Question:
atheists what if you're wrong and the Christians were right all along?
anonymous
2014-08-18 18:40:21 UTC
I mean like I'm not really all religious or anything like that but I'm curious to know what if you were wrong and the Christians were right? I mean think of it this way if the Christians are wrong they have nothing to lose or worry about because that just means god never existed.

But now if say the Christians are right and god and hell does exist you would be In hell therefore if you are wrong you actually do have something to lose and risk. I mean what do you think of that and doesn't it concern you that maybe you could be wrong? I'm just wondering.
45 answers:
Ithink4Myself
2014-08-18 18:57:26 UTC
"Since it is obviously inconceivable that all religions can be right, the most reasonable conclusion is that they are all wrong." - Christopher Hitchens



The way the human brain works is by trying to make sense of the environment around it. When it can't explain something, it makes something up until it can figure out what's actually going on. The bible was written in an age where people knew very little about anything, therefore this book was written to try and explain why things are the way they are in the world around us. Now that we actually understand what things actually are, and why natural events take place, books like the bible, and other superstitions are not needed any more to put our minds at ease. Therefore, the idea of God is just a coping mechanism.

__________________________________________________



The concept of “God” is an Unfalsifiable Hypothesis;



Unfalsifiability: - Confidently asserting that a theory or hypothesis is true or false even though the theory or hypothesis cannot possibly be contradicted by an observation or the outcome from any physical experiment.



Making unfalsifiable claims is a way to leave the realm of rational discourse, since unfalsifiable claims are often faith-based, and not founded on evidence and reason.



Example:

I have tiny, invisible unicorns living in my anus. Unfortunately, these cannot be detected by any kind of scientific equipment.



Explanation:

While it may actually be a fact that tiny, invisible, mythological creatures are occupying my opening at the lower end of my intestines, it is a theory that is constructed so it cannot be falsified in any way; therefore, should not be seriously considered without significant evidence.



“I mean, you could claim that anything's real if the only basis for believing in it is that nobody's proved it doesn't exist!” – J.K. Rowling



*All unfalsifiable claims are not fallacious, they are just unfalsifiable.

*Never assume you must be right simply because you can’t be proven wrong.
?
2014-08-19 00:06:31 UTC
Atheists may use more logic than the average humans but in the end they are just philosophical morons.What if you die and it turns out a God 'does' exist and you will suffer because like a child, you were not wise enough to understand?!Better safe than sorry.Some Atheists say that they don't mind if it turns out there is a God and if they end up in hell.This is again base foolishness seen normally in children and ignorant teenagers.You keep telling your kids to study so that they will get a good job or atleast be better in life,but no,the kids are happy with their present enjoyments and feel the same way as Atheists do.They say "Whatever" or "If it happens ,it happens" or more stupid things like "If it happens i'll deal with it" or "I DON"T EVEN CARE". Of course ,Christianity is not the right religion but that's a different matter.



You want proof of God?Go to the links given below.In the first link there is my answer to a previous yahoo question (see best answer).You cannot say that because there is no proof something does not exist.Suppose i went 1000 years back and told the people of the big bang.They would not believe me as at that time they did not possess the proof.I have no way of convincing them as i do not possess the technology either.So just because a person does not have proof to a claim does not make it false too.Life is about serving God and not one's own desires.
Kaylalala
2014-08-19 11:45:44 UTC
I've actually been wondering about this for a long time, myself. I'm not necessarily atheist, maybe agnostic? I'm not even sure.

But, I've had the same thoughts. Which is why I'm here in the religious part of answers. It does scare me, because like you said, if those who don't believe are wrong, they/we have a lot to lose. If those who don't believe are right, then the believers don't have anything to lose. It's terrifying, actually. I've been thinking about going to church just to learn, but the thing is, if you don't truly believe in God, then you'll be going to hell anyway. I don't think that I'll ever truly believe. The logistic part of me won't allow it.
Vincent G
2014-08-18 19:01:44 UTC
Let's suppose that there is a god, and those who do not believe in said god will end up in hell, even if they lead perfect lives, being perfectly honest and generous all along. Do you think that this would be fair?



