What would it take for you to stop believing that god exists?

[BucephalusBB]

..so just take a chill pill and don't fret yourself over it......I believe it, and that settles it for me...:bow:

Nowhere in the post did imagist freak out to need a "chill pill".
You did this in my threads as well. It seems like you have a great urge protecting yourself against non-theists. You don't need to do that you know. Not every non-theist is in attackmode when they ask about others reasons for believing..

 

[Riverwolf]

That's not an answer to the question.

How not?

You asked what it would take for me to stop believing in God, i.e., the divine. Now, I'm polytheistic, and my beliefs about the gods are very different from others. What would it take for me to stop believing in the gods? My answer is a great deal of arrogance.

 

[Imagist]

How not?

You asked what it would take for me to stop believing in God, i.e., the divine. Now, I'm polytheistic, and my beliefs about the gods are very different from others. What would it take for me to stop believing in the gods? My answer is a great deal of arrogance.

Ah, sorry, it appears that I didn't word my question clearly enough. My fault.

My question was more intended to be "What evidence would it take for you to stop believing that gods exist?" I have amended my original post to clarify that.

Is it safe to assume from your answer that you would need evidence that humans are the most complex life forms? If so, what evidence would convince you of that?

Also, given your definition of gods as "simply more complex forms of life", would you view smart people as gods in relation to stupid people? Or perhaps physically talented people as gods in relation to physically handicapped people? If aliens came to earth who were only marginally more complex than us, would you consider them gods?

Basically, how much difference in complexity is necessary for you to consider a being a god?

 

[sandy whitelinger]

So now I ask theists: What evidence would it take for you to stop believing that god exists?

When I die nothing happens except I become worm fodder.

 

[Draka]

Why can't it be disproven by human means? Can it be proven by human means? If not, why do you believe it?

It can be proven only spiritually. Experience. Revelation. However, there is nothing about my belief that can be scientifically tested nor are there any claims that deny scientific history either. No claims concerning creation or evolution. No age of the earth whatnot. No supposed son, or daughter, of some being walking around on the planet performing miracles. It is not testable by any accredited human means. So therefore, there is no way of disproving it.

 

[Storm]

Numerous theists have asked atheists the question, "What evidence would it take for you to believe that god exists?"

The answers have been numerous, but the basic idea of the answers I have seen from atheists (including myself) has been, "Any valid evidence at all would work."

So now I ask theists: What evidence would it take for you to stop believing that god exists?

It seems to me that if there is absolutely nothing that would cause a person to stop believing, that person must have an unwarranted confidence in their own understanding of the world.

Like Emu, you would have to shake my confidence in my perceptions. I honestly can't think of anything plausible that would do that.

 

[Charity]

What makes this different?

I've told you my experience makes it different.......

 

[Riverwolf]

Ah, sorry, it appears that I didn't word my question clearly enough. My fault.

My question was more intended to be "What evidence would it take for you to stop believing that gods exist?" I have amended my original post to clarify that.

Is it safe to assume from your answer that you would need evidence that humans are the most complex life forms? If so, what evidence would convince you of that?

Also, given your definition of gods as "simply more complex forms of life", would you view smart people as gods in relation to stupid people? Or perhaps physically talented people as gods in relation to physically handicapped people? If aliens came to earth who were only marginally more complex than us, would you consider them gods?

Basically, how much difference in complexity is necessary for you to consider a being a god?

By "more complex" I mean the difference between organisms such as single-celled life compared to us. "Aliens" would be just as complex as us, and not gods. Same with "smart" (however you define that) people.

We are more or less in control of three of the dimensions of reality which make up a sphere, (pseudo-science alert!), while being aware of a fourth, which is time.

I believe the gods to be life forms that are beyond these dimensions. This is not backed up by any science whatsoever except for whispers that I here of various sciences stating that there are more "dimensions" than the four we inhabit.

This is also a so-called "self-fulfilling prophecy" because there is no evidence either way whether or not my definition of a god could exist. In terms of evidence, it would take solid proof that the universe is as we believe it to be at this moment: finite and young, that we are as complex as life has gotten so far.

 

[Mister Emu]

So if the majority of people started to tell you that your perceptions were wrong, or you were told by a psychologist that your perceptions of the existence were wrong, you would stop believing in god?

I would certainly have to doubt my experiences with the divine...

 

[sandy whitelinger]

I would certainly have to doubt my experiences with the divine...

So much for faith. Or the examples of Shadrach, Mishach and Abednego. Or just forget Elijah.

