# Non Believers; You just learned God existed. Now what? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 7, 2013, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-believers-you-just-learned-god-existed-now-what/655074 "2013-04-07T14:39:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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 7, 2013, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-believers-you-just-learned-god-existed-now-what/655074/21 "2013-04-07T15:54:59Z")
> [@MyFootsZZZ](#): > > The Old and New Testament. Then way are you talking about sending people to Hell? ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-believers-you-just-learned-god-existed-now-what/655074/22 "2013-04-07T15:59:26Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Then way are you talking about sending people to Hell? Oh… Hell isn’t in the New Testament, huh? ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-believers-you-just-learned-god-existed-now-what/655074/23 "2013-04-07T16:04:28Z")
The eternal soul and afterlife is such a depressing concept. What’s the proper reaction to finding out your life is a morality play for the entertainment of a bunch of dead a-holes? And you’re in an eternal prison. There’s no way for a soul to opt out of the system. ---
**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 7, 2013, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-believers-you-just-learned-god-existed-now-what/655074/24 "2013-04-07T16:08:50Z")
> [@MyFootsZZZ](#): > > Oh… Hell isn’t in the New Testament, huh? That depends on the version of the Bible you choose and how that version translates and defines “Sheol”, “Gehenna” and “ταρταρῶ (tartarō)”. [Link.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_views_on_Hell) edited to add: What I’m saying is that for the purpose of this discussion it would be much easier if you would just pick arbitrarily pick a particular sect’s version, _because there is no “God” of the Bible that everyone will agree upon, due to interpretation._ ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-believers-you-just-learned-god-existed-now-what/655074/25 "2013-04-07T16:17:30Z")
> [@MyFootsZZZ](#): > > Luckly we’ll never have to deal with this. > > So God exists, and you must ‘follow him’ to score a place in heaven. The Christian fundamentalists were right – he IS an asshole. > > Do you submit? Nope. I’m just not built that way. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-believers-you-just-learned-god-existed-now-what/655074/26 "2013-04-07T16:19:48Z")
Yes, this is a depressing subject. In reality, not only do we not know what happens when our brains decay, we CAN’T know. That knowing part of the equation is based upon the brain. Is there something beyond? Well, if it is the typical Heaven or Hell scenario defined by most (if not all) Christian denominations, then I would personally prefer obliteration. Imagine going to Heaven and finding that the wonderful lady who fed the poor and fostered orphans down the street didn’t make the cut because she was Hindu. Imagine going to Hell and find that the horrible woman who beat her children and murdered her husband wasn’t there because she ‘believed upon Jesus’. The whole concept is abhorrent to me. My ethics will not allow for such a travesty. So, I reject it and would do so even if a Q-like entity popped into existence right here in my den and said otherwise. Brave words on The Internet. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-believers-you-just-learned-god-existed-now-what/655074/27 "2013-04-07T16:28:36Z")
The Old and New Testament Gods are not at all the same thing. I’d be scared out of my mind of an Old Testament God, because this means my mixed-fiber wearing, pork-eating, Sabbath-breaking ass is definitely going to hell. But a New Testament God? The only thing I’ve done to disappoint that god is not believe he came down to Earth and resurrected from death. But if he presents himself to me in a convincing way, then it would naturally follow that I would believe all that jazz. It’s a ton easier to be a good Christian than a good (Orthodox) Jew. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-believers-you-just-learned-god-existed-now-what/655074/28 "2013-04-07T16:44:44Z")
Here’s the thing: Most of what God tells us to do in the Bible is things that most of us are doing anyway. Would you stop doing those things just because you found out that God was real and really did want them? ---
**Author:** ![panaccione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@panaccione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panaccione)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-believers-you-just-learned-god-existed-now-what/655074/29 "2013-04-07T17:07:21Z")
The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a heav’n of hell, a hell of heav’n. […] Here at least we shall be free; the Almighty hath not built Here for his envy, will not drive us hence: Here we may reign secure, and in my choice to reign is worth ambition though in Hell: Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven. ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-believers-you-just-learned-god-existed-now-what/655074/30 "2013-04-07T17:08:26Z")
Welp, I’m going to break with the tide here. I grew up religious and was happy at that time. I lost my faith, and I’m ok now too. But very recently someone incredibly, incredibly dear to me died and if I could see him in the afterlife… yeah, I’d be happy about that. VERY happy. I’d do whatever it took to get there. Right now I’m very envious of people with faith. I wish I had that comfort, because knowing he’s gone, _forever_, and that I will never ever see him again hurts in a way I didn’t know things could hurt. Shit, now I’m crying again. Of course, he committed suicide, so I guess he’d be in hell. Fuck. Ok, forget it, screw God, I’m going to hell to see my brother. Sins away! ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-believers-you-just-learned-god-existed-now-what/655074/31 "2013-04-07T17:38:20Z")
