# If God Communicated with Humans **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 26, 2013, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-communicated-with-humans/654006 "2013-03-26T14:46:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-communicated-with-humans/654006/21 "2013-03-27T05:15:36Z")
The illusion of a god already does reveal itself on an individual basis. Not one person worships the same god as anyone else. They worship a god they’ve created based on vague scriptures. I’ve known people who ask god for white power to prevail, for heaven’s sake! (Sorry, had to use that.) ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-communicated-with-humans/654006/22 "2013-03-27T06:02:46Z")
If god talks to people, it would explain why he’s a crazy bugger. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-communicated-with-humans/654006/23 "2013-03-27T11:46:27Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > Is there a difference? If so, what might it be? I think **Latro** was j/k. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-communicated-with-humans/654006/24 "2013-03-27T16:40:51Z")
> [@AnthonyElite](#): > > Correct me if I am wrong…but since when is Christianity the most popular religion on the planet? > > Also - I’m not talking about the “god gives me a sign, and therefore I should read the bible and follow scripture” kind of relationship. > > I am talking about the divine one - god itself - showing itself to you in an undeniable way. Picture it showing you the inside of the sun, or walking through the sky; anything that would be unbelievable outside the scope of divine intervention. > > If god wanted for us to follow in it’s purpose we either inherently naturally know it, or the rules are given to us plain to see without any plausible deniability, without hearing a story about something that happened a few thousand years ago. > > Therefore I personally assert that god must NOT want that - it must want us to do this ourselves. In a universe where everything is already known perhaps it is entertaining or redeeming to see something unknown. > > **Czarcasm** I posit that if god hasn’t given us a clear set of rules to live by it must be up to each individual to decide. You want God to communicate with you, but giving a sign is not enough? God is God not your servant. We do naturally know the purpose of God, man is inherently religous. Name a society that does not have religion in it. Part of being human is the ache for transcendence and a desire to know God. Futhermore read Kant on morality and how that shows us the existence of God. Your fallacy is that you think of how you would act if you were God and reject God because he does not act that way. However there is literally no way to imagine what God would do based on your own experience. It is like asking what kind of music you would like if you were an ant or better still asking an ant what music it would like if it were human. There is no way to comprehend what music means to an ant, and likewise there is no way to comprehend what God would or should do. A God that is totally predictable and comprehendable would then not be God. God has revealed what he has revealed and you can either accept or reject that but the fact that God is not more like you is not a shortcoming on his part. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-communicated-with-humans/654006/25 "2013-03-29T19:45:40Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > I always thought that if an omnipotent deity had created us, and wanted us to know it had created us and had a plan for us, we would simply be born with that knowledge. No freak outs, no competing religions, no alleged prophets, none of that crap. I’ll bet Easter is no fun at your house. All the eggs are just piled in plain sight. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-communicated-with-humans/654006/26 "2013-03-29T20:10:27Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > We do naturally know the purpose of God, man is inherently religous. Name a society that does not have religion in it. Not very good evidence. There’s a good sociobiological argument for this. Furthermore, you’re mistaken that we “naturally know the purpose of God.” I have no such knowledge, nor do a lot of people. A lot of people believed in a lot of things in times past; it doesn’t make what they believed in true. > [@](#): > > Futhermore read Kant on morality and how that shows us the existence of God. Yeah, because Kant was right about everything. I particularly like how he explained that animals are basically machines, so it’s OK to use them like they have no consciousness. Brilliant man. Got a lot of stuff wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-communicated-with-humans/654006/27 "2013-03-29T20:21:18Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > You want God to communicate with you, but giving a sign is not enough? God is God not your servant. What sign would that be? > [@](#): > > We do naturally know the purpose of God, man is inherently religous. Name a society that does not have religion in it. Part of being human is the ache for transcendence and a desire to know God. Futhermore read Kant on morality and how that shows us the existence of God. Society is inherently violent also, but it is something to grow out of, just like religion. I have neither this ache nor this desire. I might if there had been any good evidence that some God exists, but as it stands you might just as well have an ache and desire to get to know Jessica Rabbit better. We’ve had plenty of morality discussions already, so I ask you this: is the morality from God God’s choice, and thus arbitrary, or is it from some inherent morality which God just transmits to us? If the former, if God told you to kill a baby, because he said it was moral, would you do it? (I trust not.) (And don’t say he wouldn’t - he does in the Bible.) If morals are inherent in the universe, who needs God? > [@](#): > > Your fallacy is that you think of how you would act if you were God and reject God because he does not act that way. However there is literally no way to imagine what God would do based on your own experience. It is like asking what kind of music you would like if you were an ant or better still asking an ant what music it would like if it were human. There is no way to comprehend what music means to an ant, and likewise there is no way to comprehend what God would or should do. A God that is totally predictable and comprehendable would then not be God. > God has revealed what he has revealed and you can either accept or reject that but the fact that God is not more like you is not a shortcoming on his part. Ants don’t think, and they are not moral actors. If someone ordered ants to dance to the music or else they’d get squashed they’d be a putz. Is god doing something similar to us, in your opinion? Anyhow, we don’t need to comprehend all of god - just a tiny piece would do. If we comprehend or see none of him, exactly what are religions basing their beliefs on. The Flatlanders couldn’t really comprehend the Sphere, but they could comprehend its projection into their space. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-communicated-with-humans/654006/28 "2013-03-29T21:09:54Z")
