Seeker196

Leaving aside for the moment the matter that the word 'God' is one whose meaning is uncertain to me...

Falsifiability has always struck me as being logical. So I was wondering...what would convince me that this 'God' thing as most people seem to think of it is actually exists?

1. I'm wandering the desert and a burning bush talks to me, it says 'Hey, I'm God'

2. I'm sitting on the crapper and a little voice starts talking to me 'in my deepest heart'. It says "I am the LORD, THY God. I want you to go out and moon those girls."

3. I was really high one day and I realized that I was Jesus and that all women needed to be Blessed by the immaculate Seed of the Lamb of Zion.

4. I'm at the Mall in Washington. The clouds part, crowds run screaming for cover, and an 800-ft tall, Godzilla like Jesus appeared near the White House in plain view. He points right at me and says "NOW do you believe, you little PUNKASS?"

5. I'm going through a tough time, depression, unemployed, wife left me, someones died, alcholism...and I run into this strange group of wonderful people they (seem) to care about what I think and believe so much...I feel surrounded by love...suddenly, I just know that Jesuslovesme, in my deepest heart. All I have to do is let go, stopper up or compartmentalize off my rational mind and give total authority in my life over to a 2000 year old book of tribal sheep-herding customs.

6. A noted physicist proclaims that "Jesus is the mysterious force which binds all gluons together." He is published in Discover magazine.

8. Astrophysicists map out the entire pattern of voids and filaments making up the visible universe. It plainly spells out JESUS in huge cosmic letters.

9. Physicists and philosophers, after years of collecting and analyzing data, both admit that the universe had a definite origin, but that origin is impossible for us to know anything.
about (contrary to reality). You think that St. Tommy makes a real good case and think that God must be the First Cause (?).

Feel free to say what would make you believe, or why you wouldn't believe because of the above...

[ February 06, 2002: Message edited by: Seeker196 ]</p>

Christopher Lord

Most of those would just make me suspect an alien species was using our myths to gain power over us.

Seriously, thats how I would take over the earth.

The cosmic letter thing, if directly observable, would probably go a ways towards convincing me, but the deception possibilty would still be strong.

Seeing the events described in the bible via some sort of time travel would be the only way to convince me... and even then it wouldnt be air tight.

Monkeybot

Why would the stars spell out "JESUS" in English?

Mad Kally

1. I'm wandering the desert and a burning bush talks to me, it says 'Hey, I'm God'

I'm hallucinating..

2. I'm sitting on the crapper and a little voice starts talking to me 'in my deepest heart'. It says "I am the LORD, THY God. I want you to go out and moon those girls."

I'm hallucinating.. I moon them anyway..

3. I was really high one day and I realized that I was Jesus and that all women needed to be Blessed by the immaculate Seed of the Lamb of Zion.

Laugh and eat some munchies.. seed?

4. I'm at the Mall in Washington. The clouds part, crowds run screaming for cover, and an 800-ft tall, Godzilla like Jesus appeared near the White House in plain view. He points right at me and says "NOW do you believe, you little PUNKASS?"

HAHA, Hallucinating again..

5. I'm going through a tough time, depression, unemployed, wife left me, someones died, alcholism...and I run into this strange group of wonderful people they (seem) to care about what I think and believe so much...I feel surrounded by love...suddenly, I just know that Jesuslovesme, in my deepest heart. All I have to do is let go, stopper up or compartmentalize off my rational mind and give total authority in my life over to a 2000 year old book of tribal sheep-herding customs.

Look ma, I'm brainwashed.. don't have a wife anyway

6. A noted physicist proclaims that "Jesus is the mysterious force which binds all gluons together." He is published in Discover magazine.

Laugh haha, get some more munchies and a Pepsi.

8. Astrophysicists map out the entire pattern of voids and filaments making up the visible universe. It plainly spells out JESUS in huge cosmic letters.

About as convincing as Jebus in a tree stump or the Virgin Mary in a cinnamon bun..

9. Physicists and philosophers, after years of collecting and analyzing data, both admit that the universe had a definite origin, but that origin is impossible for us to know anything.
about (contrary to reality). You think that St. Tommy makes a real good case and think that God must be the First Cause (?).

Never! Who in the hell is Tommy and what's he doing in here?

tronvillain

1) Well, I'd be willing to believe that I'm seeing a burning bush that sounded as if it said "Hey, I'm God." We'd have to work from there.

2) The voice would have a lot of explaining to do - first we'd have to establish that it's not me, and then we'd have to see what evidence it can provide about its identity.

3) Well, I don't get high, but unless I come back with some concrete evidence I'd chalk it down as a hallucination.

4) I'd say "Sure." Obviously I'd retain some skepticism, but I'm not going to tell him that.

5) "I" would not exist in that situation, but perhaps the person who did would believe.

6) Unless he can back up his claim, I'll ignore him and possibly stop buying Discover.

7) First I'd check on the astrophysicists and their work. Then I'd start going to church.

8) I think it's very possible that this is the case, and I'm still an atheist. St. Thomas was weak.

Seeker196

Mad Kally:

4. Was chosen spefically because there would be masses of witnesses, TV cameras, etc. The only choices are God or aliens. Hallucinations don't make the 8:00 usually.
Like the other commentator, I think that the Judeo-Christian god is SO incoherent that I would think 'gotta be aliens', or anything else.

8. It's English because God works in mysterious ways. And come on MC, don't you think this would be several orders of magnitude more unlikely than the Virgin Mary in tortilla form? 8 would probably convince me. I mean, a situation roughly as likely as the entire universe suddenly turning into a gigantic guava, I would be forced to admit that it was evidence of design.

So there are some pieces of evidence that might convince me that all my ideas of causlity, reason, and materialism are just somehow wrong. Well, haven't seen anything like that yet...

Just think, if God was actually real, isn't he doing the lamest possible job of seeming that way? I mean, for a guy who can do anything, who is supposedly the Supreme and Majestic creator of the universe....the big thing that proves he exists is 'because it says so in some books'? C'mon...Can't God manage one appearance for James Randi and a panel of experts, to demonstrate a few new laws of physics he thought up over lunch?

"Seed...": I was thinking of evidence that has been so convincing to others; i.e. Koresh, Manson, Jones and their happy campers. If it doesn't sound convincing I guess ya kinda had to be there.

Orpheous99

Originally posted by Seeker196:

Easy, all it would take is for god to appear in the so-called flesh. BTW, believing in the existence of god is not the same as worshipping said god.

Boro Nut

I don't know, but an occasional birthday card wouldn't hurt, you know, just to show he's thinking of me now and again. And he wonders why I don't call round his place anymore. He was never in when I did anyway.

Boro Nut

I mean, its not as if I ever forgot his birthday. You know that big white cloak he wears? I bought him that. And did he ever thank me?

Boro Nut

Did he fuck.