What proof would someone need in order to believe in God?

[mecca]

I think what Lady is really saying
Is to detach ourselves from too much worldly pleasurings

I agree with that.

 

[Lady]

Well, my Father is the creative Creator of this world, but right now, He has allowed Satan to rule it. So, that being said, I do not look to worldly pleasures for enjoyment-a broad topic, I know (what does she mean by worldly pleasures?) but, to walk with God, the bible said is to walk in the spirit and not in the flesh.
Yes, GIF, you basically hit that nail on the head!

 

[Clout]

Thread title- What proof would someone need in order to believe in God?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Absolutely nothing would make them believe..
For example-
An atheist falls over a cliff at night but grabs a bush halfway down and begins calling for help.
Suddenly the whole area is bathed in a golden glow and a choir of angels hovers around, and a great voice booms out from above- "Let go my son and I will catch you"
"Who are you?" asks the atheist.
"I am the Lord God Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end"
"Help, help" shouts the atheist, "is there anybody else up there?"

 

[Lizard King]

The odds of some proof that God exists and cares about what we want are about the same as expecting prisons and crime to disappear into thin air. We have been bestowed with the responsibility of never knowing what is happening but try and avoid the repercussions of the outcome of confusion that never ends. Questioning God is impossible. All you can do is hope for the best. There will always be people who demand religion is important. And there will be a select few who will deny their existence for as long as they can. We shall follow The Orange Tree Messiah.

 

[UnderAlienControl]

(Blaise) Pascal's Wager:
Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is.

 

[A Freeman]

Raising Pascal's Wager

The French mathematician Blaise Pascal (1623-62) is probably best known for his contributions to probability and the tabular presentation of binomial coefficients in what is now known as Pascal's Triangle, where each number in the table is the sum of the two numbers directly above it.

Pascal also put forward the following probability argument in the hope of appealing to agnostics. An agnostic is someone who believes that it is impossible to prove God's existence.

His argument goes something like this: God either exists or He doesn't. If we believe God and He exists, we will be rewarded with eternal bliss in heaven. If we believe God and He does not exist then at worst all we have forgone is a few sinful pleasures. If we do not believe God and He does exist we may enjoy a few sinful pleasures, but in not turning to Him with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength we will face eternal damnation. Alternatively, if we do not believe God and He does not exist then our sins will not be punished. Given those options, would any rational gambler think that the experience of a few sinful pleasures is worth the risk of eternal damnation?

Pascal's Wager by itself will likely be dismissed as a false dichotomy. However, if we add to Pascal's Wager the fact that 2/3rds of the Bible is prophecy, 99+% of which has already been fulfilled in exact and minute detail, wouldn't it be extremely foolish given that track record for anyone to think the remaining less than 1% will not likewise be fulfilled in exact and minute detail?

 

[A Freeman]

The odds of some proof that God exists and cares about what we want are about the same as expecting prisons and crime to disappear into thin air. We have been bestowed with the responsibility of never knowing what is happening but try and avoid the repercussions of the outcome of confusion that never ends. Questioning God is impossible. All you can do is hope for the best. There will always be people who demand religion is important. And there will be a select few who will deny their existence for as long as they can. We shall follow The Orange Tree Messiah.

We are presently living in a world that is FILLED with proof not only of God's existence, but of His Power, Creativity, Love and Caring.

We were provided this planet -- which we certainly didn't create ourselves and which obviously could not create itself -- and ALL of the tools required to create an orderly, civilized society, where everyone loves one another, shares in all of these God-given resources, and KNOWS that wisdom, freedom, justice, peace, prosperity and the safety and security that only God can provide ARE our INALIENABLE rights, as long as we learn to play nicely with one another.

We are the cause of all of the confusion here because of our continued rebellion against our Creator and His Perfect Law of Liberty. And then we wonder why we live in a degenerate society that is hell-bent of self-destruction, through moral depravity, widespread fraud and theft, and endless, unnecessary wars that insanely threaten all life on this planet.

We have been warned for thousands of years about the severe consequences that we would face if we chose to continue our criminal endeavors. People prefer the word "sinner", but a sinner is someone who breaks The Law that God gave us to protect us from all of this evil. Simply put, "sinner" is just another word for CRIMINAL.

