The Admiral

What would it take?

We Atheists are frequently asked, “ what would it take to make you believe in God”? Let me see if I can come up with a coherent answer.

For the sake of this argument let us assume that by “God” we mean the god of the Judaic/ Christian religions as described in the Jewish and Christian bibles.

The religionists claim that this book is the word of God as revealed to the prophets. Okay so far.

Now, if God had taken steps to preserve the integrity of his word, had he/she preserved it in it’s original form throughout the ages I would have to seriously consider it.

For instance, in the beginning there was The Book. Then a powerful ruler ordered his scribes to change a few things so as to enhance his own importance. The scribes labored long and diligently to obey their sovereign. After years of work they finished and took the new book to the king. The king opens the book and lo, the changes have disappeared and the book remains in its original form. And suppose that this continued to the present day. Wouldn’t this have been a trivial task for an omnipotent god? I would then be compelled by logic to admit that this book truly was the word of God.

Excuse me while I freshen my martini.

The Admiral

poului

It seems though that the really difficult question is "What would it take for the many CHristians, Jews, and Muslims in this world to snap out of such superstitious nonsense and embrace reality?"


The futility of trying reason with religious people really depresses me sometimes, so much potential in them just wasted on garbage.

happyboy

but admiral.......preserving his word unchanged throughout the ages would take time away from preserving the corpses of his followers.

happyboy

beyelzu

lets see i am an omnipotent god, i can either preserve some corpses or preserve my sacred word


the decisions one has to make.


im with happy boy fuck the holy word

beyelzu

admiral,


seriously, if the situation in the op did occur, i would also find it proof of a god. after all, you cant just chalk it up to a hallucination. and interestingly it wouldnt actually rob anyone of freewill.

The Admiral

Poului

Thanks for a serious response. It's another question but just as relavent.

The Admiral

schu

I don't take that question seriously because it is the same as a car salesman asking what it would take to get you to buy their car. They just want you to do their work for them. Let them find a way to convince you they are right. And good luck to them.

Asha'man

How about this: The Book is never translated, but makes perfect sense to every reader in every language. There is nothing that is unclear or confusing or contradictory, all our questions are answered perfectly, and everybody gets the exact same meaning out of it.

(As opposed to the current situation, which is the exact opposite. )

The Admiral

Asha'man

Precisely, you said it better.

The Admiral

Starboy

It certainly would help if the book had been written in one sitting as opposed to an agglomeration of layers created by a army of authors. It would be even better if the nature and behavior of god were fairly constant throughout. And if it wouldn't be too much trouble, they could have proofread it and edited for consistency. Oh, and it would have been a really, really, really big help if they cut out the metaphorical nonsense and stated plainly what was intended so a middle man wasn't required to interpret what appears to be gibberish in many cases. If those things were cleared up, it might not be a bad read. But I’m not all that interested in historical fiction.

Starboy