But, you may object, it is my choice that I do not believe in a god, so that is some kind of a "sin", right?



Well, about about a newborn child who dies after one week. He never had time to believe in a god, what about him? Hell?



What about someone born, say, in South American 1000 year ago, way before christianity started exporting itself in America?



You see, with this "what if the christians are right" position, you are leaving ALL the other religions plus the atheists behind. There are so many different flavor of christianity, which is the right one? Shouldn't YOU follow ALL those religions all the time, in case that only one of them is right? And what about those little bits that contradict one another between religions, how are you going to handle that?



You see, atheism is actually not a choice. It is a conclusion. The formula goes as follows:



claims of religions + properly working brain = there cannot be a god



I cannot make myself believe in a god anymore than I can genuinely make myself believe that pigs can fly.
s k a n k h u n t 42
2014-08-18 18:47:33 UTC
What if the christians are also wrong? Why out of the 1000's of religions there are to choose from would the christians be right? Just for fun lets say they are right. That would mean they are also hell bound considering, if you take the bible at face value every single person on earth has violated "gods law".
Tone
2014-08-18 18:50:19 UTC
Then I burn in hell for all eternity. Along with the majority of people on this planet. If the christian god is real, people like Gandhi are burning in hell right now. Anyone who's only a Christian because they fear death is a coward. And a god who values servitude over all else isn't worthy of praise. Christians better hope Islam isn't the 1 true religion cause if it is they're **** out of luck.
oval
2014-08-18 18:50:34 UTC
If god sends me to hell for not believing in him, then he's a monster and is not worthy of my praise, and i would rather be in hell. He was never spoken to me, showed me any signs of his existence, or given me any evidence other than the bible, but the bible was written by man, it is not his word, but man's word. I will not become a christian because christian's lives are dominated by there beliefs, the super religious ones dont swear, drink, ect. And have no real fun. I prefer to live my life without fear of god sending me to hell because if he did exist, right before he sent me to hell i would ask him if he thought that sending me to hell was the right thing to do when i am a hard worker, a caring man, and a good person who always helps others. If he sends me to hell after that, he would be even more evil a god than the god he appears to be when hes killing peoples first born sons, telling people to stone children, flooding the earth and killing millions, and sending his son to die on the cross for no clear reason.
ANDRE L
2014-08-18 19:37:29 UTC
Christians what if you're wrong and the atheists were right all along?



Fixed it for you. To keep asking us, when your side refuses to ask the same question is pure hypocrisy. And, Superman is more likely to exist than any deity figure.



Thank you for the added evidence that religion = BAD morals.



-Since it is obviously inconceivable that all religions can be right, the most reasonable conclusion is that they are all wrong.- Christopher Hitchens
Skeptic
2014-08-18 18:52:51 UTC
The Christians can't be right. It's not possible. There are too many contradictions with their beliefs about god that it completely eliminates the possibility of them being right.



For example, omnipotence isn't possible. In order to be omnipotent, this God would have to be able to create ANYTHING, but also be able to lift ANYTHING. That means this God has the power to create something that he can't lift or he has to have the power to be able to lift it but not create it, otherwise, it's a contradiction that can't be true. If you don't like "lift" then change it to "control" or some other verb.



Then, they claim this god is a loving and a just god. Okay, would a loving or just god punish people for something they didn't do themselves? In the Bible there are examples of God hardening the hearts of people, such as pharoah. In the bible it also says that God sends delusions to disbelievers. The bible itself tells you that atheism isn't a choice, but rather a "delusion" that God gave us. Now, of course, I don't believe that, but let me tell you what I do believe regarding this. There isn't a belief or lack thereof that is a choice. We typically believe that which is logical to us, we don't control what seems logical to us. If you believe belief is a choice, then I ask you to do this test and prove it:

Believe for 24 hours that pink fluffy unicorns that dance on rainbows exist. Take a lie detector test that has one question: "did you believe for 24 hours that pink fluffy unicorns that dance on rainbows exist?". Video tape yourself taking that lie detector test and post it on here.



