Here's your moral question for the day...

Lets say this:

You somehow, someday, come across the answer to the question "is there a god?".

The information is bestowed only to yourself, and no one but you knows it. However, you are given the ability, if you so choose, to reveal the information to others, and given some type of evidence that would be impossible to not acknoweledge, so that if you made the choice to tell someone, they would have no choice but to believe you.

The question is simply this: Do you share the information with the world, or keep it to yourself?

EDIT: the "proof" that you have in this scenario will 100% change how one side or the other views things... and the "god" in this instance is a universal higher power. Whatever you may/may not believe in. With this choice you prove once and for all the existence/non-existence of a higher power, and forever change the world.

*****************

My answer is this. In a world so driven by the belief in a higher power, and on the flipside, so driven by the fact that there isn't, I would not feel comfortable sharing this information with the world.

For one thing, it would be a mind-f*** of epic porportions for whoever turned out to be wrong. For another reason, it would destroy the world. No really, think about it. If there IS a god, and it is confirmed, you'll suddenly have entire continents mass worshipping a god, and then blaming the god for anything that happened. Or something similar. If their is NO god, then suddenly you have a world of people who were being careful because they might go to hell saying f*** it, and the chaos begins.

So I would keep the information to myself, and just be happy that out of all the people in the world, I've got a proper game plan.

it depends what god we're talking about there are so many... even the christian god has taken on different forms over the past 2000 years. Which version are you refering to? The one before, or after the conception of the trinity? What about the evanglistic version of the modern day USA? If you're talking about the christian conception of God in general, then this is a really boring hypothetical question.

I would tell everyone but even if there is proof, either there is a God or isn't one, people will still not believe it. Then again if I got proof there is a God I probably wouldn't believe it anyway :P

-edited the question for clarification everyoneHellfire-1

So if God was real and you had undeniable proof, you'd keep it to yourself while letting billions of lives go to eternal damnation? :|

Sounds pretty selfish if you ask me.

Anyway, The vice versa doesn't work because, religion is based on faith and suffers from confirmation bias. If I were to present undeniable proof that there is no God, the religious community would simply find out a way to rationalize it to make it work.

I wouldn't tell anyone, a big part of religion is the faith. People should follow their beliefs without having to have someone else telling them what to believe and should figure out for themselves if they want to believe in God or not

I am undecided.

I don't know, i do believe in people being comfortable in their lives. If all i wanna do is spew the truth, be it there is a God (which i think there is ) or not.

Even if i had conclusive proof of God, i would feel really uncomfortable to push it on an Athiest.

Basically i don't like disturbing peoples world, for the selfish gratification of speaking the truth.

The thing is that to the agnostic, or the athiest, it wouldn't be so hard to accept if there WAS a god. I mean, personally I don't believe in God at all, but if there was some sort of proof that showed He existed, what choice would I have but to accept it?

I always see that argument from some Christians about how if there's no God why do athiests have any reason to be moral - as if somehow if there was suddenly no belief in god we'd all start murdering and raping each other, like this idea of "God" is somehow a big blast door keeping the evil at bay. It that regard I'd be reluctant to tell people there was no god because it'd make me wonder if they can't handle life with out that big divine safety net gaurding them. Would they suddenly waver and start doing evil things because they felt they had nothing stopping them? Good people should be good people, with or without God.

Without God we are stil who we are. With God we are who we are.

It should make no difference, but I think the athiest/agnostic would handle the existance of God better than the religious people would handle there being no divine entity looking down on them.

If there is or is not (or even was) a God, I'd have no reason not to share it. It would be in the world's best interest.

If there was a God, then we could know once and for all a reasoning behind the unexplained, have a higher power and a moral guidance that is explained and lets us carry on.

If there is no God, then we could take that knowledge and use it so we ourselves could be better people, or not excuse ourselves from letting others suffer without someone higher up to take the blame or help. It would be on us.

Either way, I see a good outcome. I see some bad too (probably huge denial on both counts from religious and atheist groups, respectively as well as exploitation of that knowledge), but its better to know.

I could see Atheists (or at least the not crazy ones) accepting it if there was evidence. The more die hard religious groups would probably come up with some sort of explanation to try and refute the evidence. I can see die hard atheists doing the same, but not as many since I like to think many normal atheists are somewhat agnostic.

