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What if there is a god?

Has anyone here every thought about what if there happened to be a god. It doesn't really matter what god or what religion just if there is one. When you die what do you think they/him/her would say and how you would react? If they were a god that passed judgment, do you think that they would understand your reasons for not believing and forgive you or would they punish you without question?

I was raised Christian and while I don't believe anything they say, the above still crosses my mind quite often. I'm a musician and I get a lot of gigs playing for church services, especially around Christmas and Easter. It's hard not to listen to the sermon and try to understand their way of thinking during these times and these questions always pop into my mind during and after the service.

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Permalink Reply by damian on April 13, 2009 at 4:44pm

I'm not sure if you can call yourself an atheist. Maybe someone can clarify. Do you consider yourself an atheist?

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Permalink Reply by Goddamnation on October 16, 2009 at 11:04pm

Yeah, I think he feels guilty for being an atheist.

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Permalink Reply by Sandra Stott on June 4, 2010 at 4:45pm

Not at all, there is nothing wrong with mental exercise playing the "what if" games. It goes hand in hand with figuring out why you believe in something.

My own answer is somewhere around page 40.

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Permalink Reply by FCoNicaea325 on June 18, 2010 at 12:04am

He doesn't believe in a god. There is nothing wrong with saying "imagine if there was. what would I do?"

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Permalink Reply by Reality Activist on April 13, 2009 at 6:17pm

Since gods don't exist why even ponder the question. The faithful don't think...they feel...religion causes emotional addiction. Religion takes advantage of people during hard times because it is easy for people to be emotional.
What is an atheist doing pondering a question which is contradictory to their viewpoint?

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Permalink Reply by thirteen31 on May 2, 2009 at 7:50am

[quote]What is an atheist doing pondering a question which is contradictory to their viewpoint?[/quote]

Well, that's contradictory to your viewpoint, yes...atheism is defined as a lack of belief in deities. It doesn't necessarily mean that atheists are certain that deities don't exist.

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Permalink Reply by FreeThinker on May 22, 2009 at 6:00pm

I often ponder questions from a theist viewpoint to consider how they might view the situation. Call it playing theist's advocate or putting oneself in the shoes of the theist to see where they are coming from. Doesn't mean I actually believe that viewpoint.

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Permalink Reply by Jo Jerome on July 3, 2010 at 3:04pm

Well put FreeThinker.

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Permalink Reply by Tarquin St John Sh'gn'sty on June 13, 2009 at 11:09pm

"Since gods don't exist why even ponder the question."

That is the assertion of an opinion,not a fact.

I assert "I do not believe in God(s) I do not assert "There ARE no god(s)" because I don't know for a fact (and neither does anyone else). I may be in error.

Richard Dawkins has said that on a scale of 1 to 7,he's a 6.9 .So am I.

Your assertion that believers feel rather than think is another assertion of belief,which is not supported by evidence as a general principle. Religions tend to have a consistent logic and rationale once the premise is accepted. Logic and reason do not in themselves necessarily infer truth or reality. (Logic 101)

"What is an atheist doing pondering a question which is contradictory to their viewpoint?"

Atheists have no viewpoint,except that of a disbelief in gods. SOME atheist have the positive belief that there ARE no gods,but this is by no means a consensus.

I ponder the question because I don't conflate absence of evidence as evidence of absence,nor personal certitude with certainty.

A definition of a closed mind is one which ceases to ponder any and all beliefs.

From Wikipedia

"Atheism can be either the rejection of theism,[1] or the assertion that deities do not exist.[2] In the broadest sense, it is the absence of belief in the existence of deities.[3]

Definitions and distinctions
A chart showing the relationship between the definitions of weak/strong and implicit/explicit atheism. An implicit atheist has not thought about belief in gods; such an individual would be described as implicitly without a belief in gods. An explicit atheist has made an assertion regarding belief in gods; such an individual may eschew belief in gods (weak atheism), or affirm that gods do not exist (strong atheism).

Writers disagree how best to define and classify atheism,[27] contesting what supernatural entities it applies to, whether it is an assertion in its own right or merely the absence of one, and whether it requires a conscious, explicit rejection. A variety of categories have been proposed to try to distinguish the different forms of atheism."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism

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Permalink Reply by Asa Watcher on December 8, 2009 at 9:59am

Please! Even Wikipedia gets it wrong.
Atheism is the absence of FAITH in the existence of deities. Belief and faith are two different things. Theists and atheists share most beliefs. They do not share faith.
I find it unnecessary to exercise or engage faith for any reason. I don't have faith in anything. Do you?

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Permalink Reply by hunter on July 3, 2010 at 9:54am

@Asa watcher depends on how you describe faith, I have faith that when I step on a gas pedal in a car that my car will drive. the difference between atheists and theists in the matter of faith is they have different lines drawn on where faith shouldn't be used, theists have faith in god, aheists have faith in the obvious or already known.

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Permalink Reply by Gary Burk on November 16, 2010 at 8:18am

I do have faith in my fundamental beliefs, by which I mean that I accept them as true without proof that they are true. Perhaps most fundamental is that the universe follows repeatable and determinant procedures. We call them "Laws of Physics", even though the term "Law" suggests that they can be broken (they can not).
"A Million Laws are made by Men,
A few are Nature sent.
The Former are broken frequently
The Later can't even be bent" (Author unknown, paraphrased by me).

I do not know as a fact that the Universe is orderly but I do act as if that is the case.

In addition to this all-encompassing "first principal", I accept a number of less comprehensive things by faith because I lack the time, energy, will or ability to prove them. For example, I accept by faith that my sensation of reality is approximately correct (i.e. that I'm not just dreaming this entire existence), that my wife is not sleeping with the mailman, and that my dog really likes me. I could be mistaken!

GaryB