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Athiests & Agnostics - if you believed in God ... Pt. 1

A Christian Sceptic

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A Christian Sceptic
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For those who consider themselves Athiests or Agnostics,

I'm genuinely curious and hoping for serious answers.

There are probably a couple ways to phrase this question:

If you believed in God what would God be like and why?

or

If you wished there was a God what would God be like and why?
 
Gilb answer: a heavily armed Navajo lesbian in a wheelchair

Seriously…no, this can’t be answered seriously. This isn’t just asking ‘when did you stop beating your wife?’, it’s asking 'as a non-wifebeater, when did you stop beating your wife?’

Any answer I could give to the first question would require exactly as much pointless speculation as any other answer. Yet another analagous question would be ‘If you had a second head, how big would it’s nose be?’

The second is meaningless. Atheists or agnostics who ‘wish there was a god’ are just theists in denial. The assertion of some sort of personal deity with defineable properties is wishful thinking in itself.
 
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Matt has answered this question as completely as it can be answered.

Remember that man made god in his own image, not the other way around.
 
If I believed in God, he would probably be some sort of non-specific entity who confirmed all my prejudices and yet somehow, despite being all-powerful, couldn't be bothered to do anything about the state of the world because of some sort of illogical non-reason like the always ill-defined free-will.
 
Matt the Poet said:
The second is meaningless. Atheists or agnostics who ‘wish there was a god’ are just theists in denial. The assertion of some sort of personal deity with defineable properties is wishful thinking in itself.
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I have to disagree. Just because I really wish there was an all-powerful being looking out for the well-being of the universe doesn't mean I believe in it. I deny the existence of the supernatural because I have seen no evidence of it, not because I don't like the concept.
 
Question one is meaningless.
Question two is useless. But I'll answer the useless one.
He'd have my personality and values, but infinite power and knowledge.
Why ? Because then he'd treat people like me and my friends and family very very very well. And, he'd treat most other people very very well. The worst of humanity, he'd keep away from everyone else, still treat them OK, but make them watch how much better everyone else has it.
 
"If you believed in God what would God be like and why." - I don't understand the question. Are we playing "Design-A-God" or "Pimp-My-God"?

If I believed in God, God would be like whatever style of God I happened to believe in - if I believed in the Hindu god, it would be like it (them? aren't there more than one?) if I believed in the Jewish god, it would be like that one; if I believed in the Muslim god, it would be like that one...unless I made up my own god, but if I made it up, I would know I made it up so how could I believe in it?
 
if i had to answer.

A Physical Constant.

But really as I see no reason why I would want to wish for a god, it is a pointless question.

If however you wish to know which gods as depicted by various religions throughout history and I could invent a fantasy world where such beings exist, I'd probably have to plump for Localised pantheons of Gods, Greek, Viking, Celtic, as they seemed good for a giggle meddlesome and tricksy, plus the religious texts would be good to read, and I could probably get my Gemmelesque fantasy fix from the Non Fiction section, Some sort of Dan Simmons Ilium world set just over bifrost
 
One that doesn't interact in the Universe, is purposely hidden and if it "wants" anything, it wants rational people and not blind belief. In short, a hidden God that wants people that don't believe in it because there is no good evidence to do so.
 
I've been an atheist for as long as I can remember, though I can remember a time when I believed in Santa Claus, and I'm sure that I probably believed in God too, then.

If I believed in God, it would be some amorphous "intelligent universe," where everything (i.e., the deep-space intersection of two rays of starlight) was a fleck of a thought in some cosmic consciousness. The "why" is just that, seeing the way the universe operates, I can't imagine any grand director who is guiding events in accordance with some heavenly purpose. The cosmos as a whole encompasses everything that has happened, can happen, will happen, so it makes more sense to call that "god" than any other model I've seen.

If I wished there was a god, he'd be just and fair, and would actually help people who needed help, and thwart people who needed thwarting. He wouldn't blast people with tornadoes or ice storms or earthquakes, wouldn't keep them fertile past their ability to raise responsible descendants, wouldn't afflict them with disease and hunger. He'd create a universe in which life didn't have to kill to survive; people would get all the nutrients they need from the air and the sun, or hell, from "zero point" energy. People wouldn't die before their time; everyone would live exactly (mumble mumble) years, and be vibrant and healthy 'til the end. I guess I'm really saying that, if I wished God was real, I'd just wish for one that made a better universe than the one we have, and looked after things a little better.
 
OK, I'll play. But first, understand this is a pretty much off the cuff reply. Haven't spent any time deliberating this, so it's all subject to change on further consideration. Second, it's a game of make believe, so my answer really doesn't mean anything anyway ;)

He'd actually be a loving God, and would make his existence known to all, in no uncertain terms. There would be no doubt that he existed.

I think that IF I wished for a God, that God would be at least able to prevent violent, untimely deaths. He would ensure we all died natural deaths, at ripe old ages.

He would arrange things so that there would be no need for the greed and other issues that cause wars and depravities. He would ensure that we all "got along", but not actually control our thoughts or desires directly. He'd just make sure our problems were OUR problems, and not problems that required wars or senseless bloodshed..

He wouldn't give us everything we needed, or erase all our problems. I believe we need a certain amount of trials and tribulations, so to speak, to advance our knowledge and understanding, and for a sense of self worth.

That's the biggies, I think.

Do I win? ;)
 
The only god that could possibly exist is the non-participatory god of deists. This is a god we know nothing about, and can only postulate his existence based on our lack of knowledge. We can also never know that such a god exists, so it does no good to worship or even be concerned with what he wants us to do.
 
A Christian Sceptic said:
Hmmm ... interesting responses. Are some of you saying you've never even thought about a God?
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I think it's more confusion with your question.

For me to start to believe in a God, something has to change my mind and my beliefs. I don't know how they would be changed, so I can't answer your question.

It's a lot like asking: if you were schizophrenic, who's voices(if any) would you hear?

Obviously the answer is going to depend on how it manifests itself....
 
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