We are the ones who built prisons, at our own, outrageous expense, and then made up millions of unjust rules and kangaroo courts to guarantee those prisons be filled to overflowing. IF instead we would have kept The Law that God gave us, there would be no prisons, because poverty -- which causes crime -- would be ELIMINATED, and the punishments for breaking The Law don't "fit the crime"; they are so severe that they PREVENT the crime.

Hope is something born of uncertainty. It is wanting something to be true, which may have no basis in reality, or serve selfish interests instead of the greater good. Faith should replace both hope and the business of worldly, organized religions, which profit from misleading people. There is no prophet in profit, as no one can serve both God (good) and materialism (selfishness/evil).

It's fine to hope for the best for everyone, but it's even better to KNOW that it's possible to achieve that world by working WITH God and thus receiving His Help and Guidance, instead of insanely working against Him and against the natural surroundings He has provided for this school.

Unfortunately, most don't see this life as a school, nor the need to learn from God how to be good. Instead, many question not only His Instructions, but that He even exists, while mindlessly sleepwalking through a world FILLED with built-in lessons and completely ignoring the Instruction Manual He has provided us, in writing.

All one needs to do to prove that God exists is to open their eyes and ears, and start doing things His Way. The results will, of course, speak for themselves.

John 7:15-17
7:15 And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man "Letters", having never been taught?
7:16 Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me.
7:17 IF any man will DO His will, he shall KNOW of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or [whether] I speak of myself.

 

[Clout]

"Jesus said 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me'
Thomas said to him, 'Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?'
Jesus replied- 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me'" (John 14:5/6)
So anybody who hitches their horses to the wagons of other religions or atheism are gambling their souls and hoping what Jesus said in the above verse is not true..

 

[Clout]

..We were provided this planet -- which we certainly didn't create ourselves and which obviously could not create itself..

Yes it's been there in open space for billions of years orbiting the sun at 67,000 mph and rotating at 600 mph and survived meteors, cosmic rays, solar flares etc, yet has somehow amazingly survived..

 

[Mohammed_123]

God/Allah answered my prayers.....thats why i believe

 

[Red Sky at Morning]

Looking at or looking along?

One of my favourite essays from C.S. Lewis is “Meditation in a Toolshed” (which is quite an uninspiring title) in which he explored through the idea of looking at and looking along a beam of light in a dark toolshed…

Analysis Of C. S. Lewis Meditation In A Toolshed​

620 Words​

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“Meditation in a Toolshed” Analysis When given the choice to interpret a situation externally or internally, which is the valid choice? In C. S. Lewis’s essay, “Meditation in a Toolshed”, he describes the two different points of view when forming an opinion. These two viewpoints consist of “looking at” and “looking along.” The former involves an external and detached understanding, while the latter describes a personal, internal, and attached experience. Is one of these options consistently inferior to the other?​

​

C.S. Lewis answers these questions and more as he uses structure and devices to explain this complex idea and allows his reader to incorporate this belief into their relationship with the Christian God. To aid the reader with completely grasping this controversial topic, Lewis utilizes multiple metaphors to demonstrate the advantages of both viewpoints. For example, when observing a savage, one records his participation in a fertility ritual. However, in the mind of the savage, this …show more content…​

​

However, a biased opinion does not indicate a false opinion. Experience and observation are depended on each other in order to gain knowledge. To the people who consider looking at to be the best and only option, Lewis states, “If you will only step inside, the things that look to you like instincts and taboos will suddenly reveal their real and transcendental nature”​

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more​

I say all the above to describe the experience of a lot of people when it comes to the question of the OP. It’s as though we all sit in Lewis’s toolshed. It’s where we were born. Some people can see the beam of light clearly, (their factual understanding of the existence of God, the truth of the Bible, the evidence for the resurrection etc being compelling from their point of view). For others, it is obscured by doubts, things they have heard about God and perhaps worst of all, people who have simply got in the way.

A conversation rumbles on as to whether a garden exists “outside” and much speculation occurs as to whether “outside” is even a thing as all we have ever had was the shed. Some people sit within the beam and try to tell those in the dark what they are looking at but that doesn’t wash with those who can only see the beam from the side.

I say all this to acknowledge that whilst the things I know about my reasons for faith are for me compelling, they are NOT the garden! This morning when I go to church I will not be thinking about the evidence for my faith but enjoying the reality of my Saviour. That’s something I can’t easily post about, just encourage those who have sat in the dark for a long time to step into the golden beam of light and look at the beauty of the garden this temporary toolshed of a world sits in.

