Do you WISH God is Real? (For Atheists)

[Northwest Slobovia]

At first glance this topic may seem like many before it, but here is the twist? Do you WISH God is Real?
For me if given the choice I would wish he was real because He might stop all the craziness out there. Wishing for him doesn't make him real though.

Depends on the version of God. The popular, omnibenevolent version of God? Possibly, if there is a previously unknown solution to the problem of evil that lets him be omnipotent and omnibenevolent.

There's a known solution: the Big Guy isn't omniscient, and so he can't perfectly foresee the consequences of his actions. In short, the typical "three wishes" cautionary tales writ large: he fucks up a lot.

There is no evidence that the Pyramids were built with slave labour, and there is evidence that they were built by paid workers, so unless you're a Biblical literalist you kind of have to assume that part of the Bible is either metaphorical or not entirely accurate.

Not the pyramids, two cities... um... Pithom and Ramses, I think. If memory serves, they date to the right period, but it's a historically complicated (and also badly known) era.

[United Marxist Nations]

To be just that, an afterlife. A life after death; that's it.

Hmm...thats incredibly basic XD.

That's what I want. I don't want something that different than actual life.

[Breadknife]

(And for the record, I uphold my beliefs in a flying spaghetti monster deity.)

I've got an Invisible Pink Unicorn and an Orbitting Teapot, over here, who have each decided to cry "Upstart!" in your deity's general direction... then get back to bickering amongst themselves.

[Ximea]

Hmm...thats incredibly basic XD.

That's what I want. I don't want something that different than actual life.

I don't know; I think it would be awfully nice to have fewer worries and a guarantee of at least a tolerable standard of living. Maybe not a heaven of utter sloth and decadence, but something where people weren't pulling their hair out over stuff.

[The USOT]

Very much no.

Taking at the very least the Deist perspective, imagining that there is an entity with unlimited power who could watch the horrific things that happen in our earths darkest corner (whilst doing nothing) seems like the most terrifying form of cosmic horror. Even its apathy at the very least makes it an entity I would prefer not to know.

That brings up the point of leviathans (ie primordial cosmic horror) would perhaps be a reason to not bother with humans. I mean why focus on humanity when you have to deal with cosmic horrors?
*Obviously talking about mythological definitions of deities here.

Why go all the way to Leviathans? Most deities are very Lovecraftian esque.

Actually that isnt quite true. The majority of deities do not have enough character/ are certainly not omnipotent to define them as such.

[Mefpan]

Do I wish for God to be real? No.

Would I like it if I could actually believe that spirits, deities and all sorts of apparitions from Eastern mythology actually existed in some way? I guess so.

But the Abrahamic Old Dude With An Identity Crisis? No. Most definitely, decidedly, no.

[Connahkstan]

I do. It would be pretty awesome to have a father to always got to for advice.

[Demonic Dachshunds]

I've got an Invisible Pink Unicorn and an Orbitting Teapot, over here, who have each decided to cry "Upstart!" in your deity's general direction...

Screw it, I'm creating my own Pseudo religion:

Followers of the Holy Dachshund.

In my religion, God is two existances:
The Dachshund.
The Canine Spirit.

We must all worship our Lord, who in the end will defeat the uprising of the King of Hell, Kitty.

[The Joseon Dynasty]

No, I'd actually be disappointed.

[The Punished]

Yeah for sure. How cool would it be to see Zeus walking about with a lightning bolt!

[Stovokor]

Yeah for sure. How cool would it be to see Zeus walking about with a lightning bolt!

You know, i'd actually want to believe in the Norse pantheon, I find their system and means of belief to be very interesting to say the least. Also on a shallow level, the idea of fighting and dieing exceptionally well gives me an afterlife of booze women and more fighting? I'm soo game to try my hand at that.

[God Kefka]

If God is real than my grandfather went to hell...

So no. I don't want him to be real.

It's really that simple.

[Utceforp]

Yeah for sure. How cool would it be to see Zeus walking about with a lightning bolt!

You know, i'd actually want to believe in the Norse pantheon, I find their system and means of belief to be very interesting to say the least. Also on a shallow level, the idea of fighting and dieing exceptionally well gives me an afterlife of booze women and more fighting? I'm soo game to try my hand at that.

Polytheistic deities tend to be way worse than the Abrahamic one, as bad as the latter can get. I really, really, really, really wouldn't want to live in a world with the Greek gods, for example.

[Mefpan]

You know, i'd actually want to believe in the Norse pantheon, I find their system and means of belief to be very interesting to say the least. Also on a shallow level, the idea of fighting and dieing exceptionally well gives me an afterlife of booze women and more fighting? I'm soo game to try my hand at that.

Polytheistic deities tend to be way worse than the Abrahamic one, as bad as the latter can get. I really, really, really, really wouldn't want to live in a world with the Greek gods, for example.

From what I know of the Greek gods, there's roughly two things they do. One of those is fucking you over. And the other time they, especially Zeus far as I know, leaves the 'over' out of that sentence.

