If GOD HIMSELF showed up and wanted to prove his existence, could he?

Or rather, it's claiming to be the almighty creator of the universe. It's not necessarily asserting that Christianity is correct (as Raw points out, what it says about various religions will affect who is likely to take its assertions at face value.)

I think the fact that there are numerous definitions of God is kind of a moot point. If a sufficiently cosmically powerful entity provided adequate reason to believe it had created the universe, most people would simply revise their definition of God to fit it.

Okay, how about this: HE CREATES A POCKET UNIVERSE. Oh wait, even Discworld wizards can do this... Anyways, he does it, and He shows us how He created Life from scratch. Then... either he shows us some Intelligent Design, or he says: "And now I just wait until there is a smart enough species around. Then I show them a monolyth/ an apple/ I make them sapient/ they become sapient by themselves."

More importantly, would people OBEY? Would people WORSHIP? Would people PRAY if He answered reliably?

What if He's a She... somehow.

Some would, some wouldn't. In all sorts of varying degrees.

Also, as we said here, there is functionally no difference 'we can tell between God and Sufficiently Advanced Aliens

I disagree. Sufficiently advanced aliens will STILL follow the laws of physics. The basic laws are just that. It doesn't matter how advanced you are - you cannot break the laws of physics. They, for instance - cannot break the law of thermodynamics - no matter what fancy trick they make.

But God (theorethicly) can.

^ "Laws of Physics" are just "how it works as far as we know". There is nothing to prevent these rules to be false given the right sort of research.

Yes, there is. You need some version of gravity and electromagnetics to work, or the atmosphere flies away.

Saying they are necessary for our physical circumstances is not the same thing as saying they're immutable. Let's say a being showed up one day and sucked all the atmosphere off the planet. God or Sufficiently Advanced Alien? It does not matter.

edited 17th Sep '10 7:16:56 AM by Fighteer

Change G?

G might not be an actual constant: there might be materials that partially screen gravity.

Yes, I know okay?

What, I'm not allowed to make a Star Trek reference?

Many natural laws we know of are probably inviolable, but that doesn't mean that there aren't ways to circumvent them that appear to be violating them.

All we know for sure is that the laws of physics hold approximately in the circumstances we have observed.

For example, Relativity disproved Newtonian physics, but that doesn't mean an apple can't fall out of a tree.

Wouldn't we all have some pie on our faces if suddenly there were winters without a summer, a giant wolf swallows the sun and moon and the stars disappear, and then the shit hits the fan?

edited 17th Sep '10 8:10:45 AM by Bioelectricclam

Yes, but ditto if the Invisible Pink Unicorn showed up. Neither has happened.

@Fighteer, stripping the atmosphere away is comparatively easy, and doesn't require anything like divine power. Whereas disabling electromagnetism would Destroy. REALITY. ITSELF!!

Doing such things, however, would presumably be within God's purview. If He demonstrated such power, then ... well, there would no longer be humans around to appreciate it afterwards.

Anyway, my point is not to nitpick such things. My point is that a Sufficiently Advanced Alien could, presumably, mimic a God to the point where we would be unable to tell the difference. Thus, there would be no difference for all intents and purpose.

"It doesn't matter how advanced you are - you cannot break the laws of physics."

That's because if the laws of physics appear to have been broken, scientists rethink the laws of physics. Science isn't like religion, it's not a set of beliefs you hold. It's a system for finding out the truth. Any theory can be disproven - you just make a new theory.

If you see something that "breaks" the laws of physics, it's not evidence for the supernatural; it's evidence that you need to improve your model of the laws of physics.

edited 17th Sep '10 9:17:22 AM by LullTheConqueror

Argh page moves too fast!

My actual belief would probably go into the nature of self. I would respect an all powerful entity to the extent that it is all powerful, and respond in such manner. I'd probably even give it the benefit of the doubt that it "created" the universe, though that's certainly not a proof.

God or not, it doesn't mean I'd worship him, even if I acknowledged that this being was our creator.

Indeed. I'd probably be all like "ROW ROW FIGHT DA POWAA"

I just don't see a reason to fall down on my knees and grovel for.. Well, anything really. Nothing exists that I really feel compelled to do that for, and I don't feel anything ever will.

Seems to me from these comments that even if God showed up and tried to prove his existence, people wouldn't even believe Him anyway.

Seems to me like you guys are all thinking about God showing up and doing some cheap parlor tricks. Seriously, if God wants to prove His existence, he'll prove it. Beyond any possibility of doubt. Anything less and there's room to believe that the being in question is not God, which would make the entire exercise pointless.

You're all thinking wayyyy too small here.

Ignostic: Not sure what God even means, so it's hard to answer the question in its proper capacity.

Well, yeah, I'm hard agnostic, but it doesn't stop the question from being a fun exercise. For purposes of this thread, I'm adopting the omnipotent/omniscient viewpoint held by most monotheistic religions.