If God Asked You For a Dime, How Would You Know It Was Him?

I disagree. if he appeared from the sky it would convince a lot of people including scientists. It's never happened except according to the bible times. God might "appear" in a way scientists could never even touch, even conceive. Obviously this is not what faith is about, but there are supernatural ways to convince the staunchest atheists and it's not through weather phenomenons or "miracles". God could literally show himself to everybody from the clouds or whatever and it'd be a done deal.

If the clouds formed a giant face and spoke in a thundering voice and everyone in the world ran outside to see, you think scientists will win that argument. That's more than a prank or coincidence or phenomenon or miracle. That seems pretty concrete of gods existance to me.

 

That's why I'm an Agnostic. I seriously doubt it will ever happen, but then I seriously doubt I'll ever win the lottery (especially considering I don't buy lottery tickets), yet somebody wins every week.

Of course, you can fine tune the original premise, as I have done. Once an ex-girlfriend who was a hardcore Christian was trying her best to convert me and failing miserably (one of the reasons she's an ex). She gave a very similar scenario - "What if Jesus appeared blah blah blah..."

I countered with "What if you were walking down the street and saw the avenging arm of Allah wielding a scimitar, yelling 'Repent, non-believer!' to you. Would you instantly convert to Islam?"

"Of course not!" she immediately replied.

*sigh*

 

I will believe in any God that will make a live appearance and defy gravity, walk in and out of fire, transport himself to outer space or into water for an indefinite period, feed all the hungry people, cure all the diseases, fix all the damage caused by the tsunami and earthquake all over earth in an instant and send all politicians to a remote island.
I don't think that's too much to ask of God. So we're still waiting.

 

The minister who married us said that he was sent to the particular church as "god's calling". He had had assignments at several other places, and had followed god's calling each time he moved to another place.

Personally, I've had several jobs and every one of them consisted of an opportunity and a decision on my part.

My observation is that the purpose of "God" for this minister was to absorb responsibility for his personal decisions. God is the ultimate authority, and his role in life was to follow this authority. I will admit that he was somewhat of an authority on marriage. He explained that women have this grumpy time each month, and that I should not believe everything my wife said during that time. Got that one right...

If a great face appeared in the sky and spoke to me, I'd wonder what was happening. Was it something really there, or did some process go wild in my brain? If others also saw it, I'd want to know about the technology that could produce the image/sound. If many other people experienced the same vision/voice, what language was used? Did this voice speak only to English speaking humans, or could it communicate with dolphins?

 

The burden of proof for a god is certainly high. Especially, since we are used to near-god-like aliens and advanced humans in fiction. Unexplained random phenomena are not even slight evidence, as they have no direction.

See Cosmos for an interesting conjecture on proving the existence of god.

That said, belief in the existence of a god does not produce in me, a feeling of worship or obedience. "... and commanded you to immediately burn your youngest child to death as a sacrifice?" I would say 'no.'; Even if I was firmly convinced of the divinity of said being.

 

First off... if it was a "HIM"... it would be an imposter...

The creator is female.

Keep your coins Bra... :thumb:

 

If I heard god asking me for money, I'd know I was dreaming of this George Carlin classic.

Language Warning! But then, it is George Carlin, so you already knew that.

 

It's the heart of the deeper question: Why Doesn't God Show Himself?

A deeper question with a very easy answer.

Q. Why doesn't God show himself?
A. He can't. He does not exist.

 

When you say you're agnostic, to what degree are you agnostic? I assume there are degrees to which one falls in this grey area. On a scale of 1-10 where 10 there definitely is not a god and 1 there definitely is a god, are you a 2 or a 9.9999999999?

 

I think Jesus addressed this when addressing the Religious leaders of his time:


Mat 16:4 (NLT) Only an evil, faithless generation would ask for
a miraculous sign, but the only sign I will give them is the sign
of the prophet Jonah. Then Jesus left them and went away.

All the signs and miracles performed and very few really believed. They just wanted more miracles.

Some that saw him feed 5K 1st time, wanted another free meall....

 

Awesome Kid, you are seeking the truth and asking the right questions.

I submit as a Christian, that you probably see Him everyday. As Christians we are His hands and feet on Earth, albeit often not perfect. But just like anything else, you have to look for it. Sometimes it will smack you in the face but not often.

Enjoy the trip!

 

ag·nos·tic/agˈnästik/

Noun: A person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena; a person who claims neither faith nor disbelief in God.

 

Empirical Agnostic: A person who believe that nothing is known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena, but if there is a God and she wants to make her presence know, she may be capable of doing so.

 

~

 

I think David Blaine has done all this, hasn't he?

 

Actually, a simple point to prove there is a god, if there is a god, why does he need to hide?

 

However, as every first year philosophy student can tell you, there is no empirical basis for empiricism, because empiricism cannot be empirically demonstrated to be true. Ironically, those who claim to be empiricists, therefore, do so on a foundation of faith in the veracity of empirical observations. hwell: