What specific evidence would people require to believe in God's existence?

Some folks are so gullible that they would accept just about anything as evidence.: *Dog barks at lamp* Wow! a sign from God! :Other people could, in my opinion, actually have an Angel visit them and they still would attempt to explain it away. People of the Book quite often think differently from people who read books!People can be too gullible. IMHO, they also miss out by being too skeptical. It is their choice and their discipline, however.BTW I don't think God takes points off for being too skeptical to believe in Him! (Keyword: Honesty )

---

Convictions are very different from intentions. Convictions are something God gives us that we have to do. Intentions are things that we ought to do, but we never follow through with them.
* * * * * * * * * *
“The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.”
--General Omar Bradley

Perhaps it would be a powerful suggestion that there is a realm we know nothing about. Well Jar...you always say that we must test our environment, test our beliefs, and test our conclusions. If I believed that I experienced an event otherwise described as a visit from a non-corporeal talking source, I would probably be biased to declare it a supernatural source. You would be too skeptical if the same thing happened to you. You would IMHO do everything in your power to explain the event without resorting to the conclusions that I would arrive at. (admittedly through bias)My idea of too skeptical is of someone who could see the very things that the Apostles allegedly saw and still not believe that God existed.To be fair, though...I close with the words of Sam Harris: so Jar? Would Christians be better off if they threw all of their dogma away and started over?

---

Convictions are very different from intentions. Convictions are something God gives us that we have to do. Intentions are things that we ought to do, but we never follow through with them.
* * * * * * * * * *
“The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.”
--General Omar Bradley

I agree with most of this list except for the first two points.

• they will never know if they are saved so fuhgitaboutit and move on.
• they will never know GOD so fuhgitaboutit and move on.

This is not a scientific question nor even remotely necessary for examination by the scientific method.I will agree that it is good to question whether or not we are operating in Gods Will or not. ( You probably will ask how we would know! ) And you say to move on! Move on to where? Ican accept some of your theology whereupon we are loving God by loving and doing our best to love and help others, particularly the least desireable or influential people.Jesus covers that part quite clearly in the second half of The Greatest Commandment. (Mark 12:28-31) And of course we both know that it is impossible for a worm to love us with all of its tiny essence, right? The whole idea of Christ becoming human, however, was to give us something that we could perceive...acknowledge, and love.Jesus said to Peter, (John21:15-23) So....Are you suggesting that the Greatest Commandment implies that the only way that we can love God with our whole heart, mind, and strength is to show it through behavior toward others and that it is irrelevant whether or not we pray and commune with God Himself?If so, why would Jesus have mentioned the first of the two great commandments? Why not just mention the second one?Jesus seems to think that His Father can be known.So did Paul in Acts 17:22-28. He goes so far as to say:
Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. It seems to me that Paul also saw God as quite knowable and in no way unknowable.

