Say you had managed to live to see the day to see 100% proof on whether God existed or not. How would you react to hearing the new?

This is two different questions, actually. First is how would you react if God's existence was 100% proven so there was no question or doubt He existed? Whether it is personal contact with Him, or He chooses to be revealed to the world... What would you be feeling in that moment? In this instance, just assume it is the Christian's idea of a loving yet stern form of God. Feel free to also discuss what you think life would be like after His existence is completely proven.

Next, how would you feel if somehow, it was 100% proven that God could not possibly exist? Whatever it COULD take that would prove to you God did not exist must be assumed here, whether it is scientists somehow found a way to search in the whole universe (and other universes) and found nothing, or somehow perfected time travel and could go to any time period to prove Jesus was fake or something. For some, this may be difficult to answer, as it calls question to your faith. If you do not feel comfortable answering this, feel content to just answer the first question. This is not a place to say, "That's impossible," as it is STRICTLY a hypothetical. You can explain your views, I just ask you not to dance around the question. Simply either answer it or just choose not to.

I also want to mention this is not a dig at religion or religious beliefs, but is truly just curiosity on how people of different faiths would react to these two strong scenarios.

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As for myself, I consider myself nonreligious, but still believe in God. This means I do not care for organized religion, but firmly believe a higher power created us all. I suppose it comes close to an Agnostic way of thinking, but I do not see myself as one.

If a Christian's form of God was proven to me in some way, I probably would be initially frightened, as I have likely committed many sins and afraid of being punished for them. I think I would also feel uncomfortable with the idea that I am being judged on everything I do, and probably worry about every decision I make. Should God relieve me of such burdens (Perhaps dismissing some things or saying to just live as I would always have and if I made an error, just seek forgiveness), I would probably devote my life to God and do whatever I could to help. Not only that, but I would also ask deep questions about life when I could, as well as how deceased friends and family are doing.

In short, 100% proof of God's existence would initially frighten me, but I think it would overall be a good thing depending how forgiving He would be.

If God's existence was 100% debunked to me, I think I would also be initially frightened at that prospect too. It would very much bother me at the idea of no afterlife, maybe even to the point of depression or lunacy. If I ever got over that prospect, I suppose I would just try to live my every day life... Still, those days would feel very gloomy.

If God's existence was DISPROVEN... then nothing would change for me since I don't believe to begin with. Really open and shut.

If somehow he was proven to exist... I'm honestly not sure how I'd react. On the one hand I'd want the benefits of heaven which might change me. On the other though... I have a problem bending to others wills. So I might defy him outright. Who can really say?

I would do nothing because I already know he exists

If a God was proven, it really wouldn't effect my reaction too well depending on the God, but it would effect how severe the reaction is. If it's the Christian God, then I'd outright defy everything as much as possible and try my best to go to the underworld, if not only because of how hateful him and most of his followers are to others (IN MY OWN PERSONAL OPINION, JUST FOR YOU OVER-SENSITIVES). If it were other Gods, I'd still defy them, but at a more careless rate since those ones don't shove their religion down my throat as much, Nya~.

If there were no God at all, I'd assume that there would be a lot of denial and outrage at first, but after the fact settles in, I think that the world would honestly become a bit better. People would finally realize this is our only time to live, and that once it's over, there's nothing. We'd be much more careful with how we live, we wouldn't be outlawing these perfectly normal things the Bible and other religious books condemn because the rest will know it was just man's desire to hate these people that didn't deserve such bad treatment. Overall, after the fights and denial settles down and everyone takes in the reality, I firmly believe life would be a lot better without a god. Sure, there will still be ignorance, but they'll have even less "justifications" for it (Even though their religion is an awful way to justify it).

MegaRevolution1 :  Your insults are getting a little out of line.  Seriously, the maker of this thread specifically noted:  "I also want to mention this is not a dig at religion or religious beliefs, but is truly just curiosity on how people of different faiths would react to these two strong scenarios."

EDIT:: There, edited that one part that seems like it could be offensive to the most I wanted it to be. I will not edit it further.

