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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 Nerdlass on March 20, 2012 at 5:22pm

If there's a god, it is bat-shit crazy or else how is described by the devil in Devil's Advocate, an absentee landlord. I see little chance for such an entity to exist, given our universe. If shown to us, we'd probably see it as an advanced life-form and little more.

In other words, many of us have outgrown the concept.

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Permalink Reply by ChrisC on March 20, 2012 at 6:33pm

I would take the late Christopher Hitchens' lead and hope that whatever this "god" is would prefer honest disbelief to dishonest belief "just in case".

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Permalink Reply by Mary O'Grady on March 20, 2012 at 7:46pm

Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.
--Marcus Aurelius

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Permalink Reply by ChrisC on March 21, 2012 at 4:44am

Very nice.

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Permalink Reply by SecularCortex13.x on March 23, 2012 at 9:18pm

die and see
or not.

http://www.atheistnexus.org/forum/topics/bizarre-find-at-miami-inte...

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Permalink Reply by Leeor Dicker on March 23, 2012 at 9:27pm

My answer to that question is simple: christians claim that god makes us all exactly as we are. That being the case, it means that he knew while creating us that we'd doubt, that we'd ask questions and that we'd stop believing.

Why would he punish you for being exactly the creation he made?

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Permalink Reply by Tolti on March 28, 2012 at 3:01am

It seems that you are under the influence of fairy tales that authority figures repeatedly told you were true, even though there is no evidence that can be used to quantify the fairy tale. Why do you not have any question as to the veracity of the Tooth Fairy....you heard that fairy tale as a child too, didn't you? But the god myth was presented as 'believe or burn in hell for all eternity', rather than as the rather benign Tooth Fairy who rewards you for loosing baby teeth. Now, being so brainwashed, with lingering fears built subtly over the countless reinforcing sermons, testimonies, songs, common threats, "god is watching you, you had better behave", etc. you slip back into the 'what if it is true' question. Ask yourself " Why don't I accept those teachings now, as an adult?". Is it because there is no evidence for any god(s)? There are natural, reasonable explanations for the world and for the evolution of life on the earth; science is answering the questions about our planet and about our immediate solar system as well as the universe. Christianity was formulated ~2000 years ago, when there was a nearly 99% rate of illiteracy, and Christ shows up in bronze age agrarian society to save mankind....never mind that humans were roaming as hunter-gathers, nomadic sheepherders for ~100,000-150,000 years before Christ showed up. This tale is starting to sound like a myth. Then there is the biologically impossible virgin birth, the unbelievable trinity concept, the only option for a god who is said to be omnipotent is to make himself as his own son, who has to come to earth, be crucified to save humanity, and if individuals don't believe, take all this on faith(no available evidence) then by god, they will burn in hell forever. Kinda stiff punishment for being a thinking individual, who just uses
his/her brain. In fact, if a human parent punished his or her children by torturing them for say 10years for
a minor 'sin' (not eternity, by the way), would this be considered just, benevolent....we are told that this
god is omnibenevolent, too. And the 'authority' for these tales is a bible written by multiple authors, many who have lied about who they are ( claim to be one of the apostles, but aren't); no eye witnesses, stories passed down by oral tradition and not written for ~90 + years after the events recorded. Then there are the oblivious fallacies....two different accounts of the origin myth, two different accounts of the resurrection, a tale of a world wide flood, taken from other pagen myths, and the list goes on. Check out books by Dr. Bart Erdman, "Forged, Writing in the name of god" and "Misquoting Jesus". So even though science hasn't answered all the questions that humankind can pose, we have learned much since the superstitious days when (if) Jesus walked on earth in the first millinium, and replaced the need for a sky father to explain the universe and take care of the feeble sinning humans. And, remember, that is only one of the gods that humans have invented.....what about the Egyptian gods and their afterlife myths.....if they are true, you need to be making arrangements to be buried with all the goods you will need in the afterlife....the Egyptians religion and civilization lasted longer than it has been since since Christ was supposedly sent to save us....and it was a remarkable, advanced civilization. Who is to say the Egyptians weren't right. So, Danny, review your reasons why you don't "believe anything they say". But even if there is a god, which god is most likely to be 'real'? There have been literally hundreds of thousands of gods invented and keenly believed in over the the course written history(~5000+ years). How to pick? The Egyptians really dominate the imagination as they were much more dedicated to their gods and their afterlife preparations, than the puny Christians.

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Permalink Reply by Edward ager III on March 28, 2012 at 7:37am

if there is a "god" atheist will be the first to know it. christains just are not smart enough.

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Permalink Reply by booklover on March 28, 2012 at 9:10am

If there was one, which there isn't, wouldn't it already know why you didn't believe in it?

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Permalink Reply by Nsajigwa sisi kwa sisi on March 28, 2012 at 9:22am

just simple answer from me is...of course there is god...there are gods but the point is WHO CREATES/CREATED HIM/THEM...the fact is, it is we / us human beings who have created these/those all the gods..! think about it...god / gods are but a cultural phenomena...had you been born in middle east, you could most likely been worshiping god the Allah, for example...

as far i am concerned one can be atheist and yet believes in god, sounds contradictory? take it as dialectic!! yeah i mean if you believe in god but at the same time you see that that god is human created from your culture...

there are gods, but it is us human beings who creates them, and then we end up worshiping same deferentially...

gods are human creations...as one ludwig feuerbach came to see/realise...

sorry i have leave the internet cafe...all the best...nsajigwa