What would it take for you to be convinced?
If a guy appeared before you and started doing magical things claiming to be god, would you be convinced? What if he had encyclopedic knowledge of everything, like, everything?
I ask this because if I hopped into a time machine and traveled one or two thousand years into the past with modern technology and gadgets and some way to access any data we have on the time period (who is going to be king in however many years, when a disaster is going to occur etc), would I not be indiscernible from god?
So, if someone appeared before us with magic and knowledge, would you be finally convinced, or remain skeptical, open to the possibility that this person simply has technology more advanced then we do?
(don't get too hung up on the time travel thing, it was just an example)
I ask this because if I hopped into a time machine and traveled one or two thousand years into the past with modern technology and gadgets and some way to access any data we have on the time period (who is going to be king in however many years, when a disaster is going to occur etc), would I not be indiscernible from god?
So, if someone appeared before us with magic and knowledge, would you be finally convinced, or remain skeptical, open to the possibility that this person simply has technology more advanced then we do?
(don't get too hung up on the time travel thing, it was just an example)
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Rev. James Thomas Hicks, D.D. on -
Well. I'd kill him. If he lived, he'd be God (possibly a 3 day wait to see if he really is). Other than that, I killed somethin' else.
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Permalink Reply by Rev. James Thomas Hicks, D.D. on
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So, what would it take you to be convinced?
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Permalink Reply by Nelson on -
it'd take empirical peer reviewed repeatable evidence.
i was in Las Vegas the other day and i saw Penn and Teller- not one but two men appearing before me doing magical things and, at least to credulous people, appeared to be doing something supernatural.
our perception sucks. that's why methodological naturalism is important.
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Permalink Reply by noisician on -
all i'd have to do (as a time traveler) is meet you some time in the future, find out some interesting things about you, maybe over a few beers. then go to the past and reveal these things "that only you could know" to the old you who didn't realize that you'd eventually reveal them at some time in the future. easy.
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Permalink Reply by Dave G on -
I'd recall Clarke's Law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
So, yes, I would remain skeptical.
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Permalink Reply by Reggie on -
So, Jesus was an alien from the future that possessed a "water-to-wine" ray gun?
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Permalink Reply by Dave G on
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Or Jesus was a time-traveling Penn and Teller doing a slight-of-hand. Or a native of the time doing slight-of-hand. Or said he'd done it and people believed him. Or never did it, never claimed to do it, but people made up impressive stories about him. Or is a figure like King Arthur, who may be based on a human being, but has been invested with so much legend and myth that you can't tell what, if any, of what has been handed down is true.
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Permalink Reply by Prazzie on -
"If a guy appeared before you and started doing magical things claiming to be god, would you be convinced?"
I'd be convinced that he's a magician, but not a god.
"What if he had encyclopedic knowledge of everything, like, everything?"
No. (How could we determine this?)
What would it take for me to be convinced someone is a god? It depends on the powers he claimed to have, but if he's the regular all-knowing, all-powerful variety: if he were to move a mountain without bulldozers, drain all the oceans with a snap of his fingers or at the very least, make crop circles appear in a pine forest with naught but the power of his mind, then I would consider the possibility that he might be a god. I'd still have doubts, though, but then it would be up to him to use his supernatural abilities to determine exactly what to do in order to convince me. And then do that.
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Permalink Reply by Eddie Miles III on -
I would remind him that if he were an all powerful god, he wouldn't have to use magic to get me to believe in him and I would then walk away ; )
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Lynn on -
I'm skeptical of everything, really, so I'm sure I'd still be skeptical of he/she/it.
To be convinced? I'd need to do my own experiments, and see everything for myself under a controlled environment.
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