I'll also give you an incentive to do this if you think you are right about belief being a choice: I'll personally give you $1000 if it turns out that you truly did believe that for 24 hours. That should cover the cost of the lie detector test and more. You don't get anything if it turns out you didn't actually believe that. So, what have you got to lose? Why not take my challenge and get $1000? Or, perhaps, you really do know that belief is not a choice and won't do it? So far, no one has taken me up on this offer, which proves they also know deep down that belief, or lack thereof, is not a choice.



So, obviously it is not just or loving to punish someone for something they do not control. Even if we did choose to be atheist, how is it just or loving to expect them to believe when he provided no evidence of himself, and then punish us for ETERNITY for a belief we had only for a number of years(which is NOTHING in comparison to eternity)? The punishment does not fit the crime and is thus not just.
?
2014-08-18 18:42:35 UTC
Lie - God Loves everyone

Truth - God doesn't love everyone



The truth is, God hates both the sin and the sinner see Psalm 11:5-6 Psalm 5:5-6, he loves those who obey his commandments John 14:21



God will destroy the wicked Psalm 145:20, Psalm 94:23



Christ died for his sheep John 10:11



http://www.godhatestheworld.com/common/html/john316.html
anonymous
2014-08-18 18:44:33 UTC
I believe that if there is a God (I am agnostic) he would never send his child who he loves to hell for not believing the right thing if they lived their life being kind to others. I think if he'd send you to hell for not believing, he'd make sure there was No room for doubt. And if, like many religions express, he is so cold and cruel that he would send you to hell for that and for homosexuality and any number of things, I think Satan, who takes you as you Are, might be the better eternity.
giles
2014-08-18 21:21:32 UTC
Pascal's Wager can be applied to literally any religion and still be just as valid. What if the Christians are wrong and the Greeks were right, and Zeus sends them to Tartarus? Should we believe in Zeus just to be safe?
Dakota
2014-08-18 18:42:22 UTC
Well, there just so happens to be thousands of Gods and Christians only worship one, who has no proof of existing, and in fact there is more proof against his existence (holocaust, everyone having differing opinions on what he wants, Britain not being blow up even though they now use churches as pubs, etc.)



So, Christians don't have much more chance than me actually. I think you should be asking yourself, as well, what if you are wrong?
Why Hello?
2014-08-18 18:41:25 UTC
What if both Atheists and Christians are wrong and the Jews are right? Or Sheiks, Muslims, Buddhists, Satanists or any other of the thousands of religions?
Stitch
2014-08-18 18:59:03 UTC
Here's your question in a nutshell. It's sad when Homer Simpson can come up with a better question.
anonymous
2014-08-18 18:43:06 UTC
Well it's like asking "what if all the mother goose stories are real" to me. It's so obvious to me that the bible is just a story it's comical when people believe in it's contents.
Mark
2014-08-18 18:58:41 UTC
That it just what christians can't or won't wrap their minds around. We don't think we're wrong.
Joe
2014-08-18 18:50:02 UTC
Look up Pascal's Wager.
?
2014-08-18 18:42:38 UTC
If the Christians are right, then there is a God out there commanding people to do highly immoral things, to hate their neighbors if their neighbors are gay, to kill them, to stone adulterers; the people we look up to are the ones who slaughtered there own people. If the Christians are wrong, they only did the Inquisition for nothing.
?
2014-08-18 18:45:51 UTC
You mean that their God is an egomaniac and a raging d*** who says my way or the highway? Because that's the truth if he were real.



I think kissing that guys posterior for all eternity is its own form of torture.
Duck
2014-08-18 18:50:05 UTC
I've been away for a while, so it's nice to see Pascal's Wager restated.
anonymous
2014-08-18 18:46:59 UTC
Then ur implying that billions of other non atheists who aren't christian are wrong aswell? They feel they have nothing to lose either so your logic is moot
anonymous
2014-08-18 18:44:04 UTC
What if horses were green. It doesn't matter.



