For athiests. What would it take for you to believe in some form of "supernatural" presence?

Question

I am not pointing to one religion in general, just a supreme being or beings. Many athiests I know say there is no proof of a god, so why believe. So I'm asking if a supreme being asked what they could do to make you believe, what would it be? What could be done that wouldn't be seen as a random phenomenon or other coincidence.

For Atheists. Had a minor typo above.

I'm certainly not trying to convert people, and I am not singling out atheism as a bad thing. I think people have the right to believe whatever they want. I am just posing a question to people who do not believe in a higher power if there is anything that could alter their faith in the belief that there is no supreme being, beings, or what have you.

Answer 1

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Great Question!

Bertrand Russel said there could be a lot of things, for example if if a voice came out of the sky, and started making clear, specific, predictions that came true, we would have to at least admit that there is some kind of superhuman power.

How about if stars explode in a pattern that spells out prayers, in Arabic. I'm saying: holy crap dude, I'm bowing down. Which way is Mecca?


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Answer 2

I find it interesting that athiests say they would require such absolute proof and even then would probably try to explain it away, yet they choose a belief system built entirely on unproven theories. The missing link has never been found, and the big bang theory could never possibly be proven. This is quite a discrepancy and the only explanation I see for it is that they do not want to feel accountable to someone for their actions and so they reject belief in a Creator with great force.

Answer 3

Ask a Christian what do you believe happens when you die. They say they believe when they die they go to heaven because they believe Jesus is the savior. You ask for scientific proof. There is none. They have faith.

Ask an an Atheist what do you believe happens when you die. They say its over and they are dead and they will cease to exist. You ask for scientific proof. There is none. They have faith!

Both atheist and Christian has faith.

If the atheist or the Christian dies and nothing happens, then what was important was the actions while alive, did they both love and try and make the world better. They are judged on this every day by their fellow man.

If the atheist and the Christian dies and Jesus judges the living and the dead, the Christian goes to heaven and the atheist goes to hell.

So it is. For this reason I don't call myself an atheist.

To be a Christian means I would have to accept in my heart that Jesus died, really came back and showed himself to his apostles, thus proving he was God.

I haven't been able to intellectually accept that, and somewhere in my heart a long time ago I accepted it in my heart, that Jesus was God and prove was he came back.

So for me I'm really not worried about my salvation, I worry about growing in my faith, and working through all the intellectual issues.

Answer 4

first of all, ignore "weemaryanne"... she ain't even answerin ur Q.
secondly, i am an atheist. lemme just say that i DO believe in a supernatural superior being. not a GOD per se, but just some supernatural presence that we r not aware of. y i think this? well, i just find it difficult to believe that the "essence" of a god, the idea behind the fact that made mankind start making up gods in the first place (coz that's how i think religions came to be... they were made up by humans who just needed something to believe in and dump their wrong-doings on) has to have shown some sort of sign at some point during human evolution. plus, it helps fill the gap of Creation. How, when and why was the universe created? who knows...but at least i have a theory and don't have to worry myself anymore. hehe

Answer 5

Gee, I don't know... He could, for example, stop an earthquake from killing innocent children, or he could make deformed babies not be deformed... He could clean up the air and water pollution that kills millions of animals every year. He could stop AIDS. He could punish rapists and child molesters - here, in this world - or at least have the good grace to stop repeat offenders... He could right the imbalance between developing countries and developed countries. He could stop terrorists from reaching their targets.

He could weigh in amongst the millions of people who fight to the death over the correct 'interpretation' of him and unequivocally say 'this is what I am and this is how to worship me'. He could accept that sending a whole bunch of prophets, signs, commandments and revelations to a small geographical area over a small time in history but then stop completely 2000 years ago might not have been the best idea.

He could appear in front of me, right here right now, while I sit at this computer, and say 'Here I am, my friend. You asked for me, and here I am.' No vague, interpretable signs - directly, here in front of me.

Your God could do any of those whenever he wanted. He is all-knowing and all-powerful. Yet for some reason, you will try to convince me that he chooses not to do those things. He can, but he doesn't want to. Well, if that's the God you want to believe in, you carry right on... But don't expect me to follow you!

Answer 6

For me, I am what is refereed to as a strong atheist, the only way that I would believe in a higher power is if their was an irrefutable demonstration of their power. Like the appearance of a golden car filled with diamonds. It does not have to stay, just long enough for everyone to attest to the miracle.

Answer 7

I would require proof.
And there is none. Not one shred of credible proof that points to any supernatural being or event taking place or existing.
Ever.

But that's what I would require, credible proof.
Oh and for the record, stories and anecdotes from "personal experience" or from an outdated book of bronze-age jewish mythology do NOT count as credible. Just so you know.

Answer 8

All that we call supernatural can be explained naturally and scientifically. If we can't, then wait until some scientist come up with the explanation. The sad thing is that they might not be able to explain it in our lifetime. Look, it took thousand of years for scientists to discover that disease are caused by germs and viruses not by demons and devils. Don't resort to the god-of-the-gaps theory, that is, if science can't explain it, then god did it.

Answer 9

I agree with weemaryanne. Perhaps something supernatural itself? Then again, being the atheists that we are, we'd probably dismiss it yet again as some "natural, unexplanable but totally ignorable experience". Tough luck, would-be converters.

Answer 10

I want to know why everyone singles out ATHEISTS ...sounds like a racial slur or something there needs to be some kind of politically correct was to be a reference.
Cant we all just get along,no one is perfect.