What would you do if you found out God existed

[drfuzzy]

@CL do you really think it's fair of you to make the assumption that people who don't believe in God feel no remorse for things they've done wrong?

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.

Even if a deity did show up.  Even if that deity was beneficent.  Even if that deity cured many of the world's evils.  Why would I feel remorseful towards the DEITY for anything I had done?  Feel remorseful to a creature that I had no reason to believe existed?   If a magic purple unicorn of grace showed up suddenly and started working some miracles, why should I assume that anything I had done before I knew it existed had any relevance?  As many have already pointed out, any deity that shows up and proves itself beneficent could not possibly be the deity described in the bible, therefore nothing written in that tome came from it or applies to it.  I feel remorse for hurtful things because I have empathy and I have been raised to see other humans as equals.  If the Tooth Fairy were to show up, would I approach it on my knees, crying to be forgiven because I told a lie?  How absurd.

[downbeatplumb]

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?

I would doubt my sanity.

But if it could be confirmed that there was a god then it would be an interesting thing, I wouldn't expect it to change anything.

[Thumpalumpacus]

If worms had machine guns, birds wouldn't fuck with 'em.

Regarding any hypothetical conversation, I don't think it would go well.

[Catholic_Lady]

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?

My bold.

I already do feel remorse and regret for the wrong I've done and the mistakes I've made in my life. I don't need a God for that. I gotta say, it surprises and worries me that you think you, or unbelievers like us, do. My judge is my own empathy and conscience, as well as society; no God required.

Yeah, I didn't make myself very clear. I was talking about it in the context of feeling remorse toward God.

[Whateverist]

Looks like the OP has lost interest.

[Catholic_Lady]

Looks like the OP has lost interest.

Ninja!

Sorry, I'm here and I will answer your question you asked earlier.

[Astonished]

My bold.

I already do feel remorse and regret for the wrong I've done and the mistakes I've made in my life. I don't need a God for that. I gotta say, it surprises and worries me that you think you, or unbelievers like us, do. My judge is my own empathy and conscience, as well as society; no God required.

Yeah, I didn't make myself very clear. I was talking about it in the context of feeling remorse toward God.

I don't think a single person here was of the mind that it made a lick of difference one way or another (not to mention god is not blameless in any scenario and would have to own up to his screw-ups too or wouldn't deserve our remorseful feelings without that mutual reciprocity.)

[FFaith]

I don't think there really could be a way to prove a God, so I don't know how to answer the question in the OP. If a "God" talked to me or showed itself, it could just be the computer programmer who probably created this universe fucking with me. That programmer is not really a God, and base reality would still not be created by any kind of consciousness and would still be natural.

[Astonished]

This just shows to go you, presuppositionalists are completely obliterated by their own fucking arguments.

[Catholic_Lady]

[1]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? [2]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? [3]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? [4]Would you be open to a completely new definition/understanding of what god/supernatural actually is?

1. I'm not sure on that. Perhaps that's part of God's reason for not revealing Himself to us in a concrete way while on earth - many people wouldn't believe anyway and it would further complicate things somehow. I imagine that if God does exist, dying and seeing/experiencing Him in the next life is the only way that every person will believe without any sort of lingering doubt. I don't know how that will be, but I trust God knows exactly how to handle that. But yes, the scenario I presented was very hypothetical of course.

2. I can't speak for others, so I'm not sure how everyone else would react if they found out they were wrong about God. I'm sure it would just depend on the person individually, like with people here.

3. Like above, it would really just depend on each individual. I imagine it would be very hard for a lot of people, and I imagine some would continue to deny it.

4. Personally if God presented Himself to me and ended up not being at all who I thought He was, then I would be forced to believe in this new God. I'm not one to be dishonest with myself for the sake of convenience or good feelings. It would come as a huge shock to me for sure and I may take some time to recover from that, but I would be open to learning the truth.

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Here's a counter question for CL:

[1.] 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.  [2]Would it change how you feel about the church, and the way THEY'VE treated other people?  [3]Or would you side with those who say Might Makes Right?

1. Be extremely shocked and completely confused about everything, reality in general lol. 

2. If God were actually evil then the Church would be fundamentally wrong about everything, because all our beliefs come from the fundamental belief that God is all good and God is all loving. So it would change how I feel about Catholicism in that I would see that it was all completely wrong. 

3. I'm not sure what that means.

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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.)

Well the God depicted in the Old Testament is very different from Jesus. Jesus specifically contradicted many things in the Old Testament. He specifically said "you have heard it said 'an eye for an eye' (which is an old testament teaching), but I say to you... love your enemies and do good to those who hurt you," among many other things as well. It's exactly why He was so controversial and why He was especially hated by the high priests. He said many things that contradicted their interpretation of God as written in their holy book, the Old Testament. As a Christian, of course I believe Jesus' life and teachings paint a much more accurate picture of God than the Old Testament stories.

I definitely don't think He would disavow the bible, but like Jesus did, He would definitely clear up some misconceptions people have about Him from the bible.