes. The world still turns, physics still work, 1+1 still equals 2, and Pepsi is still better than Coke.

@Blondesjon I don’t think the power of any god would make Coke better than Pepsi. ;)

And Dr. Pepper is better than both.

@AstroChuck I don’t actually drink things that I can’t see through for the most part. I picked Pepsi over Coke because I do like the occasional Mountain Dew and I believe they’re Pepsi product. On that note..when I do drink a dark soda I am a pretty big fan of Dr. Pepper. :)

@AstroChuck….Dr Pepper claims to be a cream soda. That is a lie. Until I am presented with irrefutable evidence that Dr. Pepper is a cream soda I shall remain a Tab-gnostic.

@Blondesjon: Perhaps my hypothetical, undeniable god will provide you with that answer also.

@cprevite…he already has my friend…he already has

If there was some kind of undeniable proof that any kind of God existed (I’m agnostic, so I don’t have a personal god to begin with), I might finally believe that one exists, but I (most likely) would still choose not to follow whatever God was proven to be real.

If it was proven, somehow, I could no longer be agnostic, but I would still analyze the living hell out of whatever god had proven themselves to exist. My qualm would no longer be “there’s no way for us to know”, but would instead become, “They may be a god, but that doesn’t mean they deserve to be worshiped”. More and more questions would pop into my head, instead: This being is obviously from somewhere else and has the power to do things I, as a human, do not. But does that mean they’re a god or just a different kind of life-form in the universe? Just because they’re here and able to do things that I can’t, does it mean they created me? Even if they did create human beings, what if creating humans is akin to people creating computers? Should computers then worship humans?

Basically, it wouldn’t change my life at all, other than prove to me that the Universe is amazing, as I already believe it to be. But I don’t think a god proving itself to exist means it should be worshiped. I have my own ideas of what “good” and “evil” are… So if any of this God’s beliefs conflicted with my own, I would choose to not follow.

Great answer DD. ^^

@DrasticDreamer…We invented computers and God. We worship both.

Well… as it stands… I’m an atheist (militant agnostic in reality, but that’s for another day!) so I’d probably be pretty shocked if it was anything other than I expected (which would be a god type thing that none of us expected).

Whatever it would be, I’d probably just adjust fire and try to live my life without pissing whatever it is off.