What would you do if you found out God existed

[Astonished]

Humility and introspection are good qualities, to be sure. But this degree of self-loathing seems more like inverted megalomania.

Darkest of souls? Deserving worse punishment than most people on earth? Really?  

I'm pointing out his good qualities (the ones I see anyway) so that he will appreciate the good in himself. I wasn't trying to say the self loathing was good.

And your attempts will be just as futile as ours to tell him how deluded he is. But you have the same indoctrination you've been put under to blame for him ending up the way he did, just the ingredients in the recipe were a little different. You're lucky yours was a more benign and passive sort or you'd be flagellating yourself at night too.

And I think when anomalous made that remark about suicide bombing, it was meant more as a 'you sound like you're into self-harm to the point where I wouldn't be surprised if you blew yourself up, but if you do get to that point, at least be courteous enough to do it where you won't take anyone else down with you.' Mook's ranting about how fucked-up he is constitutes a serious red flag where it's not unthinkable that with the right promise of redemption, he'd pull the cord on a bomb vest in a crowded place.

But you're not really one to talk about not feeling guilty, Miss Catholic. Feeling guilty about things you've done that hurt others is one thing, and you can easily make amends for them (most of the time). But this whole shtick about guilt over bad thoughts, victimless crimes like blasphemy and 'sin', and the hyperbolic idea of hell, what the fuck do you expect to happen to someone's mental state juggling all that horseshit? Would you be so naive as to say that he wouldn't be better off with no religion at all than what he's currently infected with?

[Kernel Sohcahtoa]

Ok, so let's suppose that God really does exist and that He proved His existence to you. He showed up and did exactly whatever was needed to convince you personally that He is real.

You had a conversation with Him for many many hours, over the course of many days in a row, and He even showed you things... like certain things in the future of humanity so you could see how everything will ultimately fall together. He took you back in time so you could see particular events, including many moments from the life of Jesus. He showed you what the afterlife is like, fully answered every single one of your questions about why He allows certain things to happen, etc, and cleared up all misconceptions and misunderstandings you have had that made you think He was bad.

Let's say you came away from all that realizing God isn't who you thought He would have been, but is actually completely good. Would you then want to be with Him? Want to follow His ways? Feel remorse for the times in your life when you acted wrongly?

...Or would you feel angry and continue on hating the idea of God (even after learning He actually is good), hating the idea of having to "answer" to a higher being, etc?

Thank you for this Thread, CL.  Honestly, it would be pretty cool to make contact with a sentient lifeform who is more advanced than humanity, provided that this life-form is friendly: it would be awesome to see how this lifeform views/understands the reality around us, because IMO, it would show people that reality does not revolve around human thought patterns and sense-making processes; thus, humbling humanity's self-importance/conceit. 

Out of curiosity, if such a being presented itself to humanity, then how could humanity be sure that this being isn't just showing each individual human precisely what it wants to see in order for them to believe in it? Also, as per your op, if such a life-form presented itself, then what happens if all of humanity, especially practitioners of the worlds major religions, were wrong about it and completely misunderstood its intended message? In your opinion, would humanity's theists engage such a lifeform with an open mind, or would they deny that this lifeform is the supposed god that they worshiped because it did not conform to their preconceptions and expectations of what a god is? Would you be open to a completely new definition/understanding of what god/supernatural actually is?

P.S. I apologize for my inquisitiveness and by no means am I expecting you to respond to me.  I just found your thread to be interesting, as it made me curious.  Thanks again.

[Cyberman]

Yay, Ceiling Cat!

What is ceiling cat?

http://www.lolcatbible.com/index.php?title=Ceiling_Cat

I'm going to buy you a google for xmas

[Edwardo Piet]

No, it isnt fair. But I didn't make that assumption. What I meant was would you feel remorseful towards God for those things.

Sorry, I should have made that clear.

Ok. I wouldn't. Can you explain to me why a person would feel remorseful towards God for a mistake they made that did god no harm? I don't get it. If I had sex with Carl's wife, why would I be sorry to God for that? I genuinely don't understand.

I've heard of this Carl dude. He seems to get around a lot!

[Fireball]

Catholic Lady, God did appear to me, but I showed utter hate to him till it drove me insane, and allowed the devils to this day to over take my soul and keep me away from his remembrance.

I always thought I would show nothing but love to God if I was sure he existed but I recall things vividly now, and when I shown the truth, I hated it, and went back to the darkness.  

I have forgotten God from then on, and an evil spirit/demon has been what overwhelmed me and all I see, and all I rely on.

I been trying to destroy it through the name of God and leader of God, but I've become blind to the light, I don't know which sword is the sword of God when I been so use to falsehood.