[Shnercropolis]

No, honestly. I like my privacy.

[Utceforp]

Polytheistic deities tend to be way worse than the Abrahamic one, as bad as the latter can get. I really, really, really, really wouldn't want to live in a world with the Greek gods, for example.

From what I know of the Greek gods, there's roughly two things they do. One of those is fucking you over. And the other time they, especially Zeus far as I know, leaves the 'over' out of that sentence.

A common pastime for some deities, it seems, is to impregnate a woman (divine or mortal), then when a daughter is born, seduce the daughter. And the worst part is they would then seduce the result of that affair. Wash, rinse and repeat. Enki did it (in Sumerian mythology) with Ninhursag and her descendants, and Zeus did it with Io and her descendants, except unlike Enki he actually raped them. So yeah, definitely not a deity I would want to exist.

[Shnercropolis]

From what I know of the Greek gods, there's roughly two things they do. One of those is fucking you over. And the other time they, especially Zeus far as I know, leaves the 'over' out of that sentence.

A common pastime for some deities, it seems, is to impregnate a woman (divine or mortal), then when a daughter is born, seduce the daughter. And the worst part is they would then seduce the result of that affair. Wash, rinse and repeat. Enki did it (in Sumerian mythology) with Ninhursag and her descendants, and Zeus did it with Io and her descendants, except unlike Enki he actually raped them. So yeah, definitely not a deity I would want to exist.

It's wierd how much Abrahamic mythology is identical to Sumerian mythology.
Probalby because they were one in the same at one point.

[Greater Beggnig]

If you mean the Christian one, hell no. In fact, just about any god that is omnipotent, if they exist, is obviously an arsehole, considering the state of things...
But I'd probably rather that the one true religion was polytheistic, with the state of the world being the result of some of those gods being pricks. Overall, I'd really prefer that there was some form of spiritual afterlife without any god or gods. It would be cool though, there was some kind of collective conciousness in that afterlife, linking all of us together, like a harmony of notes.

[Stovokor]

You know, i'd actually want to believe in the Norse pantheon, I find their system and means of belief to be very interesting to say the least. Also on a shallow level, the idea of fighting and dieing exceptionally well gives me an afterlife of booze women and more fighting? I'm soo game to try my hand at that.

Polytheistic deities tend to be way worse than the Abrahamic one, as bad as the latter can get. I really, really, really, really wouldn't want to live in a world with the Greek gods, for example.

That's a wide generalization, there's actually a lot of differences between polytheistic faiths, the greek and the norse faiths are almost not comparable besides the fact that they're both polytheistic in nature.

[Demonic Dachshunds]

God (may His holy Dog Dish enlighten us all) does in fact exist. The proof is in His name. Dog backwards is god. This is solid evidence that the universe was in fact created by Dachshund.

[Utceforp]

Polytheistic deities tend to be way worse than the Abrahamic one, as bad as the latter can get. I really, really, really, really wouldn't want to live in a world with the Greek gods, for example.

That's a wide generalization, there's actually a lot of differences between polytheistic faiths, the greek and the norse faiths are almost not comparable besides the fact that they're both polytheistic in nature.

They're both Indo-European religions, so they share some similarities. (The motif of the hero killing the serpent, the common origin of the words "Zeus" and "Tiwaz", et cetera) That said, the not-nice attributes of the Aesir have more to do with war than the not-nice attributes of the Greek pantheon, which usually involve non-consensual sex or infanticide.

[Shnercropolis]

If you mean the Christian one, hell no. In fact, just about any god that is omnipotent, if they exist, is obviously an arsehole, considering the state of things...
But I'd probably rather that the one true religion was polytheistic, with the state of the world being the result of some of those gods being pricks. Overall, I'd really prefer that there was some form of spiritual afterlife without any god or gods. It would be cool though, there was some kind of collective conciousness in that afterlife, linking all of us together, like a harmony of notes.

Sounds kind of like the Quenya mythlogy from the Silmarillion.

[Ostroeuropa]

If you mean the Christian one, hell no. In fact, just about any god that is omnipotent, if they exist, is obviously an arsehole, considering the state of things...
But I'd probably rather that the one true religion was polytheistic, with the state of the world being the result of some of those gods being pricks. Overall, I'd really prefer that there was some form of spiritual afterlife without any god or gods. It would be cool though, there was some kind of collective conciousness in that afterlife, linking all of us together, like a harmony of notes.

Up the republic of heaven!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Asriel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_o ... troversies
""I've been surprised by how little criticism I've got. Harry Potter's been taking all the flak... Meanwhile, I've been flying under the radar, saying things that are far more subversive than anything poor old Harry has said. My books are about killing God"

[Brickistan]

Assuming you're talking about the Christian God, that would be a resounding NO! I really don't want a crazy megalomaniac like that hovering in the sky...

[God Kefka]

Assuming you're talking about the Christian God, that would be a resounding NO! I really don't want a crazy megalomaniac like that hovering in the sky...

that's exactly what I want to hear... that's exactly what i want to hear...