If God was real, I'd tell everyone. But if he wasn't, I wouldn't tell anyone. That would be a pretty depressing world where you knew that you and everyone else would become nothing after death. Not to mention people would be more likely to commit crimes, just like TC said.

It's impossible for there to be any proof that something doesn't exist. Unfortunately, this tiny fact completely invalidates the question.

It's impossible for there to be any proof that something doesn't exist. Unfortunately, this tiny fact completely invalidates the question.

raynimrod

Why can't you prove that something doesn't exist?

I would tell either way. Let humanity sort itself out.

I would, yes.
it's hard for me(or anyone really)to explain what you believe to someone who believes in something completely different.

I'll let the proof do the talking.

So if God was real and you had undeniable proof, you'd keep it to yourself while letting billions of lives go to eternal damnation? :|

Blue-Sky

[QUOTE="ROFLCOPTER603"]

[QUOTE="raynimrod"]

It's impossible for there to be any proof that something doesn't exist. Unfortunately, this tiny fact completely invalidates the question.

InEMplease

Why can't you prove that something doesn't exist?

Not our job. We're waiting for proof of existence before we attempt to disprove it.

So in order for you to prove that there is no unicorn in my closet, I need to show you the unicorn? That doesn't make sense.

[QUOTE="InEMplease"]

[QUOTE="ROFLCOPTER603"]

Why can't you prove that something doesn't exist?

ROFLCOPTER603

Not our job. We're waiting for proof of existence before we attempt to disprove it.

So in order for you to prove that there is no unicorn in my closet, I need to show you the unicorn? That doesn't make sense.

[QUOTE="raynimrod"]

It's impossible for there to be any proof that something doesn't exist. Unfortunately, this tiny fact completely invalidates the question.

ROFLCOPTER603

Why can't you prove that something doesn't exist?

It's quite obvious. I can tell you that invisible unicorns exist, and you can't prove me wrong. I can tell you anything exists, but you can't prove that it doesn't. Feel free to explain to me how you can prove that something doesn't exist.

[QUOTE="ROFLCOPTER603"]

[QUOTE="raynimrod"]

It's impossible for there to be any proof that something doesn't exist. Unfortunately, this tiny fact completely invalidates the question.

raynimrod

Why can't you prove that something doesn't exist?

It's quite obvious. I can tell you that invisible unicorns exist, and you can't prove me wrong. I can tell you anything exists, but you can't prove that it doesn't. Feel free to explain to me how you can prove that something doesn't exist.

Biggie Smalls (and the aforementioned unicorns; my unicorns) are in my closet. You can disprove this without even being here, because that is impossible.

[QUOTE="raynimrod"]

[QUOTE="ROFLCOPTER603"]

Why can't you prove that something doesn't exist?

ROFLCOPTER603

It's quite obvious. I can tell you that invisible unicorns exist, and you can't prove me wrong. I can tell you anything exists, but you can't prove that it doesn't. Feel free to explain to me how you can prove that something doesn't exist.

Biggie Smalls (and the aforementioned unicorns; my unicorns) are in my closet. You can disprove this without even being here, because that is impossible.

a) Just saying something does not make it a statement ready to be disproved

b) To be "disproved" it must first be "proved" (with some sort of evidence)

c) Just because something is unlikely, or because we can reach a conclusion based on reason and logic does not mean it is proved or disproved, unless we have used evidence to do so.

I can probably guess - however educated that guess may be - that you don't have unicorns in your closet, but you didn't provide any evidence in the first place for me to disprove. You saying "There are unicorns" and me saying "no there aren't" isn't proving or disproving anything. They are both unfounded statements. In fact, without any sort fo evidence, you saying there are unicorns there is just as valid as me saying there aren't; and for all I know there could be, however unlikely.

I think it would amuse me more than anything to find out that there really is a god, sort of like a "huh" moment.

Then I'd just continue my life like normal, especially since my instinct told me pretty soon after reading the question that the only thing that would happen is that people would overreact, make a big deal of it and it would just cause a huge mess over nothing.

Because after all it's not like you can do anything with that kind of knowledge. Life's not going to magically become wonderful and perfect just because the existence of a god was proven.

