History Main / GodTest

Might overlap with GiveMeASign. Contrast with SecretTest. Also see TrustPassword and IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten.

* Played with in ''Film/StarTrekV'' when Kirk asks "God" why he would need a starship. While the supposed "God" does respond with bursts of electricity, that's to punish their impertinence, and they quickly reject his claim.

* Famously played with in ''Film/BackToTheFuture''. When Marty tells 1955 Doc he's from the future, a skeptical Doc asks who the president is in 1985. When Marty replies, "Ronald Reagan", Doc utterly refuses to believe him, and is only convinced after Marty tells him about the flux capacitor, which he hasn't finished inventing yet.

* Something of a variant in [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1584#comic this]] ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'' comic strip. It turns out that the Second Coming was accidently stopped in the 1693 after Jesus' miracles proved he was [[WitchHunt guilty of witchcraft]].

* ''LightNovel/ExpectingToFallIntoRuinIAimToBecomeABlacksmith'': The protagonist Kururi is incredulous at the claim of a captured assassin that the TribeOfPriests country that sent him, did so because Kururi's mere existence is a PokeInTheThirdEye when they try to use their mystical visions to spy on his nation. Kururi's wife then points out that she's seen a glass of water he was drinking turn into grape juice. Still disbelieving, Kururi drinks a glass of water and it indeed turns into grape juice. This is poking fun at his MessianicArchetype characterization.

* During Creator/PeterDavid's run on ''Comicbook/{{Supergirl}},'' with the "angel" version of the character, she meets a little boy who claims to be God, come to speak to her. She asks for proof, and He asks what sort of miracle would prove anything in an age of superheroes who can fly, transmute elements, etc.; so she's just going to have to take it on faith.

* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' parodies this: When the gang land in Roman Times, Pearl claims they are gods, and Brain Guy has to use his powers to demonstrate. "Behold! From nothing I produce this... [[MundaneMadeAwesome spoon]]."
* ''Series/RedDwarf'': When Lister's pregnant cat's offspring's descendants mistake Lister for God, Lister tries to inform the only survivor The Cat of this, leading to this hilarious exchange:
-->'''Lister''': "I am your god."\\
(beat)\\
'''Cat''': "Okay." (points at a bowl of cat food) "Turn this into a woman."\\
'''Lister''': "I'm serious."\\
'''Cat''': "So am I!"

-->'''Cat:''' "If you're God, why ''[[HollywoodHomely that]]'' face?"

** Inverted in the episode "Who Watches the Watchers." A primitive alien tribe has come to believe that Picard is God (despite his protests), and to prove it one of them shoots him with a bow to prove that [[SpellMyNameWithAThe The Picard]] can't be killed. Fortunately for Picard the alien misses his heart, but does hit him in the shoulder, injuring him and thereby proving to the aliens that he isn't God.

** Also inverted in the episode "Deja Q," where Q claims to have been stripped of his powers and exiled from the Continuum. When he asks how he can prove it, Worf suggests "[[DeadpanSnarker Die]]." Guinan performs a more direct test, stabbing him in the hand with a fork and saying "Seems human enough to me." when he screams in pain.
** Played with in the episode "Devil's Due". 1,000 years ago a planet made a DealWithTheDevil to turn around their civilization and bring about 1,000 golden years, but after 1,000 years the devil would return to rule the planet. A con-artist uses that myth to try and claim control of the planet. At the end of the episode the Enterprise crew finds and takes control of the cloaked ship she has been using to simulate her "powers" and Picard turns her own tricks against her, challenging her to stop the Earthquake he started and calling out for her to return when he beams her away using her own transporter.
* ''Series/{{Supergirl 2015}}'': In "The Faithful", Supergirl discovers a cult is worshiping her and is setting up disasters so they can convert people she rescues into new members. To put an end to it, Supergirl deliberately exposes herself to kryptonite and cuts her palm. Seeing her bleeding destroys most of their faith.

---> '''Castiel''': ''(looking upwards)'' Oh, come on!
** In Season 11 the Winchesters actually do meet God. Dean is accusing Him of being a demon trying to trick them when God teleports them to the Men of Letters headquarters while Dean is still talking, then raises someone from the dead and helps him AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence. All Dean can say is "Holy crap."

