99Percent

If God shows himself, he would cease to be God.

Psycho Economist

It would be very out-of-character, yes. And unless you were an annointed prophet, you'd be vaporized. And platonic notions of the perfect ineffable God would be disproven.

But you'd still be left with a supernatural agent who can intercede on your behalf if appealed to, and who can take action against you if disrespected.

Just a thought.

If a deity did unambiguously, indubitably reveal himself, herself or itself to me, I may or may not like "him", depending on his character... but I would accept his existance as a matter of fact.

Jobar

You know, I think if there were suddenly letters of fire in the sky, or quiet voices speaking to every individual on earth, or any other 'God-like' phenomenon- I would instantly suspect it was some sort of alien attempt to control humans, for good or ill. God, as monotheists try to describe him, is simply incomprehensible, senseless, self-contradictory. Even if the 'revelation' took the form of a sudden Buddha-style awakening of every human to his or her own Buddha-nature, I would *still* be skeptical- because if maya (the illusion of reality) is also lila (the play of God) then why suddenly interrupt the game? Even if human intelligence and consciousness were to pass through some sort of sudden change of state, like crystallization in a supersaturated solution, I rather doubt it would appear to us as the appearance of something supernatural.

99Percent

See this is where it doesn't make sense. The supernatural is that that is not natural, that which cannot be understood how it works or is inconsistent with reality, illogical. If you have an "agent who can intercede on your behalf if whatever" then its not supernatural anymore. Its an agent that can be understood, communicated with and be relied on to be consistent and logical. This is not God.

Zentraedi

I would suspect a god-like phenomenon to be one of several things. My first thought would be that my mind is playing tricks on me. If the phenomenon is corroborated by others around me I'd think its man-kind trying to play tricks on us. If the phenomenon was beyond man-kinds capability without a doubt, I'd think its a extraterrestrial playing tricks on us.

[ December 08, 2002: Message edited by: Zentraedi ]</p>

Azathoth

I suppose it really depends on what this god really is.I mean,if it has the personality of the biblical god,and it's near all powerful,we're all screwed.

However,if the creature happened to be less powerful,it would be humankind's duty to wipe it out,so it couldn't torment future generations.Maybe lob a few nukes it's way.

Of course,this brings up the question:If a being that called itself god did appear,would even theists believe it,or would they think it was a trick of the devil.

Pierre

Maybe I would ask him a question or two before stoning him...

“God – why did you, according to some of your followers, gave man free will? You being a know all must have known all along that babies would be raped to death and woman tortured by free willed men.

When you look down from the heavens and see a baby being raped – are you sorry that you gave man free will…are you kicking yourself? Were there times when you thought that you yourself would end up in hell for what you did?”

ELECTROGOD

If "god" came...

I probably say:
"Goddamn it, there goes the neighborhood, now I'll have to move somewhere else.

Someone like Falwell would probably say:
"Goddamn it you got it in my eye!

Pookmaster

If "god" showed himself (which of course if never going to happen, because there is no such thing as "god"), I would insist that he/ she explain to me three things:

1) Why are some people born to suffer, and others born with much greater advantage? And I'm not just talking about socio-economic situations - because those are man-made - I'm talking about deformities, diseases, disabilities and other handicaps which deny many people the right to a comfortable life.

2) Why does "god" disappoint people who genuinely worship him/ her? Is "god" a sadist? [An example of this would be a devout Christian lady I know who isn't able to bear children. Last year, she lost her niece, who was like a daughter, to lung cancer. The girl had never smoked a cigarette in her life. Please explain, believers.]

3) Why has "god" apparently "spoken" differently to different believers, thereby creating the different religious denominations which exist and serve to divide humanity against itself? If "god" were so perfect, would he/ she not be far more eloquent?


If "god" satisfactorily answered these questions, I would be a little more content, but I would still not worship him.

But of course, "He works in mysterious ways", and we aren't supposed to question his authority, right?

Answerer

For me, if God ever show up, I will ask him only one question, 'Are you bored?'