Which is what I see as being the most likely case. If in some other scenario there was a strong reason for me to prove their existence to everybody else, only then would I feel it necessary to do so.

And even though the situation is hypothetical, I still find it hard to imagine that it would convince anyone and everyone of their existence without fail, since there are a lot of stubborn hard-heads out there.

EDIT: The same applies to the reverse. If there was no god, I don't really see the benefits in revealing it to the world.

id stop taking acid immediatly after that trip.

If I knew and had proof that God was real - Yes

If I knew and had proof that God wasn't real - No, religion, though I am not a fan of it, seems mandatory to me for some people to live stable lives...

[QUOTE="ROFLCOPTER603"]

[QUOTE="raynimrod"]

It's impossible for there to be any proof that something doesn't exist. Unfortunately, this tiny fact completely invalidates the question.

InEMplease

Why can't you prove that something doesn't exist?

Not our job. We're waiting for proof of existence before we attempt to disprove it.

And who exactly is we? Also, why would you attempt to disprove something after it has already been proven? :|

My opinions aren't really compatible with this scenario, so I don't know how to answer.

Here's a nice summary from wikipedia:

Strong agnosticism(also called "hard," "closed," "strict," or "permanent agnosticism")The view that the question of the existence or nonexistence of a deity or deities, and the nature of ultimate reality is unknowable by reason of our natural inability to verify any experience with anything but another subjective experience. A strong agnostic would say, "I cannot know whether a deity exists or not, and neither can you."

Needing the existence of something to be proven before it can be disproved quite possibly makes the least sense of anything I've read in a while.

[QUOTE="raynimrod"]

[QUOTE="ROFLCOPTER603"]

Why can't you prove that something doesn't exist?

ROFLCOPTER603

It's quite obvious. I can tell you that invisible unicorns exist, and you can't prove me wrong. I can tell you anything exists, but you can't prove that it doesn't. Feel free to explain to me how you can prove that something doesn't exist.

Biggie Smalls (and the aforementioned unicorns; my unicorns) are in my closet. You can disprove this without even being here, because that is impossible.

What does that sort of statement have to do with proving somethingdoesn't exist? All you've done is make some random unfounded statement that doesn't even pertain to the existance or non-existance of something. :|

The answer to this question has been known, loud and clear, throughout eternity (past, present, and future). Yes, there is a God-- the one true God who sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for sinners like you and me. Jesus arose from the dead, conquering sin and death. All other "gods" people have are false.

In His Word, God tells us this:

"Gather yourselves and come; Draw near together, you fugitives of the nations; They have no knowledge, Who carry about their wooden idol and pray to a god who cannot save. Declare and set forth your case; Indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this from of old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the LORD? And there is no other God besides Me, A righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me. Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself, The word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance."-- Isaiah 45:20-23

There is only one true God. He invites you to turn to Him and be saved. Whether you spend eternity in heaven (by receiving Jesus) or spend eternity in hell (by rejecting Jesus), you will bow to Him and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

The answer to this question has been known, loud and clear, throughout eternity (past, present, and future). Yes, there is a God-- the one true God who sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for sinners like you and me. Jesus arose from the dead, conquering sin and death. All other "gods" people have are false.

In His Word, God tells us this:

"Gather yourselves and come; Draw near together, you fugitives of the nations; They have no knowledge, Who carry about their wooden idol and pray to a god who cannot save. Declare and set forth your case; Indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this from of old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the LORD? And there is no other God besides Me, A righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me. Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself, The word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance."-- Isaiah 45:20-23

There is only one true God. He invites you to turn to Him and be saved. Whether you spend eternity in heaven (by receiving Jesus) or spend eternity in hell (by rejecting Jesus), you will bow to Him and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

MathMattS

tl:dr So because the Bible says so, then it must be true and is obviously irrefutable.

I would tell them, however i doubt that even conclusive proof will change their mind.Stavrogin_

This.

It's an important thing to know. If I absolutely had concrete proof, then I'd sort of think it as my moral obligation to share it. If people then want to disbelieve it, then they can go right on disbelieving it. That's on them.

And let's note that there are people who think that the moon landings never happened and that the Earth is flat. So yes...even providing concrete proof would still allow people the freedom to deny it if they so choose.