# If you were (a) God, how would you suggest your existence? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 9, 2007, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-god-how-would-you-suggest-your-existence/387257 "2007-01-09T04:18:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gozu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gozu/32/6615_2.png) [@Gozu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-god-how-would-you-suggest-your-existence/387257/1 "2007-01-09T04:18:36Z")
It’s a fairly straightforward question. Direct revelation (talking burning bush, miracles such as parting the red sea or raising the dead) is out. That leaves no reasonable room for doubt. Let’s say you wanted to be more subtle, yet clearly suggest your existence to humanity, how would you do it? ---
**Author:** ![Grendel\_s\_Father](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grendel\_s\_Father](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grendel_s_Father)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-god-how-would-you-suggest-your-existence/387257/2 "2007-01-09T05:10:23Z")
I don’t understand why direct revelation is out. If I wanted people to believe in me, I’d appear to them and prove my power. If I didn’t really care one way or the other, but I wanted to make a little game of it, then I’d go with the subtle stuff. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-god-how-would-you-suggest-your-existence/387257/3 "2007-01-09T05:14:42Z")
I’d create a universe that once set in motion , without any further interference on my part, and using only the self consistent set of natural properties with which I endowed it, would end up resulting in creatures that could ask questions such as the OP. ---
**Author:** ![space\_fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@space\_fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/space_fish)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-god-how-would-you-suggest-your-existence/387257/4 "2007-01-09T05:16:54Z")
I’d mysteriously eat socks out of your dryer, maybe for kicks and giggles show up in the middle of church say it really was Adam and Steve. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-god-how-would-you-suggest-your-existence/387257/5 "2007-01-09T05:25:24Z")
I’d be lobbing thunderbolts at those that do stupid things in My name. Fred Phelps? KABOOM! Pat Robertson? KABOOM! ---
**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:** [January 9, 2007, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-god-how-would-you-suggest-your-existence/387257/6 "2007-01-09T05:27:52Z")
[QUOTE=Gozu] Direct revelation (talking burning bush, miracles such as parting the red sea or raising the dead) is out. That leaves no reasonable room for doubt. [/QUOTE] Well, _that_ is what I’d do if I had a choice; I have no admiration for faith. If I had to be subtle, I’d do what was done in Carl Sagan’s _Contact_; write messages into the universe’s physical laws. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gozu/32/6615_2.png) [@Gozu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-god-how-would-you-suggest-your-existence/387257/7 "2007-01-09T05:44:57Z")
[QUOTE=Grendel’s Father] I don’t understand why direct revelation is out. If I wanted people to believe in me, I’d appear to them and prove my power. If I didn’t really care one way or the other, but I wanted to make a little game of it, then I’d go with the subtle stuff. [/QUOTE] I thought the answer was obvious: It’s out because this topic would have no reason to exist otherwise. Or, if you’d like a less frivolous answer, let’s say it’s to give people the ability not to believe in a superior power. [QUOTE=Grendel’s Father] then I’d go with the subtle stuff. [/QUOTE] So, what subtle stuff were you thinking of? That’s what I’d like to know. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-god-how-would-you-suggest-your-existence/387257/8 "2007-01-09T05:49:40Z")
I’d make man inquisitive and intelligent and direct him toward the sciences. Once he digests the most basic tenet of causality, he will know that something had to set everything in motion. I would also tease the non-believers by giving them a very vague inkling into the inner workings of matter and the universe and allow them to muse that such knowledge points to an existence that can subvert the basic tenet of causality. After all, I like to have something to amuse me. Eternity can get boring if you let it. ---
**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:** [January 9, 2007, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-god-how-would-you-suggest-your-existence/387257/9 "2007-01-09T05:50:32Z")
[QUOTE=Gozu] I thought the answer was obvious: It’s out because this topic would have no reason to exist otherwise. Or, if you’d like a less frivolous answer, let’s say it’s to give people the ability not to believe in a superior power. [/quote] Israel seemed to manage during the Exodus, so I don’t buy it. But if you want to be subtle, how about natural disasters mysteriously changing course and missing inhabited areas at the last minute, consistently. It could be chance, but not likely, and it has the advantage of God stopping killing people. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-god-how-would-you-suggest-your-existence/387257/10 "2007-01-09T05:54:16Z")
Symmetry. Or Bach. ---
**Author:** ![Grendel\_s\_Father](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grendel\_s\_Father](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grendel_s_Father)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-god-how-would-you-suggest-your-existence/387257/11 "2007-01-09T05:58:27Z")
[QUOTE=Gozu] So, what subtle stuff were you thinking of? That’s what I’d like to know. [/QUOTE] Well, if I have to… 😉 I’d probably go with personal suggestions of my presence. Something completely subjective. I’d basically turn myself into a metaphor that individuals could associate with certain places or ideas or people and experience me as they please. If I’m not going to make it clear that I exist, I might as well let people define me in any way that suits their needs. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-god-how-would-you-suggest-your-existence/387257/12 "2007-01-09T07:47:59Z")
Daily keggers! ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-god-how-would-you-suggest-your-existence/387257/13 "2007-01-09T08:09:22Z")
True love. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-god-how-would-you-suggest-your-existence/387257/14 "2007-01-09T08:24:21Z")
Would I be “a” godette in a bunch of gods and godettes, or would I be God? Different concept altogether. ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-god-how-would-you-suggest-your-existence/387257/15 "2007-01-09T09:44:01Z")
Id appear before the amazing randi whenever nobody else was around…just to screw with him. ---
**Author:** ![lowbrass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dc4da7/32.png) [@lowbrass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lowbrass)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-god-how-would-you-suggest-your-existence/387257/16 "2007-01-09T09:47:52Z")
I’d inspire a holy book that doesn’t mention dinosaurs, then hide a bunch of dinosaur bones where people can find them. And I’d make the dinosaur bones older than the age the earth is supposed to be in the book. That’d _really_ throw 'em off. Oh, and I’d put DNA inside apes that’s 96% identical to human DNA, then claim that humans and apes have no shared ancestry. Let ‘em figure _that_ one out. Subtle enough for ya’? ---
**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:** [January 9, 2007, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-god-how-would-you-suggest-your-existence/387257/17 "2007-01-09T10:21:34Z")
[QUOTE=bdgr] Id appear before the amazing randi whenever nobody else was around…just to screw with him. [/QUOTE] Thing is, he’s trying to expose fakes; as far as I know he’d have no problem with the real thing. He might even ask you to hang around and help him embarrass fake miracle workings by showing them the real thing. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-god-how-would-you-suggest-your-existence/387257/18 "2007-01-09T10:54:40Z")
I would imprint an image of myself in a bagel. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-god-how-would-you-suggest-your-existence/387257/19 "2007-01-09T11:55:41Z")
I’d appear as a giant face in the sky and personally appologize for all the suffering I had caused. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-god-how-would-you-suggest-your-existence/387257/20 "2007-01-09T11:58:19Z")
i’ll take away the ladders from swimming pools when no one is looking. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-god-how-would-you-suggest-your-existence/387257.md?page=2)