If by some anti-miraculous fluke, your religion happens to be wrong, what would you expect god to do about you?

If God forgives murderers, rapists and child molesters who repent on their deathbeds, I think he’ll give unbelievers a break.

I think it would depend entirely on what you did about your false religion while you were alive. For example, a Christian who feeds the homeless and cleans up drug addicts all in the name of Jesus Christ, well, I think the other god will be okay with that. Guy who shot up an abortion clinic? Maybe not so much.

I will be back in the morning to see what this giant can of worms has produced.

God is not a religion.

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies i’m not sure what that has to do with the question.

Hypothetically…if I were to believe in this other anti-miraculous God….I would hope he’d be as generous as Allah and have my 21 virgins waiting for me.

Damn me.

Baseball could never be wrong.

Yeah…what if God was just ye olde grande judger of hypocrisy….and the only thing that determined whether or not you were damned was how much of a hypocrite you were in life.

@ninjacolin

My point, since God is not a religion, then religion has no bearing on my relationship with her.

Chuck is my comedy god.

The Vulcan Science Directorate has determined that a clear answer is impossible to devise, because the opposite of the stance “gods do not exist” is not “God exists”, but “gods of some sort do exists in an unknown number”, therefore every scenario ever devised in human history, regarding the afterlife, from the nordic gods to the japanese kami, is equally probable. I might as well roll a die with 2000 sides.

I’m an atheist.

Which god/religion is it that is supposed to be revealed to me as truth? The popular one?

@ragingloli I believe the correct number of sides on that die would be 42.

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies evidently, i disagree with you on the definition of religion. but the question is about your beliefs. your beliefs have to do with your relationship with her. for example, if you don’t believe in her.. then your relationship would probably be kinda shitty.

@Grisaille your idea of God. What would he or she do? (which is another question i had for nonbelievers)

Must I really accept and practice a particular religion in order to have a relationship with God?

If your religion turns out to be totally wrong, you need to pick another religion and see what the punishment for not following it is.

Religion is the enemy of God.

I truly believe there will be more Atheists in Heaven than all Theists combined. The Atheists I’ve known are generally more generous, patient, kind hearted, less judgmental, and more balanced in their lives than most of the self righteous Theists I’ve encountered.

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies said: “Must I really accept and practice a particular religion in order to have a relationship with God?”

from my perspective: you not only must, you do!

And how is that?

What ritual would you think I practice?

It’s a common problem when discussing these issues. Atheists do typically conflate God and Religion as being synonymous. They are not by any means.

What religion did the first Theist practice? Did they find religion, and then discover God? Or did they discover God first, and then develop a religion to help explain their God to others?

It’s quite possible all religions are wrong because religion is a human creation and humans are fallible.

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies (i think though, i’m not sure this is off topic) In my view, religion is simply your code of ethics for dealing with reality as you know it. hence, if you believe in a god who needs to be prayed to, then your religion is just that: the behavior of praying to god. if you believe god can be ignored, then your religion is just that: the behavior of ignoring god.

By that definition, even Atheists practice religion… if as you say:
“religion is simply your code of ethics for dealing with reality as you know it.”

you got it.

I’ve never equated a code of ethics with religion. And I’ve always considered religion as a set of rules, doctrines and regulations that instruct the masses on how to pursue a particular spiritualism or deity. That’s why Buddhism is typically considered a philosophy, and not a religion.

Your discussion prompt specifically mentioned an encounter with God. I assumed that you were using the traditional interpretation of religion. But why should I have assumed that, when I don’t use the traditional interpretation of God. Chocolate Cake can be God for some people. I guess their religion would be practiced in the Church of Betty Crocker.

People believe all kinds of things. They do not stop and think what is the real will of God. After all is said and done, God will always be in control. His mercy goes beyond frontiers, but there is going to be a judgment. It is written. Even if people do not believe in the Good Word of God, the Bible, is His word and regardless of what the whole world says, His word stands and will judge everyone. We have plenty of proof that His word is true. Just take a look at what is written and what is happening. I believe every word of this Holy Book. The Lord Jesus Christ has done so much for me and for others, I will not take a chance going against his word. I will not take a chance and wait until the last minute to see what happens. Today is the day of Salvation. We have no certainty of tomorrow.

For me to be wrong, that would mean that I actually did know the nature of the divine, and was capable of understanding that knowledge, in which case I would know the right thing to do in the first place.

It would also mean that humanity is a hell of a lot smarter than I think; smart enough to make Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein look dumber than single-celled organisms by comparison.

Therefore, I cannot conceive how my beleifs can be completely wrong.

Well, I don’t believe God exists.

If it turns out that I am wrong, I hope he will live up to his reputation as a nice guy, and will not blame me for not believing when he has himself created me and communicated with me in a way that makes me highly unlikely to believe.

If it turns out that God is crappy enough to condemn me to hell for not believing in him when he himself has made me and the world contrary to believing, I hope I will have enough moral fiber in me to tell him that he sucks, instead of begging. Though I have to admit that probably I won’t.

apologize for not reveiling himself while I was alive and then fix the problem.

I firmly believe that if there is a God (there’s an odd statement), that the All Being would know what was inside your heart rather than what religion you were following.

Of course, I could be wrong about that.

@Rameze i’ll try to clarify the question a bit: if the bible isn’t his word and if your following the bible and trusting in the “proofs” you’ve learned about actually annoys god.. what would you expect to be your fate?

punishment for getting it wrong or blessings for the attempt?

He’s say, “Well, you gave it a good try and believed in me, and stuck by your beliefs, so I’ll give you some credit. I guess I’ll have to make the idea more explicit the next time I decide to create humanity!”

All that I ask is you find me on your own, and you did.