What would it take for an atheist to believe in God?

Question

If there was proof, it would cease to be a belief in God (and this, I contend, is unarguable). I am not suggesting anything, simply asking why so many insist on "knowing"? I don't "know" that my gf loves me, but she shows me in many different ways, but I can still never "know" her feelings for me.

My stance is how can anyone be blind? My truth is just that: mine.

Theoretically (can't stress THAT part enough!), no one has ever been convicted because they were believed to have committed a crime. They are convicted because of proof.

Proof - solid, concrete evidence with testable characteristics

Belief - circumstantial (at best) case for proof based on evidence supporting a hypothesis

You know monkeys exist b/c you see them, can touch them, can smell them, can hear them, and I suppose taste them if you really wanted to. You can weight them and, if someone else used the scale, they would presumably find the monky has the same mass as the first person found the monkey to have.

Answer 1

As an agnostic, I would like God to part the clouds, throw down a couple of lightening bolts, and heal the sick & wounded. Getting rid of evil (excluding Starbucks) would be a plus.

What you asked is my point - I don't want to believe in God - I want to know if God does or does not exist.

Answer 2

The only reason faith without proof is pushed as a creed of the religion is because the religion is false.

How can you be so gullible?

Figuring out that most of the books in the Bible are deliberate fakes (Deuteronomy) was enough for me to leave religion behind for good.

Reality is enough to deal with, without adding nonsensical circular reasoning and lies to the equation.

Besides, your 'girlfriend' argument is faulty. Not 'knowing' she loves you is one thing, but if you were just told that you had a girlfriend and weren't allowed to see her, and when you asked why someone told you that you had to have 'faith', you'd have to be pretty damn stupid to continue believing in her without ever meeting her or seeing her.

I wish you all the best with your 'god' and your 'girlfriend', if she even exists.

Answer 3

People often ask us, "Can you prove the existence of God?" Proof indicates a conclusive demonstration that establishes the validity of an assertion, in this case the assertion that God exists.
But as soon as we speak of a demonstration, the next question is "To whom shall we demonstrate?" If we speak of evidence or data, we must know who will see and hear it. In other words, who will judge the results of a particular experiment, test, or trial.
Consider a hypothetical example. Doctor Waterport, the famous scientist, has just discovered a sophisticated formula that solves a technical mathematical problem. He proudly calls his colleagues together and presents them with thirty pages of ultratechnical symbols. His fellow scientists pore over the pages and conclude, "Yes, this is the answer we're looking for." If Dr. Waterport were to show the proof to an ordinary person on the street, the person wouldn't even know how to hold the pages right side up. Because he's not trained in mathematics, the proof would be meaningless to him. Conclusion: Proof demands a qualified audience.
Certainly, any valid proof must be logical. But how we apply logic depends on our previous experience. For example, suppose an apple tree is growing outside your window. One morning you hear a sound like that of an apple hitting the ground, and when you look outside you see a ripe apple lying beneath the tree. Logically, you conclude, the apple has just fallen from the tree.
Your logical statement rests on your previous observation that the apple tree produces apples, that the apples fall to the ground, and that they make a certain sound when this occurs. And your statement appears logical to those with similar experience.
So we apply logic in terms of our experience. Therefore, how can we expect to make God logical to a person who has had no spiritual experience? How can God appear logical to a person to whom the very terminology of the science of God is unintelligible? Thus it is ludicrous when those who are spiritually blind, deaf, and dumb -demand that God be made "logical" to them and that His existence be "proved."
In general, it is illogical for a person untrained in some field of knowledge to demand that a particular fact pertaining to that field of knowledge be logically demonstrated to him. For example, if someone who has no idea what a number is demands that I logically demonstrate that two plus two equals four, I can't do it. Similarly, if a spiritual ignoramus demands that God be logically demonstrated to him, his very request is illogical. So how can the illogical demands of atheists be met?
We can easily provide innumerable proofs of God—provided we are free to stipulate that the judge of the data be a person who is spiritually trained. Devotees of the Lord who are advanced in Kåñëa consciousness can logically, evidentially, and demonstratively deal with the reality of the soul and God. But materialistic fools demand that God, a nonmaterial being, be reduced to a material formula.
It is patently absurd to demand material proof for a nonmaterial entity. Mathematical or physical laws describe predictable ways in which material things interact. God and the soul are not material and thus cannot be reduced to material descriptions.
This does not mean, however, that the soul is outside the jurisdiction of logical discussion. Consciousness itself is spiritual, not material, and thus the study of consciousness, or spirit, is not beyond the scope of human beings.
In fact, all fields of knowledge depend on tangible perception of the soul, since all sciences depend on a conscious scientist who works with consciousness, which is spiritual, not material. In other words, spiritual awareness is intrinsic to all types of awareness, although materialistic people do not recognize that consciousness is spiritual.

Answer 4

Actual evidence of any kind.

For example: remember how according to the bible rainbows didn't exist until a certain time? Reverting to that state for a few hours would do the trick.

Also: Unarguable? Every day, we get christians claiming they *KNOW* their god exists. Ridiculous, but there you have it.

Answer 5

The Christian God? He'd have to solve the Problem of Evil for me, since it is a logical impossibility --- a benevolent, all-powerful god cannot exist.

Answer 6

Why would proof make it "cease to be a belief"?

For example, I believe in monkeys.. because I have seen them.
They are real.

Answer 7

Belief is not negated by proof; belief is independent of proof. Blind belief would continue despite disproof.

Answer 8

The same things it takes for me to believe in anything.
I have to be able to see it myself or have some other scientific proof of it's existence.

What would it take for you to believe there are fairies at the bottom of your garden?
Wait, you probably do believe that....

Answer 9

Can't. I have a spiritual view that accounts for any thing you might posit as a demonstration, and makes more sense to me than deities would.

Answer 10

Dear randyken,

If "believe" means salvation, then only God can do that transformation on an atheist. "For many are called, but few are chosen."