> [@cosmosdan](#): > > I’ll bet Easter is no fun at your house. All the eggs are just piled in plain sight. There’s a big difference between hiding the eggs and hiding the insulin. ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-communicated-with-humans/654006/29 "2013-03-29T21:27:52Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > There’s a big difference between hiding the eggs and hiding the insulin. I guess it depends on whether you actually have diabetes or just believe that you do. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-communicated-with-humans/654006/30 "2013-03-29T23:37:52Z")
Oh. I thought the OP would come to a different conclusion. The most obvious one. I don’t really understand why the Judeo-Islamo-Christian diety would want to leave everything to faith. It can’t be because making his existence known would deny us of free will, because the Bible has numerous instances of God talking directly to people who STILL managed to fuck up. Case in point: Adam and Eve. All this god supposedly wants us to do is to do right–as codified in the Ten Commandments and some ancillary rules and recommendations. This god became so angry at humanity’s hatefulness that he nearly wiped us off the face of the earth. We are SO evil that we aren’t even born innocent. We are practically sentenced to hell by default. God wishes it wasn’t like this, but alas, them’s the rules! If we knew how to follow directions, maybe it would be different! Seems to me that if the god was really so loving–in this universe where the stakes are so awfully high–he wouldn’t shroud EVERYTHING in mystery and complication. He needn’t reveal all his secrets, but why not talk to people like he did Adam and Eve? Or Moses or David? Wouldn’t it be a glorious sign that if, upon turning 13, everyone has the exact same mystical encounter? Maybe you wake up and hear a voice say, “I AM YOUR LORD. KNOW THAT I EXIST AND THAT I AM WATCHING YOU MASTERBATE LIKE A MOTHERFUCK. YOU MAY NOW PROCEED.” And after that, you have a choice to delve deeper and develop a personal relationship with God–an unequivocal, unmistakable one–or you have a choice to go your own way, as Brother Cain did. As it is now, the poor humans–too stupid not to eat the forbidden fruit when told explicitly not to–are bombarded with a millions of voices, all screaming at them conflicting messages. If people did wrong even when God spoke directly to them, why should it be a surprise that they would do even MORE wrong with him staying mum? Either he wants people to hurt one another or he just doesn’t care–neither of which are qualities of a loving entity. Or maybe he doesn’t exist. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-communicated-with-humans/654006/31 "2013-03-29T23:58:03Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > There in lies the problem… God communicates too personally and says different things to different people. Well, no one ever said He lacks a sense of humor. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-communicated-with-humans/654006/32 "2013-03-30T13:09:58Z")
Any god who relies on prophets to transmit his will to mere mortals is suspect to me. “God told me to tell you…” is a terrrible business model. ---
**Author:** ![lekatt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lekatt/32/7269_2.png) [@lekatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lekatt)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-communicated-with-humans/654006/33 "2013-03-31T23:26:58Z")
> [@Human\_Action](#): > > Not quite right; there is no divinity. You sell yourself short. Divinity does lie within all of us. But we keep looking outside of ourselves saying “I can’t find God, so He must not exist.” Look within to find God. ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-communicated-with-humans/654006/34 "2013-03-31T23:48:04Z")
> [@lekatt](#): > > You sell yourself short. Divinity does lie within all of us. But we keep looking outside of ourselves saying “I can’t find God, so He must not exist.” Look within to find God. And how would I know that I found him? Warm ‘n’ fuzzy feelings? ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-communicated-with-humans/654006/35 "2013-04-01T03:32:07Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > There’s a big difference between hiding the eggs and hiding the insulin. ooo well played ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-communicated-with-humans/654006/36 "2013-04-01T03:37:16Z")
> [@lekatt](#): > > Look within to find God. > [@Human\_Action](#): > > And how would I know that I found him? Warm ‘n’ fuzzy feelings? Nah, it’s more like a holy version of _Alien_. Praise Jesus as he bursts out of his host organism! What, you’ve never heard of the Holy Host? ---
**Author:** ![lekatt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lekatt/32/7269_2.png) [@lekatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lekatt)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-communicated-with-humans/654006/37 "2013-04-01T14:33:03Z")
> [@Human\_Action](#): > > And how would I know that I found him? Warm ‘n’ fuzzy feelings? You will know. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-communicated-with-humans/654006/38 "2013-04-01T14:41:05Z")
> [@lekatt](#): > > You will know. How? ---
**Author:** ![PatriotGrrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9dc877/32.png) [@PatriotGrrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotGrrrl)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-communicated-with-humans/654006/39 "2013-04-01T15:11:40Z")
“If you came today you could have reached a whole nation Israel in 4 B.C. had no mass communication” ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-communicated-with-humans/654006/40 "2013-04-01T15:19:13Z")
> [@lekatt](#): > > You will know. Very well then. Until that day, I’ll just persist with my atheism, then. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-communicated-with-humans/654006.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-god-communicated-with-humans/654006.md?page=3)