Is god real?

[The Grand Nudger]

oh, yeah, if we settle for that, then... yes, all collective hallucinations are real.
Hence all "personal experiences of god" (whichever god you want) are real.
And as a corollary, any agreed upon god is real.
At least as real as Gandalf, The Incredible Hulk, pixies, fairies, elves, and, yes, even invisible pink unicorns.

Well, simmer down now. Sure, the experience of a collective hallucination can easily be called real. The collective hallucination occured, yes? Doesn't mean that the contents of that experience were real, and of course it only takes a single naysayer or inconsistency in said hallucination to make this distinction. Insofar as Gandalf, The Incredible Hulk, pixies, fairies, elves, and yes....even pink unicorns all exist -at the very least- in this post, easily satisfies the conditions for something being "real". I don't expect to find any of those things in my backyard of course, unless I leave Grimms out there for some odd reason.

[LastPoet]

It makes me cringe about all the our lady of Fatima stuff around the indigenous catholics, last 13th of May, that is usually the pilgrimage day for said "holy place", there was a 22 degree solar halo (its physics are similar to a rainbow) and all the numbnuts were screaming "its a miracle!". I told some that it was a very natural event. Who wants to guess the answer?

[pocaracas]

Insofar as Gandalf, The Incredible Hulk, pixies, fairies, elves, and yes....even pink unicorns all exist -at the very least- in this post, easily satisfies the conditions for something being "real".

Now what is this thing which you call "real"?

The words exist in the post.
The concept you have connected to those words may not be the same as the one I have, but let's assume they're close enough.
Just because I write about them, it doesn't make those things real. Only imaginary.

Is an imagination real? or is it "real"?
Are the contents of an imagination real things and entities?


Onto Fatima.... that Halo was real? Or "real"?
The miracle was real? or "real"?

[The Grand Nudger]

So we agree that the words exist in the post? We agree that they refer to a similar concept? But for some strange reason - in the very next breath- you then state that what you just wrote, and what we just agreed to, isn't real?

I'm only driving at the strangeness of demanding that a fairy - or a god- be sitting on ones stoop. If we take fairies and gods precisely for what they are - investing nothing- it would be like arguing that fairy tales don't exist while holding a hardbound copy of Hansel and Gretel in one's hands. Do gods exist? Demonstrably so. Do the gods sycophants ramble on about exist? No.

[pocaracas]

I think I see some language barrier.... sorry about that.
I did say that what we agreed upon isn't real, but that's not exactly what I meant....

Allow me to come back to my original question: how do you define real?

Concepts exist. Concepts are real.
Do entities for which we have concepts also exist? Are they real?
The concept of the entity exists, but does the entity itself exist?

[cratehorus]

PROOF GOD IS REAL

---

---

[iameatingjam]

Of course not!

If any arguements, Please state REAL PROOF that he is real.

I don't need proof, I have faith.

[fr0d0]

What is real proof? Do you mean contradictory proof like people usually mean??

[CleanShavenJesus]

The Bible can never be used as proof. Way too many controdictions. Plus, if we start using books to defend our beliefs, then what's stopping muslims from pulling out the Quoran? Or Spidermanists from pulling out Amazing Spider-Man comics?

[fr0d0]

Yeah damn those Jews and their tricky double speak.