God
 

If a person were to one day come to your door and announce that they (he/she) were God and had come to take you to be with them (he/she) in heaven, what would they have to do to prove they were who they said they were?

Would be nothing they could do that could prove 100% that they were God and be not be explainable in some other way.

You can't prove ANYTHING with 100% certainty...prove to me that this table actually exists....

More reasonably, you can certainly get enough evidence that would lead me to make statements such as "This table exists", and causes me to act in such a way as to assume the table does actually exist...placing my cup of coffee on it, and not expecting it to pass right through, hit the ground, and spray hot coffee all over me.

Same applies to God. If the guy can read my mind, throw lighting bolts around the place, smite people at will, and produce out of thin air fully grown men with fig leaves covering their privates, then I believe it would be safe enough for me to assume that he is god, and I would act accordingly, just like I do with my table.

Ergo: Tables are divine, and should be worshipped. or something.

Grant me a couple wishes and I'll play along....:D

Exactly, listen to what Csfilm said,

We must remember that substance comes before meaning. It’s not that we can’t prove something to be 100% true; it’s the fact that we can’t define something with 100% accuracy. Since all language is subjective God is what you make it, and concequently "proof" is what you make it. Therefore if some guy comes about acting like Zues chances are I am going to think of him as God. He could be an alien or some other entity, but who am I to tell the difference? He is clearly powerful and thus I would define him as a God.

could be god
could be Q
could be the devil (who by all accounts has nothing better to do with his time than fool one or two people at a time)
There's no way to prove it. Supposedly, an omnipotent god could simply reprogram your mind to make you believe it...but that's just a thought.

If he/she/it was indeed god, I'm sure he could find a way to prove it.

Back when I was in college I was repeatedly beset upon by some local campus religous group. After several different 'I'm not interested' didn't work I finally told them that god was a small, invisible, fish that lived in my anus, and until they could prove otherwise to please leave me alone.

It was very crude of course, but at least they got the hint.

this is very interesting...

so, it appears for csflim and mantus... God would have to perform these specific and fantastic feats in order to garner the credit required for even the beginning of belief.

what if this door-to-door God chose not to indulge your demands? is there no other way to prove it?

to me, it seems like if it really were God... you'd know it right away. but, i know that really isn't the thrust of the original post.

If I said, OK and I was in heaven, I'd believe him. If he told me to get in a car or something like that, I'd call the cops.

It's funny you ask that because you see, I am God. And I will be at your house about 2:30 or so.

Let's say a strange woman bumps into you and, after making conversation, says that God came to her door this afternoon and threw around lightning bolts to prove it. She swears it's true, and you can tell she believes it.

Do you believe her story?

What if it happened to a friend of yours who, for all you know, is sane and doesn't need medication? What if it happened to yourself?

For those who answer differently for the friend and for yourself, what's the difference?

Also: a thread i started dealing with pretty much the same question:
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...threadid=49226

That is probably the most wonderful thing I've heard all week!

God exists, plain and simple. Not as a being in form that could be noticed to the human eye- that is unless you recognize the beauty and perfection in the simplicity of nature, kind words, lyrics in a song that make you smile, and the interaction and connection of all things. I don't need convincing or proof that "God" exists. I feel it within me and all around me.

...and the really cool thing is that I, with an equal amount of conviction, can assert that I absolutely do not.

That said, I don't trust my own perceptions. As a kid, did you ever stand next to the bus stop and then almost fall over when a bus started moving? I don't put complete trust in this processor rolling around in my skull. ;)

I'm an atheist, but I'm keeping my eye out for other options. How's that for a bundle of contradiction?

For the purpose of this excercise should we assume that the person isn't wearing a strait jacket?

I would demand complete un-creation of the universe followed by re-creation in seven days, that and a stopwatch to time it with.... on second thoughts, I'd use my own stopwatch to ensure there's no funny business. Then I'd believe it, maybe.

I would "KNOW". If not, I wouldn't.

If Jesus was any example, then God would probably not announce the fact at all, but it would become apparent with exposure and it would be up to me to believe or not to believe as I so chose.