That is, assuming that all their accounts about their revelation with god were exactly the same.
2007-02-20 09:55:08 · 50 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I mean that IF god gave a group revelation to all those people at once. and all these people were normal & sane.
2007-02-20 10:03:10 · update #1
Ummm..? People have? And people still dont' believe, so what makes you think anybody would?
2007-02-20 09:57:40 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Given that people tend to see the 'face of Jesus' in the wood grain of doors, or an 'appearance of the Virgin Mary' in a tortilla, I am rather skeptical about what people mean when they say they have 'seen God.'
One person can look at a sunset and 'see God.'
Another person can look at a sunset and see a sunset.
One person can take psychotropic drugs and 'see God.'
A whole bunch of people can see something and call it what they like.
So what, exactly, does it mean to 'see God'? Does God have a face? Is he really a white man with a long white beard? Or is God Alanis Morisette, as in the movie Dogma? What if this group of people thought it was God they were seeing but it was actually a huge billboard advertizing a new flavored vodka? What if these people thought they were seeing God but it was someone dressed up in a God suit, trying to make them believe they saw God?
There are lots of possibilities here.
I will take my own experience over someone else's experience any day. For instance, if a hundred thousand people tell me I am actually left-handed, it doesn't change the fact that I'm right-handed. If a hundred thousand people tell me that they saw me enter a casino in Las Vegas, I will know there is an impostor, because I have never been to Las Vegas.
If a hundred thousand people tell me they read a book and this book tells them all kinds of things about the world and their lives, fine. If a hundred thousand people tell me they read a book and it told them how I need to be exactly like them, I will run for the hills.
2007-02-20 10:12:27 · answer #2 · answered by pasdeberet 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not sure I could believe the minority of the populace without some compelling reason.
For one thing, why would God only reveal himself to so few people? This does not sound like the action of a god that wishes to be known.
For another thing, how do I know that their accounts are independent from each other? There are plenty of copycat beliefs and memes. Have you heard that Dr. Pepper contains prunes? It's not true, many people claim that fact, because they heard it from each other. How can I sort out the indepedent observations from viral observations?
Edit: To answer your detail, "IF god gave a group revelation to all those people at once," my answer is still no, because God wouldn't be so impotent to show himself to a tiny subset of the population. He would show himself to everyone.
If he revealed himself to everyone, then I would naturally believe.
Edit: Stacy B, the genius, said, "alot of people on here said no, however these are the same people who believe the hundreds of thousands of people who claim to have seen aliens." That's a great straw man argument you have there. I said no, but I have never claimed to have seen an alien. I thought your religion discouraged lying? I guess I'm wrong.
2007-02-20 09:57:35 · answer #3 · answered by Rev Kev 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The scriptures tell us "great is the faith of those that have seen and believe but greater is the faith of those who have not seen and believe". It is recorded in the scriptures that Christ was risen from the dead and walked the earth for another 40 days, He was seen by over 500 at that time, Roman historians, Thasius and others plus Josephus who wrote "Antiquities of the Jews" wrote of Christ as well as the Apostles yet all will not believe.That is why we are told "Broad is the path that leads to destruction but narrow is the path that leads to righteousness and Life and few there be that pass that way". Man is at enmity with God and does not want to bend the knee, pride is his downfall.
2007-02-20 10:12:48 · answer #4 · answered by Steiner 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It would at least be some sort of evidence that could be used in support of a god-hypothesis as there is obviously not a scrap of supporting evidence now. Though it would be a start it would have to be VERY convincing evidence to overthrow the mountain of evidence of his non-existence. Even allowing for the fact that it is very difficult to evidentially prove the non-existence of something, that is the position we are essentially in at the moment.
Obviously I am an atheist, but I would like to think I am open minded, so to cut a long story short I would listen to any new (real) evidence that came up on the god-story.
2007-02-20 10:03:06 · answer #5 · answered by blah de blah de blah... 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
lol, alot of people on here said no, however these are the same people who believe the hundreds of thousands of people who claim to have seen aliens. Go figure.
I'd beleive in God even if nobody else did!
2007-02-20 10:01:27 · answer #6 · answered by Stacey B 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. God is to powerful in my opinion and I don't believe anyone has ever seen him. Jesus maybe I would believe. It does say in the Bible that he will come back to earth and show himself so people believe that he was real and not some made up story that some people think.
2007-02-20 10:06:08 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not necessarily. There are phenomena called mass hallucinations, etc., and unless I saw it myself with my very own eyes, and could be certain that what I saw was real, I highly doubt it.
Furthermore, hundreds of thousands of people believe in aliens and UFOs; heck, some even believe they have been abducted, and their stories are very similar, but that doesn't mean I expect to be greeted by ET in my bedroom tonight.
2007-02-20 10:41:15 · answer #8 · answered by sipplek 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I've seen his work first hand, have him on film, felt his love and cannot explain it and sat there while I watched him twist and bend time, gravity, motion, law of physics, etc etc.
Prior I balked at it all......today I believe for I have been shown first hand.
Read my 3 gifts on my blog.... www.Revelations152.com
Most call him God, Lord, but his real name is YHWH or YAHWEH. Call to him, ask for him, and you might be shocked. To call for God does nothing, for that is not his name.
Here is a clip from a TV news crew, and it was aired....you be the judge if a news crew would fake something or not.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvCnw9it970
2007-02-20 10:01:57 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If hundreds of thousands of people claimed NOT to have seen God would u believe THEM?
2007-02-20 09:59:19 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Do you believe in aliens? There are tens or even hundreds of thousands of people who claim to have seen them.
2007-02-20 09:59:43 · answer #11 · answered by Dave P 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