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''LightNovel/CombatantsWillBeDispatched'': Alice Kisaragi [[FlatEarthAtheist does not believe in anything supernatural]], thinking any such phenomenon is either a trick or explainable by science. Grimm attempts to convince her by summoning a wish-granting demon. After accusing the demon of just being a hologram, Alice asks her to prove herself by creating two or three new planets in their solar system, only for the demon to be shocked and say she's not powerful enough to do that. After getting insulted again, the demon attempts to kill her by stopping her heart, but since Alice is a RobotGirl, this fails. Alice then asks her to unclog the toilet in their base, causing the demon to get fed up and leave. Alice smugly concludes the demon was fake.
* ''LightNovel/ExpectingToFallIntoRuinIAimToBecomeABlacksmith'': The protagonist Kururi is incredulous at the claim of a captured assassin that the TribeOfPriests country that sent him, did so because Kururi's mere existence is a PokeInTheThirdEye when they try to use their mystical visions to spy on his nation. Kururi's wife then points out that she's seen a glass of water he was drinking turn into grape juice. Still disbelieving, Kururi drinks a glass of water and it indeed turns into grape juice. This is poking fun at his MessianicArchetype characterization.
* ''LightNovel/FateZero'': UsefulNotes/GillesDeRais says that after his beloved [[UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc Jeanne d'Arc]] was executed, he began to doubt God, believing God would have saved her. To test Him, he began to commit atrocities like murdering children, believing that if God was real, He would have intervened. He never experienced divine retribution and was instead arrested and executed by greedy people who wanted his land. He concluded that God either isn't real or is lazy and doesn't deserve worship.
* Soon in the chronology of the ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' series, [[spoiler:Nagato Yuki and Asahina Mikuru both reveal their true nature to Kyon, asking him to help them monitor Haruhi. Knowing that Haruhi is dying to meet an alien, a time traveler, or an esper, he puts two and two together and confronts Koizumi Itsuki about his own position. When he confirms Kyon's suspicions, the latter asks him to prove he has [[PsychicPowers ESP]] by reheating a cup of coffee, to which he answers that [[NotThatKindOfMage his powers only work in certain conditions]]. He later proves himself when said conditions are met, without knowing that Kyon had recently witnessed Nagato's own powers and was now convinced that his three clubmates were all honest.]]
* ''LightNovel/HowNotToSummonADemonLord'': Fanis Laminitus thinks God is not real and that the people of the Church are nothing but con artists that swindle people out of donations. When Fanis meets the devout Lumachina Weselia, she threatens her with a gun, saying that if God was actually real, He'd save Lumachina. A horrified Batutta knocks the gun away just as she fires, but Fanis walks away laughing that God didn't save her so that proves He's not real.
* Early on in ''LightNovel/MyMentalChoicesAre'', Kanade receives a phone call from someone [[Creator/ShinnosukeTachibana who sounds like a casual young man]] who claims to be {{God}}. He's understandably skeptical and demands to know who's actually on the other side, which he responds by... [[GenderBender turning Kanade into a woman]]. He doesn't get turned back until he accepts that yes, he was seriously just called up by God (as well as doing [[TheGadfly his additional request]] of standing on his head while naming his favorite historical figure, [[JerkassGods because it was either that or he stay a girl forever]]).
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* In ''Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}}'', Gozer performs a god test on Ray by... asking him if he's a god. Ray fails by simply telling the truth. (There's no knowing whether Gozer would have demanded more proof had Ray answered yes.)

* In ''[[Literature/TheTalesOfAlvinMaker Red Prophet]]'', some Indian hecklers demand that the one-eyed prophet Tenskwa-Tawa prove his powers by restoring his missing eye. The prophet rebukes them, and reveals the supernatural visions he receives through the missing eye--and ends up making new converts.
* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "Literature/TheHazing": While the natives of Spica IV are initially willing to believe the Earthmen's claim that they are gods, their failure to cure the chief's wife of her illness works against them. Fortunately, the HumanoidAliens who had stranded them on the planet are captured with a welding gun. Williams uses the [[RayGun welding gun]] to set fire to several of the wooden huts, intimidating the natives into worship again.

* ''Series/TheATeam''. In "The Crystal Skull", Murdock is thought to be a god by a primitive tribe and made to walk across flaming coals to prove his immortality. Fortunately Frankie is able to make up a fire retardant to protect him, though he complains of blistered feet afterwards.