What would you do in the event

[onnihs]

What would you do if somehow, someday in our lifetime, images of God miraculously appeared in the world? Let's make a scenario: Suddenly, whenever glass or mirrors shatter, in each reflection an image of a man appears. The person the image depicts is not important (no one in the world has seen him before), but rather, the very fact that such a phenomenon has occurred has driven the world into some sort of hysteria, yielding the unequivocal conclusion that the image is none other than God himself. He has no religious affiliation, and no one can tell which religion this god belongs to. But everyone in the world, including you, is convinced that this is God.

Imagine with me for a moment... and tell me what you will do tomorrow. Or the next day. In 3 months?

Will you live your life as you do now, knowing that some deity exists, or do you change your lifestyle radically to somehow befit your religious beliefs?

i am researching and surveying peoples' responses to this, for it is the topic of a short story i am writing

[kitty]

what about the atheists? the atheists would be unconvinced, ne?

[yoMAMA]

i would ask god, why does he/she allow all the evil/suffering going on in the world, and the unequal distribution of wealth.

[SunWuKong]

i would tell him he should come visit me more often.

[onnihs]

what about the atheists? the atheists would be unconvinced, ne?

In our little scenario, kitty, athiesm would cease to exist. The face of God is everywhere. How would you live your life as a result?


i would ask god, why does he/she allow all the evil/suffering going on in the world, and the unequal distribution of wealth.

good point! I would ask the same thing. But this god does not answer. Doesn't do anything but sit there.

I need to know how you would conduct living your life as a result of this phenomenon.

i would tell him he should come visit me more often.

:) But how would you react to his definitive existence? How would your life change or not change??

These are the questions that i need addressed... THANKS !!!

[Fireblade]

I'd ask for 3 wishes. Oh wait... I'm thinking of Genies....

Honestly. I would think that God's appearance should not even be shown in our world. I would really think that it's Satan's doing, and that he's trying to get everyone under his wing, and in reality duping us into beliving he is God.

I think the Bible does say something about the coming of an Anti-Christ.

[kuilong]

That doesn't really seem to make sense. Why would everyone, after seeing this man in the mirror, jump to the conclusion that he's God? Not only does that seem pretty tenuous to me, but if there's one thing you can count on with people, there's going to be some group of crackpots out there who are going to disagree about anything.

That said, I don't think I'd live my life any differently. Aside from, you know, smashing mirrors from time to time for fun.

P.S. I, for one, would be amazed if the conventional wisdom that God is male turned out to be correct.

[kitty]

In our little scenario, kitty, athiesm would cease to exist. The face of God is everywhere. How would you live your life as a result?


*skeptical eyebrow* well, if i were faced with my god, i'd probably just continue to live my life. wouldn't really change anything about how i view myself.

i still think if you're asking for people to react to god's existence, you should take into account atheists in this world.

[DragonKnight]

I think the Bible does say something about the coming of an Anti-Christ.I'll encounter it, rip its heart out, and eat it...sorry, been feeling bloodthirsty lately. :mad:

[Kuchana]

I would be overwelmed and at a loss for words most likely. But remember to never take anything or anyone for granted, even God.

[rice cracker]

I'd ask for ID. And like kitty, I'd go on with my life, probably still not believing in god.

[BigLew]

My free thinking mind would probably say, "yeah it looks like a face but it could also be dinosaur if you turn your head sideways." Next day I'd start spreading rumors the image was actually of Micheal Jackson, then I'd probably forget the event.

[yoMAMA]

oh...i'd ask "god" about all the other "gods" that are his/her competition....

"god" seems to be a monopolist from the bible...."thou shalt not......ok, i'll spare you the rest :tongue: "

[mr. x]

u know onnihs your story is a lil flawed, cuz like others said people will debate any ambiguos image

but if a bearded white man were to appear in the clouds ala Monty Python and bellow out his will im sure it'd be much harder to dispute

[Faithless]

I don't get it.

How obvious would these images have to be?

We have heard of people seeing images of the Virgin Mary in windows or Satin in a cloud of smoke or Jesus in a toilet bowl, but none of those things have caused me to become more religious.

(By the way, if you see an image of Jesus in the toilet, do you still shit in it?)

I'm not changing, much, one iota until the supposed Judgement Day, or whenever god finally picks his 100,000 chosen.