 

[Zakat]

We are presently living in a world that is FILLED with proof not only of God's existence, but of His Power, Creativity, Love and Caring.

We were provided this planet -- which we certainly didn't create ourselves and which obviously could not create itself -- and ALL of the tools required to create an orderly, civilized society, where everyone loves one another, shares in all of these God-given resources, and KNOWS that wisdom, freedom, justice, peace, prosperity and the safety and security that only God can provide ARE our INALIENABLE rights, as long as we learn to play nicely with one another.

We are the cause of all of the confusion here because of our continued rebellion against our Creator and His Perfect Law of Liberty. And then we wonder why we live in a degenerate society that is hell-bent of self-destruction, through moral depravity, widespread fraud and theft, and endless, unnecessary wars that insanely threaten all life on this planet.

We have been warned for thousands of years about the severe consequences that we would face if we chose to continue our criminal endeavors. People prefer the word "sinner", but a sinner is someone who breaks The Law that God gave us to protect us from all of this evil. Simply put, "sinner" is just another word for CRIMINAL.

We are the ones who built prisons, at our own, outrageous expense, and then made up millions of unjust rules and kangaroo courts to guarantee those prisons be filled to overflowing. IF instead we would have kept The Law that God gave us, there would be no prisons, because poverty -- which causes crime -- would be ELIMINATED, and the punishments for breaking The Law don't "fit the crime"; they are so severe that they PREVENT the crime.

Hope is something born of uncertainty. It is wanting something to be true, which may have no basis in reality, or serve selfish interests instead of the greater good. Faith should replace both hope and the business of worldly, organized religions, which profit from misleading people. There is no prophet in profit, as no one can serve both God (good) and materialism (selfishness/evil).

It's fine to hope for the best for everyone, but it's even better to KNOW that it's possible to achieve that world by working WITH God and thus receiving His Help and Guidance, instead of insanely working against Him and against the natural surroundings He has provided for this school.

Unfortunately, most don't see this life as a school, nor the need to learn from God how to be good. Instead, many question not only His Instructions, but that He even exists, while mindlessly sleepwalking through a world FILLED with built-in lessons and completely ignoring the Instruction Manual He has provided us, in writing.

All one needs to do to prove that God exists is to open their eyes and ears, and start doing things His Way. The results will, of course, speak for themselves.

John 7:15-17
7:15 And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man "Letters", having never been taught?
7:16 Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me.
7:17 IF any man will DO His will, he shall KNOW of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or [whether] I speak of myself.

@Alanantic

 

[Clout]

We are presently living in a world that is FILLED with proof not only of God's existence, but of His Power, Creativity, Love and Caring...

 

[Clout]

Even some open-minded scientists are brave enough to suggest God exists..-

"A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a superintellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature" - Fred Hoyle (British astrophysicist): The Universe: Past and Present Reflections. Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics: 20:16.

"There is for me powerful evidence that there is something going on behind it all....It seems as though somebody has fine-tuned nature’s numbers to make the Universe....The impression of design is overwhelming"- Paul Davies (British astrophysicist), The Cosmic Blueprint: New Discoveries in Nature's Creative Ability To Order the Universe. New York: Simon and Schuster, p.203.

"As we survey all the evidence, the thought insistently arises that some supernatural agency - or, rather, Agency - must be involved. Is it possible that suddenly, without intending to, we have stumbled upon scientific proof of the existence of a Supreme Being? Was it God who stepped in and so providentially crafted the cosmos for our benefit?"- George Greenstein (astronomer),1988. The Symbiotic Universe. New York: William Morrow, p.27

"When confronted with the order and beauty of the universe and the strange coincidences of nature, it's very tempting to take the leap of faith from science into religion. I am sure many physicists want to. I only wish they would admit it."- Tony Rothman (physicist),Paradigms Lost. New York, Avon Books, p.482-483

"When I began my career as a cosmologist some twenty years ago, I was a convinced atheist, I never in my wildest dreams imagined that one day I would be writing a book purporting to show that the central claims of Judeo-Christian theology are in fact true, that these claims are straightforward deductions of the laws of physics as we now understand them. I have been forced into these conclusions by the inexorable logic of my own special branch of physics."- Frank Tipler (Professor of Mathematical Physics), 1994 The Physics of Immortality. New York, Doubleday, preface.