Hello, georgeculolias! Welcome to EvC! You would be surprised at the faith based discussions that we have here! Many people have had experiences similar to the ones you have had.When I first came to EvC, and even now, I am challenged to question my faith and the validity of my experiences at every turn. Some initial conclusions that I had I have questioned, and other conclusions I have retained--having stood on my personal impressions and judgements beyond a reasonable doubt and to my own personal satisfaction.I have spoken with several Theologians whom I respect very much about issues of faith and belief. I have had many debates and arguments concerning faith and belief in general (although I rarely argue much any more) and have rarely if ever knowingly changed anyones mind whom I argued with.I am responding to you based on my own personal beliefs. Courts of Law accept certain evidence as valid and other evidence as invalid, but the entire field of law itself is ever changing and is based on precedents and on whether or not juries believe beyond a reasonable doubt that an event did or did not occur based on the evidence allowed. Each case is different, however. I read where one recent murder case had been successfully prosecuted due to new allowable evidence that had previously been dismissed as heresay!The evidence, an overheard verbal comment, was reclassified as an excited utterance and the conclusions of the court had to reflect the evidence allowed.Many Christians and specifically Biblical Creationists are evidentialists yet their logic will never stand up to critical thinking and basic logic.Let us again remind ourselves of the title of this thread:What specific evidence would people require to believe in God's existence? It depends on the individual. Some folks may think they were knocked down by the Holy Spirit while at a revival meeting and would from that day forward never again dare question their faith regardless of whether they simply fainted, were pushed over, or were even exposed to a form of hypnotic suggestion.Other folks may have had many experiences in life every bit as valid (relative to their own perceptions) as you ever had, yet these same folks would endlessly question the validity and rationality of their experiences and their personal beliefs.I used to feel that I had to argue and share and present a case that would somehow convince others that God was indeed knowable. After all, God is knowable to me, within my own mind and heart, and I have accepted my belief and my relationship with God as true and real. I have no need to prove it to anyone since it is logically unprovable, but I am satisfied as to where I stand in regards to my core beliefs.I don't hang out at in order to validate my faith. This is not a safe place to be if validation by others is sought, nor is this a safe place to be if you consciously or subconsciously wish to convince and/or proselytize others either.From what I have gathered based on your story, you are simply sharing what has happened to you (or as some would say what you thought happened to you) and are honestly curious as to human reaction to your story! Which is why I am blabbing! All that I can say to you is this: If the experience which you have had was valid and ifGod is actually real, nothing on earth will ever be able to take that away from you!People usually fall into several categories after having had a spiritual experience such as yours.1) They attend a charismatic church which never allows them to question the belief statement shared by the church. This has the effect of stifling any growth in that individuals awareness.2) They become zealous and go forth attempting to validate their beliefs through numerous scriptural quotations, articles gleaned from places such as Answers In Genesisor C.A.R.M. and are repulsed by the contrasting views found in places such as Positive Atheism or Skeptic Magazine .My personal philosophy is to examine differing views of other groups of people in order to allow myself to see the divergent ways that people accept, question, and validate the world views that they have.I am stubborn and dogmatic at times.I believe that I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I often share it with others, but not usually around here at EvC. If you want to hear any of my personal testimony, feel free to email me or catch me in our chatroom some day.In conclusion, I would like to welcome you to EvC and I hope that you stick around long enough to listen more than you talk. Your faith will be challenged, but if you were to simply hang around at a Christian website such as Theology Web your faith would never be challenged. Likewise, if you hung around a forum such as Internet Infidels You would be challenged as never before and would not find people such as myself there, IMHO. I get tired of never having anyone on earth agree with me, yet I would never want everyone to agree with me either!I guess it all boils down to how much heat you can handle and how eager you are to challenge the faith that you have! Anyway, welcome aboard! Our requests here are quite simple. We follow the Forum Guidelines whenever possible and we try and be civil with one another while rarely, if ever agreeing entirely! Edited by Phat, : clarification

---

Convictions are very different from intentions. Convictions are something God gives us that we have to do. Intentions are things that we ought to do, but we never follow through with them.
* * * * * * * * * *
“The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.”--General Omar Bradley
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Homer Simpson: Sometimes, Marge, you just have to go with your gut!
Marge: You *always* go with your gut! How about for once you listen to your brain?

This topic appears to be weaving all over the place like a drunken driver! Just to refocus, here is the O.P.:

It has been asserted that there can be no proof of God. Only Belief. I have no problem with this, because my belief is strong!

​

Some people ask which God we are talking about! They have a valid point! Others ask who?? My question is, why even bring it up if you are not familiar with God?

​

God may be an uncaused first cause and He may also be an unsupported assertion.

​

Were God to exist, He most certainly would have no need of support anyway.

​

Ringo writes:

​

Remember, the topic is "What specific evidence would people require to believe in God's existence?" It isn't about making up any lame old apologetic to excuse the status quo.

​

Fact: There are people who don't believe in God.

​

Question: What evidence would they require? What evidence might they reasonably ask for?

​

Do they need to pre-believe in order to be "deserving"?

Thanks Ringo for keeping the ship steady enough to avoid hitting any icebergs!

Which way are you currently heading on that two way road? Have you picked up any strange hitch-hikers that looked in any way angelic?

What makes you think these writings are His word? Look at the evidence and compare it to the Bible.

Source alone is not evidence. Content is. I suppose I need to read them before saying anything else....