[deez nuts]

take a pic and sell it to the newspapers.

try and make me some money.

[onnihs]

u know onnihs your story is a lil flawed, cuz like others said people will debate any ambiguos image

but if a bearded white man were to appear in the clouds ala Monty Python and bellow out his will im sure it'd be much harder to dispute


Yes, it is very flawed, however the story is still in its preliminary phases. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep the whole "images" thing, but it was the first and most intriguing idea I came up with when trying to figure out how to portray the definitive and unequivical knowledge of God's existence.

I don't get it.

How obvious would these images have to be?

We have heard of people seeing images of the Virgin Mary in windows or Satin in a cloud of smoke or Jesus in a toilet bowl, but none of those things have caused me to become more religious.

(By the way, if you see an image of Jesus in the toilet, do you still shit in it?)

I'm not changing, much, one iota until the supposed Judgement Day, or whenever god finally picks his 100,000 chosen.

hahaha.. jesus in the toilet.. that's good.

See what I was thinking is that the world is faced with this super phenomenon... EVERY SINGLE TIME glass shatters, random shards reflect an image of a man. This image escapes no one, as any person can simply break a piece of glass or mirror and see the image himself. I think, at the sheer magnitude and undeniable mysticism involved with such a phenomenon, multitudes of the world's population will accept that the image portrays the divine. But of course, there will be those who don't believe it has anything to do with the divine, and thus the plot thickens.

Again, the story is still in its infancy, and this portion is only a small yet significant part of the whole story. So, suggestions are highly welcome :)

[Faithless]

See what I was thinking is that the world is faced with this super phenomenon... EVERY SINGLE TIME glass shatters, random shards reflect an image of a man. This image escapes no one, as any person can simply break a piece of glass or mirror and see the image himself. I think, at the sheer magnitude and undeniable mysticism involved with such a phenomenon, multitudes of the world's population will accept that the image portrays the divine. But of course, there will be those who don't believe it has anything to do with the divine, and thus the plot thickens.

Again, the story is still in its infancy, and this portion is only a small yet significant part of the whole story. So, suggestions are highly welcome :)
Ah.

I think if there were a standard for this sort of genre of fiction it would be "Oh God!" with John Denver and George Burns.

The question always come down to -- you've gotten some sort of confirmation of the divine and now it is emcumbent of you to make his/her/its presence known.

The question is how to do so in an original light?

Having god be a woman might be different. But there's also this cliche of god visiting us to make its presence, blah, blah.

If you want a sort of original twist, it would be to do something like "Contact" with Jodie Foster, where god doesn't necessarily come to us but we go to it through some medium. The medium can be as random as the reflection in your broken mirror/glass.

But the thing would be how one person seems to have the continual luck of getting to meet god in this way and trying to communicate this to others.

[Napoleon Chynamite]

^Basically I think the gist of it is what would you do if supposedly we had 100% visual proof or hardcore proof that God existed.

Anyways as for me....I'd probably see a slight increase in my faith..haha...and....I'd ask him if he'd wanna go kick it Saturday night. Oh and also if he could spare a few bucks cause I'm so broke right now X_X

[Faithless]

^ If that's the case you all would be disappointed because my serious image of god is a little different than yours.

And if my image of god appears first, I'm lording it over you all that there is not Jesus or Buddha. :biggrin:

[rice cracker]

take a pic and sell it to the newspapers.

try and make me some money.

C.R.E.A.M.

[Six_Mahjin]

Well as I have no religious denomination I guess I could be labelled as an atheist, although I prefer to be known as a "he who sits on the fence" type of person.

Having seen this image of "God" I guess I'd start questioning the purpose of humanity, besides that, a hell of a lot of sh*t would be kicked up because one of the reasons that religions exist is bacause they are based on faith.

People have to have faith in order to practice their religion, and what would they do if a "material" God existed?

i would ask god, why does he/she allow all the evil/suffering going on in the world, and the unequal distribution of wealth.

Even if a God did exist I guess I'll never be able to question him due to my lack of faith (before he appeared) but as an arguement to the above quote in defense of a God; if God did control all of the suffering or lack of it and wealth then what purpose has he created humanity? Is it so that he can baby sit us like in The Sims? Or was it because he created us free? It's our own damn fault that we're not clever enough to all get along together and chill with each other.