 

[MoonWater]

For me it would take absolute proof that there is nothing for me after death, that we are the only beings with consciousness and that consciousness doesn't/won't grow beyond it's current capacity, that(like with riverwolf) we are as complex and advanced as life can or at least has gotten, that there is nothing more to the universe than the physical, and finally disprove the existence of energy(and no I don't mean electricity)and nature/natural forces in general. Put simply you would have to prove that the universe and existence itself don't exist.

 

[Charity]

Nowhere in the post did imagist freak out to need a "chill pill".
You did this in my threads as well. It seems like you have a great urge protecting yourself against non-theists. You don't need to do that you know. Not every non-theist is in attackmode when they ask about others reasons for believing..

Since the post was for imagist and not you I don't know why it bothers you so bad sweetie....I was only using the expression in a joking way......Well apparently after your post I do need to be in my self defense attack mode.....I wasn't expecting an attack but, darn it I got one anyway.....

 

[bicker]

That does help. It leads me to another question, though. It is clear (at least to me) that when you speak of "god" and a Christian speaks of "god" you are speaking of entirely different things.

Yes and no. We're speaking, actually, of the exact same thing, each relative to our own perspective. After all, a Roman Catholic views "god" quite differently from the "god" a liberal Christian believes in.

Do you believe in a god in the traditional sense of the word, in addition to or as a part of the god that you equate with everything?

The "traditional sense of the word" to whom? There are over a billion people living in China, a billion people living in India, a quarter billion people living in Indonesia, etc. Referring to the Christian perspective using the term "traditional sense of the word" is ethnocentric (viewing as "traditional" the perspective you've been inundated with since birth, due to how prevalent that perspective is locally, i.e., here in the United States).

Pantheists believe in God as the totality of reality. Panentheists believe in that, plus something beyond the natural actuality of existence.

 

[Mister Emu]

So much for faith. Or the examples of Shadrach, Mishach and Abednego. Or just forget Elijah.

I'm sorry?

Yes, if I were declared mentally ill by medical science, and if I were to routinely hallucinate I would certainly doubt my perceptions, and since my experience with the divine comes through my perception, that as well... I didn't say I would certainly disbelieve, but have some doubt? Yes...

I don't though, routinely hallucinate, or even on occasion And I haven't, nor will I, be diagnosed with a mental disorder...

That said, I don't see what Shadrach, Mishach, and Abednego have to do with it...

 

[Imagist]

When I die nothing happens except I become worm fodder.

This doesn't answer my question.

 

[rstrats]

Since beliefs cannot be consciously chosen or "unchosen", a person can only venture a guess as to what it might take.

 

[sojourner]

What would it take for you to stop believing that god exists?

An act of God.

 

[Imagist]

For me it would take absolute proof that there is nothing for me after death, that we are the only beings with consciousness and that consciousness doesn't/won't grow beyond it's current capacity, that(like with riverwolf) we are as complex and advanced as life can or at least has gotten, that there is nothing more to the universe than the physical, and finally disprove the existence of energy(and no I don't mean electricity)and nature/natural forces in general. Put simply you would have to prove that the universe and existence itself don't exist.

I'm not sure I understand this. Can't there be many kinds of beings with consciousness and none of them be gods? I personally believe it's highly improbable that we are the only sentient beings in the universe, but I am an atheist.

Also, what is the relation of energy and natural forces to the existence of a god?

 

[pray4me]

I'll tell you what, when I'm dead and buried if I don't get resurrected and see an afterlife then I'll beleive that God doesn't exist. Whoops, I guess I wouldn't be able to believe anything then cause I'd be dead. I don't see that there's any way to prove it one way or the other really. You can prove if our idea of God is right or wrong but you can't prove there wasn't/isn't a superior being that set life into motion even if you could prove the Big Bang Theory. It all boils down to whether or not you want to believe it, and I want to. Some others don't and that's no skin off my nose.

 

[ripplecutbuddha]

Numerous theists have asked atheists the question, "What evidence would it take for you to believe that god exists?"

The answers have been numerous, but the basic idea of the answers I have seen from atheists (including myself) has been, "Any valid evidence at all would work."

So now I ask theists: What evidence would it take for you to stop believing that god exists?

It seems to me that if there is absolutely nothing that would cause a person to stop believing, that person must have an unwarranted confidence in their own understanding of the world.

It would take mankind becoming omnipotent. Only when mankind, as a race, knows everything that could possibly be known will it even be feasable to say that God doesn't exist.

In that situation, if Man knows everything and has yet to find God, then it would be accurate to say he doesn't exist.

as for now, there is such an embarrassingly large hole in man's knowledge that the existence of God must remain rather likely.