"We know that nature is described by the best of all possible mathematics because God created it.."- Alexander Polyakov (Soviet mathematician),Gannes, S. October 13, 1986. Fortune. p. 57

"Here is the cosmological proof of the existence of God – the design argument of Paley – updated and refurbished. The fine tuning of the universe provides prima facie evidence of deistic design. Take your choice: blind chance that requires multitudes of universes or design that requires only one"- Ed Harrison (cosmologist),Harrison, E. 1985. Masks of the Universe. New York, Collier Books, Macmillan, pp. 252, 263.

"Who created these laws? There is no question but that a God will always be needed"- Barry Parker (cosmologist),Heeren, F. 1995. Show Me God. Wheeling, IL, Searchlight Publications, p. 223.

"Mathematics is the language with which God has written the universe."- Galileo
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INTERVIEW WITH EINSTEIN by George Sylvester Viereck, Saturday Evening Post, 26 October 1929-
V - "To what extent are you influenced by Christianity?"
E- "As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene."

V -"You accept the historical Jesus?"
E- "Unquestionably! No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And even Dawkins is man enough to say-

 

[Clout]

Here's a grass seed I put on a moist piece of tissue, and within days it'd sprouted into a blade of grass (bottom pic), bless it's little cotton socks, and notice the fine tendrils it put out to soak up moisture..-



Scientists and big manufacturing companies could dissect and analyse seeds, but they wouldn't even know where to begin to actually MAKE one..
"God supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills" (Psalm 147:8)

 

[George Clinton]

He’d have to come down and reveal his holy ass ( or send an emissary on his behalf ) and show himself in the physical world or perhaps send a vision so strong that it alters my thinking.

No way I’ll just take the Bible or Koran’s word for it ( or the Hindu scriptures while we are at it )

 

[Clout]

He’d have to come down and reveal his holy ass..

Jesus said "God is a spirit" (invisible) so it ain't never gonna happen mate..-
CLOAKING DEVICE - "God goes by me but I see him not" (Job 9:10)
so he sent Jesus as his spokesman-
ALIEN VISITOR - Jesus said "I am not of this world" (John 8:23)
The truth is out there-
MOTHERSHIP -"Praise to the Lord, to him who rides the ancient skies above, whose power is in the skies." (Psalm 68:33-34)
RADIATION SHIELDING- God said "When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by" (Exodus 33:22)
GENESIS PROJECT -"God made the worlds.." (Hebrews 11:3 KJV)
ORBITAL TRAJECTORY - "God sits on the circle of the earth" (Isaiah 40:22)
WARP DRIVE - "God rides upon a swift cloud" (Isaiah 19:1)
TIME DILATION - "With God a thousand years are as one day" (2 Peter 3:8)
SCOUT SHIP- "I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north, the center of the fire looked like glowing metal" (Ezekiel 1:4)
STARGATE- Jesus said - "Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it." (Matt 7:13)

 

[George Clinton]

Jesus said "God is a spirit" (invisible) so it ain't never gonna happen mate..-
CLOAKING DEVICE - "God goes by me but I see him not" (Job 9:10)
so he sent Jesus as his spokesman-
ALIEN VISITOR - Jesus said "I am not of this world" (John 8:23)
The truth is out there-
MOTHERSHIP -"Praise to the Lord, to him who rides the ancient skies above, whose power is in the skies." (Psalm 68:33-34)
RADIATION SHIELDING- God said "When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by" (Exodus 33:22)
GENESIS PROJECT -"God made the worlds.." (Hebrews 11:3 KJV)
ORBITAL TRAJECTORY - "God sits on the circle of the earth" (Isaiah 40:22)
WARP DRIVE - "God rides upon a swift cloud" (Isaiah 19:1)
TIME DILATION - "With God a thousand years are as one day" (2 Peter 3:8)
SCOUT SHIP- "I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north, the center of the fire looked like glowing metal" (Ezekiel 1:4)
STARGATE- Jesus said - "Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it." (Matt 7:13)

You are a failure of the UK health services and it’s justice system.

 

[Clout]

You are a failure of the UK health services and it’s justice system.

Britain is run by clowns who the mindless masses voted into power, it's zilch to do with me because I only vote for the patriotic parties..

 

[George Clinton]

Britain is run by clowns who the mindless masses voted into power, it's zilch to do with me because I only vote for the patriotic parties..

No I mean it’s a failure on their health care system to identify you as a white supremacist vigilante before hand and a failure of their criminal justice system to keep you away from the internet Tidal.