Proven:
I would be angry with him, for being all knowing, all powerful, and yet unwilling to stop the chaos that rocks the earth. I would be unwilling to listen to him or cooperate with him, because I would feel he had blood on his hands. I wouldn't allow myself to be judged by one that I myself deem immoral.

100% disproven:

That wont stop people, they will find a technicality or a linguistic loophole, and then continue claiming there text is proven true, until they're blue in the face.
Nothing would change. As far as im concerned, its already disproven, so really i cant imagine people admiting its incorrect.
You go back in time, how do you prove jesus was a fake?Kill him? He died anyway.
Ask him? If he was nailed to a cross and still kept up his act how can you expect to get the truth.
Catch him plotting?i doubt he made notes and spoke aloud to himself.
plus people will say the time travel was fake.
I get its hypothetical but i felt i may as well point out, you cant definitely disprove something, most of it, yes, but while there's one area of uncertainty there the hopes of faith will be harbored.

thenumberone :
The second question was more for you as a person; if YOU were given evidence that made you absolutely know 100% that God never did exist, has no hope to have ever have existed. Any little bit of hope or belief that He may exist was completely wiped from you. It's okay to consider what life would be like with such evidence, but I would like you to also put your personal feelings into the scenario first.

My examples weren't exactly the best, but I was just throwing some ideas to help people with the scenario. It is hard to disprove something, thus why I mentioned that whatever it would take for you as a person to be completely convinced that God did not exist was to be assumed. Hard believers can consider it just playing pretend as well if it will help them.

All that said, I agree that there likely would be some unbelievers... heck, I might at first question it! Once the evidence convinces me (as the question asks), is about when I would be filled with the worry I mentioned in my post.

ruesen : If I were around to see it I would react favorably to the news. I do not consider myself to be deeply religious although I do pray daily and try as best as I can to observe mass online whenever I can. I do believe that God reappearing would not only confirm the beliefs of many but it just may offer hope to a world that needs some.

More and more it seems like things are getting worse especially in regard to the economy and such. As for me I dealt with a health scare several years ago and I am convinced that God got me through that. The last couple of years in particular have not been the easiest for my family and I. It has been very trying, very emotionally draining and frankly at times seemed hopeless. My faith has been tested more than once believe me. I do believe however that had it not been for my faith that I would not have gotten through what I have.

I have never doubted God’s existence but I won’t lie there have been times as I said that my faith has been tested and I have been very angry with God at times. Whether or not I had a right to be angry with God is a different discussion for a different time but I think in a way it’s part of what brings you closer to God. After all, life is not all milk and honey and I think it’s foolish for one to expect things to be 100% perfect although sometimes it would certainly be nice.

The one thing that I try to do above all is not judge others. I think that is one thing the world could do with less of quite frankly.

Oh I see, well i am 100% sure already no religion is right, and about 99% certain there is no god at all. So i guess question 2 is simply, nothing.

If it was proven that God exist:

It would really depend on what type of God it was proven to be. Assuming that it was the Christian God it still wouldn't quite portray what God is like and how the religion works as different churches within a specific religion has different beliefs. Catholics for example believe in a afterlife where your admittance into heaven or hell is determined by God, whereas a Swedenborgian belief is where a person joins a heavenly or hellish society based on his/her inner delights (e.g. A person who loves to steal will join a society of thieves).

The least I would imagine is that I would look at the teachings and see if it's something I would conform to, if it isn't then I would just go about as I already do.

If it was proven that God doesn't exist:

I'm not really sure as to how I would react to this or whether my behavior would change or not. My personal stance on God is that I believe in a God in the sense of intelligent design but not enough to throw my cards at any particular religion mostly because of my lack of knowledge to the teachings of other religions.

If he was 100% real then I probably would be happy if he's the guy people tell me about.  I'd also be really careful on my prayers and try really hard to be good so I don't get eternal time in hell.

Now if he was 100% not real then, I would stop believing in Him and be sad for the people who's dreams this crushed and also the lost meaning in everything they worked so hard for being a good christian to the way side must be hell.