The problem with the Christian heaven is it’s basically an eternity of subservience and grovelling. There are some religions where the afterlife sounds acceptable, but the “good” after life for Christians basically sounds bad to me. Now, the bad after life sounds _really_ bad, but that was hyped up a lot in the Middle Ages. Since God is revealing himself I’d ask straight up, “Okay, so what exactly **is** Hell like? How about purgatory?” If Hell is just a “separation from God”, then to me it’d be an eternal party time or whatever, and I wouldn’t care. If it’s literally eternal burning I’d probably need to find a way to avoid that. ---
**Author:** ![Twoflower](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twoflower/32/22_2.png) [@Twoflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twoflower)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-believers-you-just-learned-god-existed-now-what/655074/32 "2013-04-07T17:39:29Z")
There are far to many contradictions and logical impossibilities in the Bible for me to have a clue how to react if God simply proved he existed. He’s got a lot of ‘splainin’ to do before I change my ways. ---
**Author:** ![Bertal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Bertal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bertal)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-believers-you-just-learned-god-existed-now-what/655074/33 "2013-04-07T18:01:38Z")
Imagine God is a boss who needs His employees to be a boss. He stops being the boss when nobody wants to serve Him any more. I don’t deny that God exists, I only deny that He can exist without people who believe in Him. Of course He doesn’t want us to know that, because He would end the day every human has become an atheist. So He wants us to believe that we need Him instead of He us. It still works, not for every human but for enough still. > [@miss\_elizabeth](#): > > Right now I’m very envious of people with faith. Faith in what? The Christian church sells God and afterlife as an all-in-one package, but heaven and hell aren’t mentioned in the Old Testament and the ancient Greeks believend in afterlife without knowing anything of the Jewish God. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-believers-you-just-learned-god-existed-now-what/655074/34 "2013-04-07T18:08:48Z")
Assuming that I were offered proof that God existed and I was satisfied that the proof was valid and I hadn’t lost my mind, it would be rather silly of me to continue on refusing to worship him out of pique or moral objection. I’d figure out which particular denomination he considered the one true faith and go about joining it as fast as I can (not too fast - don’t want to plow into a semi-truck while running a red light on the way to church, after all). ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-believers-you-just-learned-god-existed-now-what/655074/35 "2013-04-07T18:13:13Z")
I know the OP needs refining, but I guess I don’t know enough about religion and all the conditions that would have to apply to do that… make it a solid hypothetical. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-believers-you-just-learned-god-existed-now-what/655074/36 "2013-04-07T19:01:34Z")
> [@Twoflower](#): > > There are far to many contradictions and logical impossibilities in the Bible for me to have a clue how to react if God simply proved he existed. He’s got a lot of ‘splainin’ to do before I change my ways. This. It’s logically possible (although almost certainly untrue) that a being that we would call “God” exists. It is not possible that the God of the Bible exists: it’s an incoherent concept. Of course a lot would be explained by the caveat that God turns out to be an asshole. But I’m not buying it. Maximal goodness is an integral concept both in the Bible and theology: it’s the supposed fount from which his morality-giving comes from. If he weren’t the best possible being then we would not have a moral imperative to blindly follow. If this were the only logical contradiction, then I could accept that. But there are many more. ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-believers-you-just-learned-god-existed-now-what/655074/37 "2013-04-07T19:23:42Z")
> [@](#): > > You believe him because the alternative is the promise of Hell. I lived in the San Fernando Valley for about 7 years & I have been dealing with major depression for decades, hell would be a walk in the park on a cool day. I would not submit. I am looking forward to oblivion (and I don’t mean the movie). ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-believers-you-just-learned-god-existed-now-what/655074/38 "2013-04-07T19:50:53Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Here’s the thing: Most of what God tells us to do in the Bible is things that most of us are doing anyway. I used to stone adulterers and blasphemers until the tennis elbow. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-believers-you-just-learned-god-existed-now-what/655074/39 "2013-04-07T20:30:37Z")
Sure I’d bow down, or whatever. There’s no evidence that OT god requires me to be _genuine_, so I may as well fake it and have my best shot at wrath-avoidance. Unfortunately “best shot” would still be pretty bad odds, based on god’s past performance. I’d investigate whether there was somewhere other than heaven or hell because both would really suck: hell by definition, and heaven because who knows when bipolar psycho god will decide that actually I need a good smoting. If we’re talking NT, apparently all god jnr required was belief, which I can certainly provide if there had been irrefutable proof of his existence, and not being an asshole, which I’m progressing nicely with already (IMO, YMMV). ---
**Author:** ![Scholar\_Beardpig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de053/32.png) [@Scholar\_Beardpig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scholar_Beardpig)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-believers-you-just-learned-god-existed-now-what/655074/40 "2013-04-07T21:16:31Z")
Suicide. I’d already be doomed; no reason prolonging the inevitable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-believers-you-just-learned-god-existed-now-what/655074.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-believers-you-just-learned-god-existed-now-what/655074.md?page=3)