# If you saw a miracle tomorrow **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 11, 2010, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-a-miracle-tomorrow/542792 "2010-06-11T13:19:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Marmite\_Lover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Marmite\_Lover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marmite_Lover)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-a-miracle-tomorrow/542792/1 "2010-06-11T13:19:38Z")
Tonight Jesus comes back. All the world’s press are there. He comes to The Soccer Stadium, in SA in a beam of light witnessed by thousands just before kick off. No tricks, just floats down from the sky onto the pitch. Then tells the world that the end of the world is upon us and the believers will be saved. He tells the crowd that time is up, you had your chance and now it’s judgment time. You had your prophets, you had your books, you had the divine messages. Final whistle has been blown. Then the big screen shows the devil standing at the gates of hell. Huge flames and all the gushing oil from the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of Arabia pouring into the hell on the screen. He says that he was never the ‘son of God’, only a prophet. It’s all being beamed across the world live. He says that Muslims have believed in the last prophet Mohammed, but a lot have not followed all the commandments. Christians believed he was the son of God even though the Quran denies this is true. Jews killed him. I was just thinking about if this happened and you were an athiest. What would be going through your mind. What would you be thinking when you looked at the screen and saw that in fact there is a God and Jesus was a prophet and now you were going to burn in hell for eternity. I just cannot get my head around anyone who doesn’t believe in God and am wondering if they actually ever think this might happen and what they would do if it did. I’m also wondering what Christians would do if Jesus did say that he was not the son of God. Of course no one knows the facts. It’s only a faith, but what if it did happen. How would Christians feel, and how would they react. Jews too. How would the different media react to the miracle of him appearing tonight in the middle of the stadium. Would they react in different ways depending on what region they come from. What would they be telling their viewers? Who wouldn’t broadcast it? Lot’s of questions and for believers in God a very real situation we will face when the time comes. Just to be clear. The miracle is no stunt. It is witnessed by thousands live and millions on TV. Unexplainable. He is just standing there saying this and the screens suddenly show hell. Just interested in hearing how people would view it all. What would everyone do in the next few minutes? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-a-miracle-tomorrow/542792/2 "2010-06-11T13:36:17Z")
But see, the thing is, as atheists, we absolutely know this isn’t going to happen. At all. Ever. We never think in these fantastical terms. It doesn’t cross our minds. We don’t consider it. At all. Ever. End of story. I am a mammal. A mammal with the ability to speak, and to reason. That’s all I am. I’m not part of a grander plan. I’m a hairless ape typing at a keyboard and in 30-odd years, if all goes as planned, I will become a bag of fertilizer. That’s all there is to it. Nothing else. In the mean time I will be kind to my fellow hairless apes and treat them as I would want to be treated. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-a-miracle-tomorrow/542792/3 "2010-06-11T13:37:22Z")
Miracle on TV? I’d come post here. ---
**Author:** ![Marmite\_Lover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Marmite\_Lover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marmite_Lover)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-a-miracle-tomorrow/542792/4 "2010-06-11T13:41:35Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > But see, the thing is, as atheists, we absolutely know this isn’t going to happen. At all. Ever. We never think in these fantastical terms. It doesn’t cross our minds. We don’t consider it. At all. Ever. End of story. > > I am a mammal. A mammal with the ability to speak, and to reason. That’s all I am. I’m not part of a grander plan. I’m a hairless ape typing at a keyboard and in 30-odd years, if all goes as planned, I will become a bag of fertilizer. That’s all there is to it. Nothing else. In the mean time I will be kind to my fellow hairless apes and treat them as I would want to be treated. yes but what if you were proved wrong? I am wondering if you were at the stadium and saw it. Would you not believe what you were seeing? I’m curious? ---
**Author:** ![Marmite\_Lover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Marmite\_Lover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marmite_Lover)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-a-miracle-tomorrow/542792/5 "2010-06-11T13:42:46Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Miracle on TV? > > I’d come post here. seriously?? You’d come here to post when it was happening live on TV? ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-a-miracle-tomorrow/542792/6 "2010-06-11T13:44:12Z")
> [@Marmite\_Lover](#): > > Just to be clear. > The miracle is no stunt. It is witnessed by thousands live and millions on TV. > Unexplainable. I’d be thinking it was a stunt. The unexplainable things are: first, someone who looks like Jesus floats down, and then something appears on a TV screen, right? Just those two things? Because both of those things would be fairly easy to fake. The TV signal could be hacked in from a private studio. The man floating could be the classic “wires” trick, or possibly some sort of stealth parachute that I’ve never heard of yet. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-a-miracle-tomorrow/542792/7 "2010-06-11T13:46:09Z")
It’s not going to happen. I have no response to your question. It’s totally outside the realm of possibility. ---
