So what?

[Raven]

OK, God exists, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Were that to be the case, would you not say that would be a real game-changer? I mean, I've been going around living my life with the conviction that in all probability there is no God. A lot hinges upon that conviction. Like everything I got taught when I was a kid that I later came to reject. Not to mention my wife would be all “See, I told you so” at me. Deffo could do without that.

I've been figuring that we're all alone here. That all we've got is each other, and then when it's over, it's really over. No afterlife and all. Which by me is just fine. If there really were some skydaddy up there, then what? Was all that crap they taught me true? Some of it? If some, which some? It would get mighty complicated, don't you think?

You're confusing the concept of God with the teachings of religion. God is just an all-powerful, all-knowing being who created everything. Stuff like the afterlife, God's moral code, salvation, sin, traditions etc, are made up non-sequitors that religion tacks on to the definition of God.

The question I'm posing is about the generic God. Not the Christian, Jewish, or Islamic God. If you could prove only the generic God existed (just this almighty being who created everything), then I still can't see any logical way that should affect the I way understand reality, act in reality, or come to conclusions on matters such as science, art, ethics etc. I would just be a theist living no differently than an atheist.

OK, I hear what you're saying. Even so, if that generic deity you are positing were to exist, perhaps some, all, or none of any given religion's teachings might be true. Unless you're theoretical deity were of the deist variety, in which case he could not care what we do. It would still do a number on people's heads no matter what.