Theists how would you react if it turned out that God didn't really exist?

**Helm** · May 14, 2009, 12:56 PM

No way you can prove something like that but this is purely hypothetical. Would you change your behaviour in any way? Go into a state of depression? Or just carry on as usual?

**Claudius Gothicus** · May 14, 2009, 01:21 PM

I would carry on, but I do not consider myself the classical religious theist.

**Chaigidel** · May 14, 2009, 01:34 PM

would be entirely irrelevant for day to day living; I would not be depressed or anything-- I think I may throw a party.

if god does not exist that means that the dance will end, and I would like nothing more than that.

**Каие** · May 14, 2009, 01:36 PM

Carry on as usual. I behave the way I do out of principle, i follow my faith's requirements as I believe in them. Well at least most of them. I wouldn't suddenly start drinking, smoking and shooting heroin because I realised God didn't exist.

Realistically though the only time I could find out if he existed or not is if I died, and by that point it wouldn't matter if he didn't. I wouldn't know.

**Helm** · May 14, 2009, 02:09 PM

Originally Posted by Яome kb8

Realistically though the only time I could find out if he existed or not is if I died, and by that point it wouldn't matter if he didn't. I wouldn't know.

Say you died and found out there wasn't a God before being resuscitatedback to life then.

**basics** · May 15, 2009, 10:24 AM

" Say you died and found out there wasn't a God before being resuscitated back to life then. So what is about God exactly that makes you love him? "

Helm,

The only way that you can love God is because God has given you something quite wonderful that you can love Him. That is that He has given you His Son that He has broken down the barriers where love could never pass, Him being the only mediator between God and man or man and God.

In other words He made possible that which was not and still applies to them that can't love Him. These don't believe and so therefore cannot love that which they don't know. They can only imagine, but love, no. So what your question begs is the same imagination that any disbeliever conjures up in the discourse of mocking what he doesn't have.

To imagine that without God, that at death you would find yourself where He is not, is a silly construct, because if He weren't there, as non-existent, how could you come back from the dead, since our knowledge of that procedure begins and ends with Him? I mean He either exists or He doesn't and if you have to wait for that confirmation at death may I suggest that you are miles behind them that already know that He lives and they are not dead.

**Helm** · May 15, 2009, 01:26 PM

Originally Posted by basics

To imagine that without God, that at death you would find yourself where He is not, is a silly construct, because if He weren't there, as non-existent, how could you come back from the dead, since our knowledge of that procedure begins and ends with Him? I mean He either exists or He doesn't and if you have to wait for that confirmation at death may I suggest that you are miles behind them that already know that He lives and they are not dead.

If there was a God and he's a genuiely all loving as you claim him to be then by rights he isn't going to be concerned about the fact that I didn't believe in his existence while I was alive. And if he is concerned about that well sod him then, I'm to free to believe what I believe.

**basics** · May 17, 2009, 06:50 AM

" If there was a God and he's a genuiely all loving as you claim him to be then by rights he isn't going to be concerned about the fact that I didn't believe in his existence while I was alive. And if he is concerned about that well sod him then, I'm to free to believe what I believe."

Helm,

It is because there is a God that you are in no way free to believe whatever you want. His concern is surrounded by that, that you are a fallen person, bound in sin and already condemned by Law, unable to believe outside of these boundaries. It is His love that made possible an exit for you should you seek it but it seems from the above that you are happy to be held in condemnation.

**Aldgarkalaughskel** · May 14, 2009, 02:05 PM

God doesn't really exist. It is just a concept, a rationalization of how Being looks like. We are waves in an infinite ocean of energy. God's dead... I am happy to hear that, it means someone's soul is awaken and started to live and think life in its fullness, instead of thinking about dead concepts.

