To Theists: How would the world be different if there were no God?

[Beaudreaux]

Your OP is this:



You received responses from theists indicating that no God = nothingness; the world would cease to exist. You then responded with the following:



Your response is offensive. Moreover, I'm not quite sure what is so difficult to understand about the answers you received to your question. You asked theists (and by the title of your OP, specifically theists) what the world would be if God did not exist. Like myself, many theists believe that God is the creator; and, therefore, if there is no God, there is no creation. If there is no creation, there is no world. Hence, no God = no world. It's an honest answer to your question. If you wanted a different answer, you should have phrased your question differently.

Dude, if that's your answer then fine with me, and I understand it just fine. But don't act like you somehow have an open mind. You clearly state that the only possible alternative to you being wrong is that the universe would not exist. Because of your belief you are incapable of entertaining other ideas. By your own admission, it is impossible for you to even conceive of a world in which you are wrong. How could you possibly take issue with that?

 

[Madhuri]

There have been several threads going on about evidence for God, yet theists and atheists seem to have difficulty agreeing on what constitutes evidence. Maybe it would be helpful to take a different approach. To quote the great Mr. Spock from an episode of Star Trek:

My question to theists is "How would the world be different than it is now if God did not exist?" Or would we notice anything at all absent without the presence of a deity?

It wouldn't exist at all. My concept involves the Universe being a part of God. If God did not exist then the universe would not exists. Nothing can exist if everything is God.

 

[Erebus]

You clearly state that the only possible alternative to you being wrong is that the universe would not exist. Because of your belief you are incapable of entertaining other ideas. By your own admission, it is impossible for you to even conceive of a world in which you are wrong. How could you possibly take issue with that?

Beaudreaux, what would the universe be like if the universe didn't exist?

I honestly don't see how you aren't getting this.

 

[themadhair]

I honestly don't see how you aren't getting this.

He is trying to ask theists "what if you are wrong?" and didn't really phrase the question in the best way.

 

[Willamena]

He is trying to ask theists "what if you are wrong?" and didn't really phrase the question in the best way.

Sadly, the way he did word it was an interesting exercise that he didn't want to pursue.

 

[Jeremiah]

And how hard would it be to pretend the world would not stop existing? All he is asking for is a suspension of disbelief; something that theist ask for on a regular bases.

 

[Shianah]

I believe that if we had never grasped and held the concept of deity(ies) that we would still exist. Though that existence is hard to fathom without some god in the lives of oneself and others. As such beliefs are so intertwined within all of us, even atheists. Without the presence of deity(ies) there would be no need for atheists either.

Would there be scientists? To disprove that the world is flat, that the earth rotates around the sun and not vise versa? To prove that something can be done in spite of what scriptures and religious minds think? Even now scientists are trying to prove that something can in fact be made out of nothing, google CERN.

If there were no beliefs would we question?

Or it could be the total opposite, we could all be scientists, we could be living in space like in so many sci-fi movies. (We're getting close anyways) We could all be living in a unified society learning and experimenting and inventing in harmony in peace.

It's a rather huge leap in imagination to go from lives so intertwined with religious belief to try to imagine a world with none present.

*edit* I'm going to think about this a little further and prolly touch on this again. :camp:

 

[Beaudreaux]

He is trying to ask theists "what if you are wrong?" and didn't really phrase the question in the best way.

Not really. If they are wrong, then...well, they're wrong. I'm asking them to assume they are right, but imagine a world in which the God they know isn't there. How would such a world be different? Ever heard the phrase "you don't know what you've got until it's gone"?

Some people have answered on other threads that there would be no love. Others have answered that nothing physically would change, but that people with a personal relationship with God would feel his absence.

 

[T-Dawg]

Seriously though, you just told me that the only alternative to you being right is that the universe does not exist. Could you possibly think of a more close minded stance?

I did not (and nor has anyone else) stated that the only alternative to me being right was the world not existing. I said that the world would not have been created without some form of "God," because everything either has to have been here forever or had to have been created by something, and everything that has been here forever is technically "God."
These two quotes state what I'm trying to say better than I can:

Your response is offensive. Moreover, I'm not quite sure what is so difficult to understand about the answers you received to your question. You asked theists (and by the title of your OP, specifically theists) what the world would be if God did not exist. Like myself, many theists believe that God is the creator; and, therefore, if there is no God, there is no creation. If there is no creation, there is no world. Hence, no God = no world. It's an honest answer to your question. If you wanted a different answer, you should have phrased your question differently.

Beaudreaux, when people say they can't imagine existence actually existing without God they aren't saying that they can't imagine being wrong. Take pantheism for example (a viewpoint that most of the posters have at least roughly presented) this is, simply put, the belief that God literally is everything. Therefore it follows that without God nothing exists. You may aswell ask "what would cake be like if cake didn't exist?".