All I can tell you, the hardest of trials is when you stand before God, and you are expected to show etiquette. I showed hate and dislike, and showed fear of him out of hate, till I ran away and became insane after becoming welcomed to the place of the chosen ones and holy valley.

I don't know if I will ever forgive myself,  perhaps if I find God's Name among the falsehoods, and recognize his tree of light among the false trees,  I wil redeem myself and remember him.

But I realize now all I understand is what in theory the path of God would be, what in theory Quran teaches, what in theory is the face of God, what in theory is the leaders who leads and guides to God, but I have not recognized neither myself, neither God, neither the leaders and means and path to God.

I see nothing but shadows and trying to fight with a stick (reason) from God to light a way by which I will recognize the name of God and face of God.

Have you considered psychiatric help? I don't mean that as a sarcastic comment. Dude, you really could use some help.

[The Grand Nudger]

Would you then want to be with Him?

No.  There are plenty of people I think are good and I'm not tripping over myself to be with them, either.

Want to follow His ways?

Why?

Feel remorse for the times in your life when you acted wrongly?

No more or less so than I do now.

...Or would you feel angry and continue on hating the idea of God (even after learning He actually is good), hating the idea of having to "answer" to a higher being, etc?

Why would I have to answer to this god?  Is this a job, is he my boss? I'd still think that the christian god idea was shit..and the intro made the christian god an irrelevance anyway.

-You could have answered all these questions yourself. If you found that a pagan god was the good god, would you want to be with her? Follow her ways? Feel remorse for...whatever.... Would you suddenly feel beholden to her?

[Whateverist]

I didn't realize you'd started this thread, hadn't read your original post and so I was a little hasty. I'll give it some more thought.*


*I mixed this up with the other thread someone started with a similar title which I responded to first.

[c172]

If said god were indeed completely good, as you postulate, I think I'd still be disappointed, as to me, science makes gorgeous sense, even if I don't have a degree in it. If it resembles, say, the Christian God, I'd be scared, because he creeps me out. 

Even if this god gave me 72 virgins, and I somehow caught up on that piece of my development, I'd be scared of hygiene. Plus, I'd be overstimulated trying to keep track of that many folks.

[Cecelia]

Here's a counter question for CL:

What would you do if you found out that your God is actually evil? I mean we're speaking hypoethticals here, so you find out that your god is just as sadistic as many of us think he would be if he existed. I mean he did allegedly drown 99% of the population. Not to mention killing a bunch of people over a census. And sacrificing his only son seems pretty cruel. So let's say you found out that he's just plain evil. I'm not sure how he'd convince you, but you'd be convinced. How would you feel about some of the ways you've treated other people. Would it change how you feel about the church, and the way THEY'VE treated other people? Or would you side with those who say Might Makes Right?

[Whateverist]

Ok, so let's suppose that God really does exist and that He proved His existence to you. He showed up and did exactly whatever was needed to convince you personally that He is real.

Okay, lets pretend that happened. With you so far.

You had a conversation with Him for many many hours, over the course of many days in a row, and He even showed you things... like certain things in the future of humanity so you could see how everything will ultimately fall together. He took you back in time so you could see particular events, including many moments from the life of Jesus. He showed you what the afterlife is like, fully answered every single one of your questions about why He allows certain things to happen, etc, and cleared up all misconceptions and misunderstandings you have had that made you think He was bad.

I've never thought he was bad. Before I stopped thinking it was at all likely he existed, I thought he was great. Of course, that was without the burden of having read the bible and hearing about all the horrible things that understandably bother so many other atheists. Do you suppose he would disavow the bible? (Probably his best move.)

Let's say you came away from all that realizing God isn't who you thought He would have been, but is actually completely good. Would you then want to be with Him? Want to follow His ways? Feel remorse for the times in your life when you acted wrongly?

Only one or the other of the two I bolded. If he was as good as I had always thought he was of course I'd want to be with him; and I know he wouldn't want me to follow any rote ways. He'd want me to go on owning my actions and being true to my own ways. But if he really wanted compliance above all else, I at least would not judge him as "totally good". If, rather than cultivating my own judgement, he really wanted me to choose my actions with a will to conforming to his expectations, then I couldn't help but think less of him. But I'm sure we could work something out; maybe I could help him with this.

...Or would you feel angry and continue on hating the idea of God (even after learning He actually is good), hating the idea of having to "answer" to a higher being, etc?

I'm not angry and don't hate the idea of god, at least not my idea of god. The world would be a better place if my idea of god were to announce itself, but a far far worse place if god turned out to be petty and underestimated our potential so badly.