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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 Bill Flowers on November 15, 2009 at 9:01pm

One of my favorite Rowan Atkinson bits is where he is the devil welcoming souls to hell, ending up with, "Oh, and all of you Christians over here. I'm afraid the Jews were right."

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Permalink Reply by Phil on November 15, 2009 at 6:51pm

Hi Danny
I look at this way. If there were an all-powerful entity behind all that is, then I would hope that it would be thankful that at least someone didn’t follow anything here on planet earth that purports to being it's representative. To date as far as my comprehension will allow. I understand there has never been a human who has come close to explaining anything about our existence that could possibly do such an entity justice. I also think that if someone does it will be through science and knowledge. The immensity of what we are starting to undrstand about our existence and the universe and how little we know has taken care of any god that any human has imagined for me personally. For me personally it is better to think there isn’t one then to blaspheme or embarrass myself further by hoping there is a god which would only confirm even more my lack of intelligence.

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Permalink Reply by Jo Jerome on November 16, 2009 at 1:45pm

I understand there has never been a human who has come close to explaining anything about our existence that could possibly do such an entity justice. I also think that if someone does it will be through science and knowledge.

Wow, extremely well put Phil and would make a good point in a debate with a Theist. "If your god does exist, a being so powerful as to create this vast universe and us in its image as intelligent beings, do you really think it is more impressed by our willful censorship and ignorance of our own learning institutions in favor of blind flattery, or by using the brains it gave us to explore and discover the world around us?"

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Permalink Reply by Loren Miller on November 16, 2009 at 1:58pm

Sorry, Jo ... but I am SO STEALING THAT LAST! [grin!]

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Permalink Reply by Hal Prentice on November 16, 2009 at 6:08pm

Me, too.

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Permalink Reply by Loren Miller on November 16, 2009 at 12:11pm

Oh, you mean the Worm Over-Verbose?

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Permalink Reply by Howard S. Dunn on November 16, 2009 at 2:06pm

There are more things in heaven and earth, eh.

Listen, who cares? Is this life some vast version of World of Warcraft? Who knows? We aren't equipped to tell and neither were Bronze age shepherds and fishersman. They WERE equipped to know quite a bit about herd mentality and where the fish school up for easy pickins.

Pascal was the WORST type of gambler. He didn't even pick games like blackjack and poker where a bit of skill can make a difference - he picked roulette and craps - pure luck. 4,200 formal definitions of 'god' -and most deny the validity of the others. So, what to pick?

Read Plato's "Allegory of the Cave." Come out into the light my friend. The Universe is VERY big!

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Permalink Reply by Edward Teach on November 16, 2009 at 3:34pm

Excellent! Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" had a profound impact on me. I use it all the time to try and help concrete folks stretch their minds a little.

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Permalink Reply by Edward Teach on November 17, 2009 at 10:15am

not using Plato's concept the way he intended

I'm not interested in Plato's intentions on this one. It's a great exercise to help students with critical thinking and empathy (see through the eyes of the people in the cave... how would your perspective be different?). It is also a wonderful metaphor for the sometimes dramatic shifts in perspective that occur in students who have never before learned critical thinking skills.

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Permalink Reply by Howard S. Dunn on November 17, 2009 at 12:35pm

Jeesh - who cares what the author intended. I had a friend who would write amazing poetry rife with allusions to Shakespeare, Bacon and Pope. I would say - Wow, dude, I love the way you juxtaposed MacBeth with Ayn Rand ... He would say "who"? And he wasn't kidding.

Listen, you could use Plato's Cave to explain why a kid should get outside and shut off the PS3. At it's core - it simply means - "Get out of the frikkin' cave!"