If God exists, then there would be proof.

If there is no proof, then he doesn't exist.
?
2014-08-18 18:47:33 UTC
and what if both of us were wrong and the Muslims or the Jews or Buddhists or Hindus were right? so many different religions claiming to be the only ones who are right... what if no one right and we all got it wrong?

their are so many maybes... it's pointless to even consider
Toight Toiga
2014-08-18 19:59:17 UTC
Are we really back to Pascal's Wager again? I thought gambling was a sin.
?
2014-08-18 18:41:56 UTC
The answer is that Christians are half right, half-wrong.



To become a saint, it takes 10 to 20 years of meditation with Purple-Fire of Holy Spirit.

(Violet Purple-Fire was the same energy that appeared to Moses and on Pentecost-Day)

You can use it cast out demons, to fly and teleport, to create anything out of thin-air,

develop the gift of prophecy and achieve Oneness so you can be one of the more advanced

humans. Saints don't need to eat food or grow old. They can grow younger and charge

their dna with Emerald-Fire of the Holy Spirit.



My understanding is that you need to master at least 7 different colors of the Flame, in order

to rise from the dead and become Immortal.
?
2014-08-18 18:51:16 UTC
I'm not even a little bit worried about Christianity being correct.......it's a fairy tale.....
luvwatersports
2014-08-19 10:24:52 UTC
Think of this and it should help you to figure it for yourself. What if Buddha was the way to go and all of the others were wrong. You can put any faith there, Buddhism is just one off the top of my head.
anonymous
2014-08-18 18:48:39 UTC
Even if there is a God, I doubt if they are anything like the Judea Christian incarnation. Religion is man made, not God made.
CC
2014-08-19 00:33:45 UTC
That is a scenario that is more unlikely than if atheists are right and christians are wrong.
?
2014-08-18 18:54:55 UTC
If there is a god, it won't be the god of the Bible /Koran....



Edit: At Anonymous/UFO..... I know you like that picture, you keep posting it but it's getting old so I fixed it for you.
anonymous
2014-08-24 04:32:51 UTC
Very interesting answers here
Are You Sure?
2014-08-19 00:16:51 UTC
I don't deal with "what if's", because they're meaningless.

Whet if Christians are wrong about thousands of other gods they don't worship?
?
2014-08-18 21:51:30 UTC
There is only one way to find out
Ms.Charlie
2014-08-18 21:06:48 UTC
God is the Great Computer in the Sky



That statement could help modern man comprehend the concept of God.



I am a Christian and I believe that there are many paths to the same destination. Most Christians would freak out over that statement. And that limits God.
?
2014-08-18 19:09:42 UTC
The same answer as if the Al' and Mo' people are right...



A big "meh"...



Seriously...



JUST because I don’t ‘believe in’ the imaginary Cosmic Psychopath, he would send me to hell for Billions and Billions and Billions and Billions and Billions and Billions and Billions and Billions and Billions and Billions and Billions and Billions and Billions and Billions and Billions and Billions and Billions and Billions and Billions and Billions and Billions and Billions and Billions of ad infinitum years?

You don’t think that’s just a tiny bit over the top..

Just cos my imagination isn’t up to ‘standard’ ?



*IF* there's a Heaven and or Hell what makes you think I'd want to spend an eternity with grovelling cowards too scared to live their lives to the max in case some imaginary cosmic psycho gets the shïts and sends them to hell?



The idea of spending eternity with deluded dull as dirt Christians makes me physically sick… but



**IF** there is a Heaven and Hell I'd prefer some place I could associate with everyone I've ever loved and or admired... hello mum and dad, John, George, George, Gandhi... and Nelson… ;)

~
Willbewill
2014-08-18 19:04:40 UTC
Your religion is1 religion out of hundreds....so by selecting that path I have more than a 99% chance of being wrong......in my deity selections. Also...why would a deity send souls to eternal damnation.....a true god would not need hell and would not bother with eternal punishment....common sense should tell people that.
?
2014-08-18 19:01:48 UTC
Dude, atheists don't have to worry about IF they are wrong. They already know that they are wrong and you can see that in the way they wont even accept even a tiny bit of evidence for God's existence. They believe in him but they emotionally hate God with a passion.