Originally Posted by Friedrich Nietzsche

"Where has God gone?" he cried. "I shall tell you. We have killed him - you and I. We are his murderers. But how have we done this? How were we able to drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What did we do when we unchained the earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving now? Away from all suns? Are we not perpetually falling? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there any up or down left? Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is it not more and more night coming on all the time? Must not lanterns be lit in the morning? Do we not hear anything yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we not smell anything yet of God's decomposition? Gods too decompose. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we, murderers of all murderers, console ourselves? That which was the holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet possessed has bled to death under our knives. Who will wipe this blood off us? With what water could we purify ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we need to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we not ourselves become gods simply to be worthy of it? There has never been a greater deed; and whosoever shall be born after us - for the sake of this deed he shall be part of a higher history than all history hitherto."

**Каие** · May 14, 2009, 02:24 PM

Then the first part of my post still applies.

**Helm** · May 14, 2009, 02:27 PM

What I said about this being purely hypothetical still applies as well though. If God didn't exist it's not possible to prove it.

**Каие** · May 14, 2009, 02:31 PM

Carry on as usual. I behave the way I do out of principle, i follow my faith's requirements as I believe in them. Well at least most of them. I wouldn't suddenly start drinking, smoking and shooting heroin because I realised God didn't exist.

**Helm** · May 14, 2009, 02:36 PM

Ah you meant first paragraph fair enough. Though if it wouldn't affect you in any way then the question is why would you believe in it?

**Каие** · May 14, 2009, 02:40 PM

I believe it is right. Like loyalty to one's country, compassion and kindness to your fellow man and those more vulnerable and less well off, the need to seek knowledge and keep healthy. Although these are also dictated by my religion, you can agree many people follow those values with no religious instruction. I just think that is right.

**The Dude** · May 14, 2009, 02:51 PM

Originally Posted by Яome kb8

I believe it is right. Like loyalty to one's country, compassion and kindness to your fellow man and those more vulnerable and less well off, the need to seek knowledge and keep healthy. Although these are also dictated by my religion, you can agree many people follow those values with no religious instruction. I just think that is right.

But you don't need the concept of god to help you on the right path. That's the strange thing here. You seem to have a pretty well tuned moral compass. Thanks to religion? I think not. It's an innate strength. If you'd carry on as usual if it turned out that god did not exist then clearly there's nothing additional he adds to your life now.

**Каие** · May 14, 2009, 03:10 PM

Originally Posted by The Dude

But you don't need the concept of god to help you on the right path. That's the strange thing here. You seem to have a pretty well tuned moral compass. Thanks to religion? I think not. It's an innate strength. If you'd carry on as usual if it turned out that god did not exist then clearly there's nothing additional he adds to your life now.

Originally Posted by Chaigidel

the man said the religion happened to meet his personal preferences for right and wrong

**MaximiIian** · May 14, 2009, 02:41 PM

Originally Posted by Helm

No way you can prove something like that but this is purely hypothetical. Would you change your behaviour in any way? Go into a state of depression? Or just carry on as usual?

Just carry on as usual. Despite being a polytheist, I hold to a mechanistic view of the physical, measurable universe. To me, the gods have little to do with the day-to-day conduct of the universe. I see their movements and actions as on a scale far beyond measurable comprehension; thus, we're barely a blip on the radar for them, except for the few that take an interest in us.

So, the existence or non-existence of the gods wouldn't really change my behaviours or my way of thinking about the universe, because for the most part it's the same as when I was an agnostic.

**Chaigidel** · May 14, 2009, 02:52 PM

are you not reading his posts?

the man said the religion happened to meet his personal preferences for right and wrong, the religion was secondary to his morality as he already stated.

the religious , the truly religious are not so because they need help with anything its because they respect love and honor that which has given them life.

**Helm** · May 14, 2009, 03:07 PM

Originally Posted by Chaigidel

respect love and honor that which has given them life.

But if God did exist for real then it wouldn't be necessary to respect, love and honour him as it's only optional if you feel like doing that? Organised religion seems to imply that is necessary if you want to avoid the whole eternal damnation deal.