# Does What exist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [November 11, 2011, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-what-exist/602562 "2011-11-11T02:49:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sleete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58f4c7/32.png) [@sleete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleete)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2011, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-what-exist/602562/1 "2011-11-11T02:49:13Z")
Is the question, is there an extraterrestrial intelligence with the ability to do the things ascribed to ‘God’ in the bible, such as raising water levels to the tops of mountains, change the languages of different people, etc.? This was the question I grappled with as a teen, and came to the conclusion that the idea that such an entity was bizarre, disturbing, creepy, disgusting, and wierd. I found it much better for my own mental health and sense of peace to reach the logical conclusion that sheer improbability that such a thing could possibly exist was so compelling that I could safely proceed with the comforting world view that God was simply a figment of the imagination of pre-scientific people in need of explanations, but not anything a modern person need be concerned with. 35 years later, I’m still quite happy with my choice. BTW, that goes for the afterlife, too - another wierd, disturbing idea. Yuck! ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2011, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-what-exist/602562/2 "2011-11-11T03:02:41Z")
I believe this is in response to [this column](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3021/is-there-a-god)… Welcome, **sleete**. It’s customary to provide a link to the column in question so if it’s read years in the future, they can still find what you’re talking about. Glad to have you here. ---
**Author:** ![Rickymouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/34f0e0/32.png) [@Rickymouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rickymouse)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2011, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-what-exist/602562/3 "2011-11-11T04:08:20Z")
It is very feasible that we could be influenced by extraterrestial beings without our knowledge. Our lack of insight into what can really be can limit our perception of other beings. Possibly beings that even lived here in the past or live around here in another dimension. We may still not be able to comprehend these things. I doubt if it is from our future because it would be hard to change things in the past without destroying a timeframe path. I expect it’s from our past. Something is blinding people to reality but I think that is coming from chemical and frequency control from the present. I don’t know if what I say is probable, but I know it’s all possible. I have never seen a flying saucer but my sister and daughter both married aliens. They were both legal aliens though. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2011, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-what-exist/602562/4 "2011-11-11T05:51:51Z")
> [@Rico](#): > > Welcome, **sleete**. It’s customary to provide a link to the column in question so if it’s read years in the future, they can still find what you’re talking about. Give the newbies a break. When I started here (not so long ago), it took me some time before I learned how to create links to other posts or other threads, and eventually only because someone advised me to, and I replied to ask: How? And then someone told me. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2011, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-what-exist/602562/5 "2011-11-11T06:49:40Z")
[QUOTE=sleete] Does What exist? [/QUOTE] I think you mean “Does Who exist?” What played second. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2011, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-what-exist/602562/6 "2011-11-11T12:18:06Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Give the newbies a break. When I started here (not so long ago), it took me some time before I learned how to create links to other posts or other threads, and eventually only because someone advised me to, and I replied to ask: How? And then someone told me. I thought that was a rather polite request - and the original poster wouldn’t have had to even create a formal link, just posting the URL would have worked too. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-what-exist/602562/7 "2011-11-11T17:08:03Z")
> [@Nametag](#): > > I think you mean “Does Who exist?” > > What played second. I don’t know. [THIRD BASE](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOXdpO36Ojw&feature=fvst)!! ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-what-exist/602562/8 "2011-11-11T17:43:43Z")
I don’t give a darn! Oh, he’s our shortstop. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-what-exist/602562/9 "2011-11-14T07:07:58Z")
Naturally. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-what-exist/602562/10 "2011-11-14T18:17:07Z")
Oh. So I throw the ball to Naturally? ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-what-exist/602562/11 "2011-11-15T04:22:07Z")
What? ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-what-exist/602562/12 "2011-11-20T14:11:53Z")
> [@sleete](#): > > Is the question, is there an extraterrestrial intelligence with the ability to do the things ascribed to ‘God’ in the bible, such as raising water levels to the tops of mountains, change the languages of different people, etc.? That’s one of the problems with asking a question such as: Is there a God–the first step is defining what you mean by God. My response for some time has been: I don’t believe in any God I’ve ever been presented with. I know many people were dissatisfied with Cecil’s response, and one poster put it quite well in calling it an “[If-by-whiskey](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If-by-whiskey)” evasion. If by God you mean a first-cause, then yes, there is arguably a God. If by God you mean that character from the story of Jonah and the whale, then you’re on your own. There are plenty of real features of the world that different peoples have handled in their own ways, sometimes personifying or deifying those features and strongly identifying themselves with the worship or shunning of those features. I see no reason the same couldn’t be true of a transcendental God. The character from the Ten Commandments story is just a given group’s take on a God they presume to be theirs. In the same way that Ah Kinchil, the Mayan Sun God, and Helios, the Greek Sun God are cultural renderings of the Sun itself, so the God who hears “your” prayers is to the (potentially) real God. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-what-exist/602562/13 "2011-11-22T00:38:58Z")
> [@sleete](#): > > \…came to the conclusion that the idea that such an entity was bizarre, disturbing, creepy, disgusting, and wierd…\ God was simply a figment of the imagination of pre-scientific people in need of explanations…\ Yuck!\ Oh man, God is so going to smite you. He’s gonna smite you upside your head. He’s gonna smite you from here to next Tuesday. You better repent or you’re gonna be one smitten dude.