**Author:** ![Marmite\_Lover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Marmite\_Lover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marmite_Lover)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-a-miracle-tomorrow/542792/8 "2010-06-11T13:46:54Z")
What if it was no stunt though. You say went down and stood beside him and held his hand and he disappeared right in front of you and then came back still holding your hand?😃 Right under your nose. You cannot see any way it can be a trick. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-a-miracle-tomorrow/542792/9 "2010-06-11T13:49:44Z")
I believe that should be Him, He, and His. And again, it ain’t gonna happen. ---
**Author:** ![Electric\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9de0a6/32.png) [@Electric\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Sky)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-a-miracle-tomorrow/542792/10 "2010-06-11T13:51:55Z")
If hallucinations (just mine, or collective), trickery, intervention by aliens with a bad sense of humour or what have you are completely ruled out–which they \*wouldn’t \*be, because, well, _yeah_–and everything happens exactly as your hypothetical lays out…well, as a queer atheist Jew, I’d be pretty boned. So I’d probably get very depressed at the prospect of an eternity of hell stretching out before me. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-a-miracle-tomorrow/542792/11 "2010-06-11T13:52:06Z")
> [@Marmite\_Lover](#): > > What if it was no stunt though. > > You say went down and stood beside him and held his hand and he disappeared right in front of you and then came back still holding your hand?😃 > > Right under your nose. > > You cannot see any way it can be a trick. You can assert that it was no stunt, but there’s no way for me to know that outside of a hypothetical situation. Also, I would not be there, since I have no particular desire to go watch a soccer game. So my answer to the disappearing would be “camera tricks”. ---
**Author:** ![Marmite\_Lover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Marmite\_Lover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marmite_Lover)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-a-miracle-tomorrow/542792/12 "2010-06-11T13:52:47Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I believe that should be Him, He, and His. And again, it ain’t gonna happen. I have no idea what the first part of your reply means:confused: the second part that’s a strange reply because you don’t know that for sure? No one does. ---
**Author:** ![Marmite\_Lover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Marmite\_Lover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marmite_Lover)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-a-miracle-tomorrow/542792/13 "2010-06-11T13:54:05Z")
> [@pedescribe](#): > > I would not be there, since I have no particular desire to go watch a soccer game. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-a-miracle-tomorrow/542792/14 "2010-06-11T13:55:04Z")
> [@Marmite\_Lover](#): > > 😕 Some people don’t like soccer. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-a-miracle-tomorrow/542792/15 "2010-06-11T13:55:54Z")
> [@Marmite\_Lover](#): > > I have no idea what the first part of your reply means:confused: > > the second part > that’s a strange reply because you don’t know that for sure? No one does. Yes, I do know for sure. It’s you who is unsure. ---
**Author:** ![Marmite\_Lover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Marmite\_Lover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marmite_Lover)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-a-miracle-tomorrow/542792/16 "2010-06-11T14:02:45Z")
It must be a language thing ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-a-miracle-tomorrow/542792/17 "2010-06-11T14:04:40Z")
I’d assume I was hallucinating. It’s more plausible than Jesus going to a soccer game and messing with the Jumbotron. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-a-miracle-tomorrow/542792/18 "2010-06-11T14:04:59Z")
> [@Marmite\_Lover](#): > > I was just thinking about if this happened and you were an athiest. What would be going through your mind. What would you be thinking when you looked at the screen and saw that in fact there is a God and Jesus was a prophet and now you were going to burn in hell for eternity. I just cannot get my head around anyone who doesn’t believe in God and am wondering if they actually ever think this might happen and what they would do if it did. I would scream and cry in fear. Does that make you happy? ---
**Author:** ![Charley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/97f17d/32.png) [@Charley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charley)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-a-miracle-tomorrow/542792/19 "2010-06-11T14:11:03Z")
As **Leaffan** says, it’s not going to happen, it’s not a situation I would ever need to plan for. Neither do I have any idea of what would happen if I woke up tomorrow in a secure psychiatric unit to find that the last 40 years as I understand them have actually been one giant hallucination. Neither do I have a plan to cope with the discovery that we’re all characters in a soap opera playing out for the entertainment of our alien overlords. Either of those scenarios or a hundred others are equally as likely as yours, in fact my money would be on the ‘enormous hallucination’ if I absolutely had to go for one that _might_ happen. I’m wondering about this, too: > [@](#): > > Orginally Posted by **Marmite Lover** > > _I just cannot get my head around anyone who doesn’t believe in God and am wondering if they actually ever think this might happen and what they would do if it did._ Not wishing to speak for all atheists, but of course I don’t think this might happen. That’s sort of the point - I don’t believe any of that stuff is ‘really true’ and that I’ve just not realised it. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-a-miracle-tomorrow/542792/20 "2010-06-11T14:12:31Z")
If it happened in a manner such that I were convinced it was not a stunt, trick, hallucination, etc., I assume I would request forgiveness and express belief. I am nothing if not practical. Wonder how sincere I would be able to be, tho, after near 1/2 century of firmly considering the J-C God to be a dick, and His followers fools (in this one aspect at least.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-saw-a-miracle-tomorrow/542792.md?page=2)