Sorry for the delayed response. Mind if I ask why you would maybe commit suicide? Would life feel that meaningless? Not trying to put you down or anything by this question, genuinly curious (since I am not religious myself these kind of things escape me).

Yes, life would be meaningless. Life is already meaningless enough now with the threat of an afterlife. If I were to suddenly become atheist, I might change this stance anyway, but if there's nothing after this life, why bother living it? It's like doing a job with no pay at the end. What's the motivation?

Dude, if that's your answer then fine with me, and I understand it just fine. But don't act like you somehow have an open mind.

You're one to talk. You've been ignoring every post that disagrees with your viewpoint.

Because of your belief you are incapable of entertaining other ideas. By your own admission, it is impossible for you to even conceive of a world in which you are wrong.

You're intentionally (I think) misinterpretting everyone's response. We can entertain other ideas (or, I assume most of us can), but you asked us what WE believe, didn't you?

I'm asking them to assume they are right, but imagine a world in which the God they know isn't there. How would such a world be different?

And I answered that, and I didn't just say "the world wouldn't exist." I was unsure of the question, so I responded to each of the four possible meanings I thought of: What if God suddenly died, what if all divinity suddenly died, what if God never existed, and what if all divinity never existed. Reread my post, I think you may have missed something.

I have a vague feeling that you're just trying to attack people... meh, that's just me being paranoid again.... *goes to cool off*

 

[Willamena]

Not really. If they are wrong, then...well, they're wrong. I'm asking them to assume they are right, but imagine a world in which the God they know isn't there. How would such a world be different? Ever heard the phrase "you don't know what you've got until it's gone"?

Some people have answered on other threads that there would be no love. Others have answered that nothing physically would change, but that people with a personal relationship with God would feel his absence.

How is that different from the answers that indicate there would be no more anything?

 

[Kerr]

Yes, life would be meaningless. Life is already meaningless enough now with the threat of an afterlife. If I were to suddenly become atheist, I might change this stance anyway, but if there's nothing after this life, why bother living it? It's like doing a job with no pay at the end. What's the motivation?

Well, even though there would be no God, what is there to say that there is no afterlife? Maybe there is. I don´t believe there is, but I sure hope so. To be honest, though, why not bother living life if there is no more after this life? We do not live in hope of a reward that may or may not come, we live because we live. The best we can do is to make the best of it . That is at last my own opinion, lol.

 

[T-Dawg]

Well, even though there would be no God, what is there to say that there is no afterlife? Maybe there is. I don´t believe there is, but I sure hope so. To be honest, though, why not bother living life if there is no more after this life? We do not live in hope of a reward that may or may not come, we live because we live. The best we can do is to make the best of it . That is at last my own opinion, lol.

Ah, I thought the question of what I would do was addressed to what if ALL divinity died, not just God. Keep in mind that there are lesser gods besides God, whom we are not to worship. I explained this in my post. Of course, having the lesser gods reign without God keeping them in check would mean chaos, like I said, so I would probably want to die in that instance, too.
Life is sorta like the Bible. To make sense of it, I need to think over it, but the more I think about it, the less sense it makes .

 

[MoonWater]

Not really. If they are wrong, then...well, they're wrong. I'm asking them to assume they are right, but imagine a world in which the God they know isn't there. How would such a world be different? Ever heard the phrase "you don't know what you've got until it's gone"?

Some people have answered on other threads that there would be no love. Others have answered that nothing physically would change, but that people with a personal relationship with God would feel his absence.

Wait so are you asking this in terms of if "god" suddenly ceased to exist? Or in terms of if "god" never existed to begin with?

 

[Beaudreaux]

Wait so are you asking this in terms of if "god" suddenly ceased to exist? Or in terms of if "god" never existed to begin with?

The former.

 

[Shianah]

Oh see I thought it was the latter...

In that case, how would we know?

There is no tangible proof that there are any deity(ies) to begin with, just faith, how would we know that they suddenly disappeared? Would we get a memo? To be honest if they did suddenly disappear would it change anything at all? Prolly not.

 

[Runewolf1973]

What I consider God to be is a that which exists naturally. God or Spirit which I prefer to call it is the animate principal that exists in all things including that vibrational force of an atom. I don't believe in God as a supernatural manlike deity. Since my God is everything that exists, it would not be possible for it to not exist in some form or other.

 

[MoonWater]

The former.

In that case then my answer would still stand. Souls would cease to exist. The matter of the universe would still be there but there would be no energy to animate it and as such all life would die.