If God were proven....

aileron · December 30, 2013, 03:29:11 PM

Quote from: "Insult to Rocks"
Quote from: "aileron"Why would an all-powerful, all-knowing, creator of all, eternal supreme being care whether we worshiped him or not?
Very good point. He may desire to not be worshiped, or he may not care. However the question is more, would you worship him, not if he desires to be worshiped.

To avoid hell, probably. Otherwise, I doubt it. It would be more puzzling that worship-inspiring.

Neutron Jack · December 30, 2013, 04:20:15 PM

Quote from: "Insult to Rocks"Worship as in to follow his commands, assume every thing he does or says is right and holy, assume that he is the perfect being, and willingly sacrifice yourself for his vision.

Certainly not. I am quite certain that my parents existed, and that they created me. However, I did not follow all of their commands, I didn't agree with everything that they said, they weren't perfect, and I wouldn't have sacrificed myself for them.

Mere existence is no reason for worship.

stromboli · December 30, 2013, 04:37:40 PM

Quote from: "Neutron Jack"
Quote from: "Insult to Rocks"Worship as in to follow his commands, assume every thing he does or says is right and holy, assume that he is the perfect being, and willingly sacrifice yourself for his vision.
Certainly not. I am quite certain that my parents existed, and that they created me. However, I did not follow all of their commands, I didn't agree with everything that they said, they weren't perfect, and I wouldn't have sacrificed myself for them.

Mere existence is no reason for worship.

Which is a good point, and welcome to the forum. And the existence of one god wouldn't necessarily preclude the existence of others, so which one would you choose?

josephpalazzo · December 30, 2013, 05:23:21 PM

If worship means surrendering to his will, then it's a no. If he apologizes, I might respect him. But that's it.

sophia · December 30, 2013, 05:24:52 PM

Quote from: "josephpalazzo"If worship means surrendering to his will, then it's a no. If he apologizes, I might respect him. But that's it.

Same thing here

frosty · December 30, 2013, 05:25:06 PM

I remember on a Theist forum, they said that I cannot prove god does not exist..... just like I cannot prove my great great great great great great great Grandfather existed. I never really understood why they thought that was such an amazing point to make, but you can bet that after the guy posted that everybody thought it was an amazing point. There was a huge amount of circlejerking going on in that thread, you can believe it.

Plu · December 31, 2013, 02:26:38 AM

I'll be the odd one out again and say that if some being who could give me the choice between eternal happiness and eternal horror said "jump", I would jump without questioning it. Nothing is worth eternal torment.

(This of course assumes that such a being could actually generate eternal bliss, something I believe to be equally impossible from it actually existing, but if we're going into hypothetical land...)

Jason78 · December 31, 2013, 05:24:46 AM

Quote from: "Insult to Rocks"One of the most common things I hear atheist speakers say is that if God were proven, they would believe in him. Reasonable, but I'm more interested in whether or not you would worship him.

I think that if God was proven, most religious people wouldn't believe in him.

Religions tend to be reflections of the people that claim belief. Have you ever noticed that interpretations of holy books tend to back up exactly what the religious person wants?

Homophobic? (to pick a topic at random) The religious person can say "It's not my fault, it's what my god commands." I doubt they would give up such a way of thinking easily.

Plu · December 31, 2013, 06:14:21 AM

Yes to the above.

It is almost (if not entirely) impossible to find a single person who disagrees with what his personal god wants, but it's easy to find a million people who all believe in the same unchanging god and all think that single unchanging god wants exactly what they specifically want and that all the other people are wrong.

This would make a rational people scratch his head and wonder about what exactly is going on.

Mister Agenda · December 31, 2013, 10:39:25 AM

God would have to do more than just exist for me to worship (revere and adore) him, but some versions of God could reasonably inspire such feelings. LIke a truly omnibenevolent being that is powerful and wise but not all-powerful and all-knowing, working tirelessly to make things better for everyone, doing the best it can in a vast universe it can't fully control or comprehend. Kind of like Doctor Who.

stromboli · December 31, 2013, 10:49:22 AM

In my case, the proof would have to be pretty overwhelming before I'd even consider it. In an age of CGI and ultra realistic special effects, the proof would have to be extraordinary.

mykcob4 · December 31, 2013, 10:54:34 AM

God isn't real so why worry about it?

leo · December 31, 2013, 10:57:57 AM

The tooth fairy is real.

vincent · December 31, 2013, 11:22:47 AM

Quote from: "Insult to Rocks"Religion and gods go against everything I stand for, and if my punishment for standing up for morality is eternal torture, so be it.

To be god, you have to be perfect.
To be perfect, you have to be moral.
To be moral, you can't punish people who stand up for morality.
If god punishes you for standing up for morality then he is not moral.
If he is not moral then he is not perfect.
If he is not perfect then he is not god.
If he is not god then he does not deserve worship.

Jason78 · December 31, 2013, 01:06:29 PM

Quote from: "stromboli"In my case, the proof would have to be pretty overwhelming before I'd even consider it. In an age of CGI and ultra realistic special effects, the proof would have to be extraordinary.

If he was all powerful, he could just make you believe :D

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If God were proven....