If you really want to see an example of this do some deep research into the shroud of turin. I mean research the peer reviewed scientific literature, then visit some atheist sites and see their arguments against the shroud and see how far apart they are from what the science and history says.



They hat the shroud because its a physical , tangible relic in which almost all the evidence points to its authenticity.



Here is a good presentation to get your started



This was given by a doctor to a group of high school seniors and it give a general idea of what Science knows so far about the shroud of turin, which is the most scientifically studied object on earth.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcKTkjWkqEU



That was a 2012 presentation.



Here is a more recent 2014 presentation given by the same doctor

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14y_VIJ2ZbM



Mark Antonacci was a happy go lucky unbeliever lawyer in Missouri who was very happy about everything in his life. Only one thing nagged him, his Christian Girlfriend and the arguments were almost always about religion. One day he had a big argument with her and he was so angry that her set out on a mission to prove to her that Christianity was a fairy tale.



Unfortunately for him his first target was the shroud of turin. What he thought would take 2 weeks to debunk ended up taking 25 years and not only wasn't he able to debunk the shroud but he himself converted to Christianity through his research on the shroud.



Once you start studying this relic you will become addicted to it.



21st century science cant replicate this image . the technology that caused this image is beyond anything we have in science today. In fact the scientists who came closest to replicating the image had to different forms of radiation to do it, but still couldn't do it completely.



Doctor August Accetta came closest but he had to ingest potentially harmfull radioactive particles into his body and pass gamma rays through it.



Accetta came close but failed in some key areas. Doctor Accetta was born a Catholic but became an agnostic in his twenties because he felt that religion was a crutch that people used to help them better deal with death, but he didn't believe it was true. After Doctor Accetta's peer reviewed research he knew that no ordinary natural event could have caused this image to appear and he converted back to his Catholic Faith.

http://www.staycatholic.com/shroud_of_turin.htm



One such researcher is Dr. August Accetta, an obstetrician-gynecologist from southern California, husband and father of three daughters and founder of the Shroud Center of Southern California (Shroudcentersocal.com). First opened in 1996, the center is dedicated to discovering the truths within the Shroud. While appreciating the importance of the work done by researchers seeking to confirm the date of the artifact — for instance, three years ago Dr. Ray Rogers showed that the 1988 Carbon-14 dating was not done on the original burial cloth, but rather on a Shroud patch that in the Middle Ages had been cleverly re-woven into the border area — Accetta focuses on uncovering the mysteries that lie within the Shroud itself.



Image of Suffering



Accetta is particularly interested in the image’s photographic aspects, including its three-dimensional qualities and its human anatomical features. He has published four peer-reviewed papers on the Shroud in the area of nuclear imaging. The doctor’s work with nuclear imaging demonstrates that in terms of the Shroud’s inverse color intensity (often described as being like a photographic negative, but actually a mere reversal of light and dark), the image encodes only about the top 1.5 inches of the face and body in three dimensions. "It’s like a relief sculpture," he said, "sort of like when Han Solo was frozen in carbon in" Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.



Of equal interest to Accetta is the X-ray-like imaging upon the Shroud; the image reveals the roots of several upper teeth, the metacarpal bones in the left wrist and the femur under the left hand. Furthermore, the image reveals bruising on the cheek just below the left eye. Bruising, according to Accetta, is completely part of the body image, not at all like the bleeding wounds that left blood residue on the surface of the Shroud.