I would have to say in both scenarios it would matter very little what I would think or belive. In both outcomes I am just a little bug in a cosmic scale whose life is meaningless and barely worth more than a speck of dust.

Well, if god would do excist I would ofcource sit on his lap, ask him for a cup of hot chocolate and we would have endless philosophical and theological dicussions together. But I doubt he will have the time with judging all the living and the dead and all. But I try to remind him of this if we ever come across, before he tosses me to the lake of fire and what not.

And if it turns out he never existed, well the universe didnt care before and it wont in the future. Excistence will move on, irregardles.

I would question the "evidence" and to what god would be the "proven to exist" one hmm?

iN008 :
And if you read the actual topic, you would have learned that you were to ASSUME in this HYPOTHETICAL QUESTION that whatever evidence it would take for YOU as a person to be convinced 100% for both questions. Please read before you respond to topics, as otherwise you are not contributing to the topic at all, and thus, spamming.

To clarify,

ruesen : Your beliefs would make you more deist than agnostic. I personally bounce back and forth between the two; I personally think both have valid beliefs.

For those who don't know, deism basically is, as Wikipedia so accurately puts it, the rejection of revelation and authority as a source of religious knowledge. Wikipedia goes on to talk about how many deists found fault with organized religion and could not believe in supernatural events such as miracles, the inerrancy of scriptures, or the Trinity. In a word, deism is the belief that there's a god, but that religion makes no sense and that it's highly unlikely that God would have communications with the average individual. Many other deists also subscribe to the clockwork universe theorem; I could go on forever about this, but I'd rather go on to the topic itself!

Should a god be proven to be real, my way of life would obviously change. The way it would change would be dependent on what kind of god this deity was. Benevolent? Malevolent? Based on this, I'd either live in fear or live in thankfulness for this god. In addition, would how I acted in this life affect me in the afterlife? Perhaps the better question would be: would there be an afterlife? If there were no afterlife and/or eternal punishment, I'd probably continue living my life as if there was no god at all. Simply put, without a hell, there'd be little to no point in bending my life around the beliefs of this god.

Now, if god was disproven, humanity would be confronted with profound moral and ethical implications. Religion would be dissolved, or at least, removed from the public eye; there would be, of course, disbelievers, just like how there's still cults out there who believe the world is flat. With all due respect to the religious users here, human rights would improve; no longer would homosexuals be persecuted, rape victims turned down. Many country's very moral foundations would have to be addressed, as many laws were written with religious ideals in mind.

One may argue that the abolishment of religion would stop wars and disagreements, but I must point out the blatant holes in this argument. Sure, religious wars are often baseless, but I can guarantee that until the day everyone is the same in every single way, there will be disagreements on things. I'd refer to South Park's "Go, God, Go" episode, but I'm substantially more classy than that.

Tangents aside, I do think that the complete confirmation of a God existing/not existing would have outstanding influence on human life itself, as it's always been one of those unanswerable questions probing the minds of the greatest thinkers and philosophers of the history of mankind itself.

I've always had a profound interest in debates regarding hypotheticals, so I'm looking forward to a good discussion regarding it.

the_casualty :
Thank you for that insight, on both deism and your opinion in both scenarios.

Although I would have loved to see this as a debate (as this is more of a place just to share your opinion on this "what if" scenario),  there were in fortunately is a trend of religious debates getting heated with mudslinging. Besides, hypotheticals let people just share their opinion and be off.

I also enjoyed your perspectives. In the "God proven to be real," question, I meant to say that includes the idea of an afterlife, but it seems I failed to mention that directly.

In your response to God being disproved... I can see how you come to the conclusion of human rights getting better with no religious implications of what is right and wrong in the world, but I imagine it still would be slow to improve.

Inspired by your conclusion, I further imagine the formerly religious might go through a mourning phase, and some of those more deeply invested... well I imagine some may take their own life!

Also... I loved the "Go God Go!" episode of South Park. XD