It is a natural mistake to assume the image on the Shroud resulted from visible light emitting from the body, Accetta said. But even if light had streamed from the body’s surface any resultant image would have been as flat as a photograph, possessing no 3-D information. Instead, Accetta has shown by injecting nuclear isotopes into his own bloodstream that he can produce a similar image, complete with 3-D information, in photos taken by the gamma camera doctors use to make images of internal organs. "The amount of radiation in the skin and bones," Accetta said, "correlates to the number of pixels on the Shroud."



Nevertheless, exactly how the image was imprinted on cloth remains a mystery that, so far as anyone knows, has never been repeated. Studies by other scientists have shown that the actual image — which lies on the very surface of the linen fibers at a depth less than 100 times as thick as a human hair — is the result, not of paint or any sort of pigment, but of rapid dehydration of the natural cellulose present in the fibers accomplished without heat







Shroud investigators stress that while relics like the Shroud are not central to belief in the divinity and salvific mission of Christ, they can serve as powerful aids to developing a working faith. "It’s silly to suggest that evidence like the Shroud should play no role in under girding our faith," said Gary Habermas, chairman of the department of philosophy and theology at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., and co-author of two books on the Shroud. "Jesus himself said if people could not simply believe what he said, then ‘at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves’" (John 14:11).



As an evangelical Christian, Habermas is careful to separate his own appreciation for the Shroud — "There’s a good chance it is authentic," he says — from his worship of the living Christ. Still, for him the Shroud is nothing less than a pictorial Gospel. "It’s all there: deity, death and resurrection," he said. "The Shroud shows that he’s dead, but that there’s something happening to bring him to life." He also suggested the evidence of Jesus’ awful suffering imprinted on the Shroud should cause every Christian to re-examine his commitment to the faith. "A university student once said to me that it removes the flippant approach," he recalled. "You know how some people talk, ‘Yeah, Christ died for my sins. Hey, you wanna get a burger?’"



For his part, Accetta grew up Catholic but left the Church as an agnostic in his youth, convinced that belief in God was "pretty much just a way to deal with mortality." In spite of his skepticism, he was intrigued by a radio talk on the Shroud in 1992 by Dr. Alan Whanger, professor emeritus at Duke University and chief researcher for the Council for Study of the Shroud of Turin (duke.edu/~adw2/shroud). He met with Whanger and began to collect information, enthralled by the "clarity" of the materials available. Nevertheless, it was not the Shroud itself but his study of it that made Accetta a believer, he stressed. To know more about the Shroud, he had to study Scripture and Tradition.



To learn about the cloth’s early history, Accetta had to research the Church Fathers. "Somewhere in 1997," he said, "I realized my data had changed and that I was now a believer." But not, at that point, a convinced Catholic. That quickly changed and Accetta came back to the Church of his childhood as he read the Ante-Nicene Fathers and understood their emphasis on sacramental theology. "The Shroud became the fulcrum that turned my life in a new direction," said Accetta. "The Christian faith had been a puzzle, but as I studied the faith in order to understand the Shroud the pieces fell into place."



Copyright © 2008 Circle Media, Inc., National Catholic Register



Shafer Parker Jr. writes from Calgary, Alberta
Will
2014-08-18 18:41:53 UTC
What if both are you are wrong and satanism is right



Www.exposingchristianity.com



Www.joyofsatan.org
?
2014-08-18 18:45:32 UTC
All gods are equally likely to exist. All religions are equally likely to be correct. Thus it follows that if I should follow one, I should follow them all.
jpopelish
2014-08-18 19:14:21 UTC
Then an evil demon created the universe.

And we are all screwed.



--

Regards,



John Popelish
anonymous
2014-08-18 18:41:22 UTC
Ah, yes, the old "what if you're wrong" thing... Hope this helps:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPJQw-x-xho
sanity
2014-08-18 18:41:32 UTC
What if the Muslims are right or that the Buddhists are right or, for that matter, any other religions are right?
Sum
2014-08-18 18:43:33 UTC
Believe me............ christians were not right all along. Religion is a stupid lie - and deep down, you know it perfectly well.
anonymous
2014-08-18 18:43:56 UTC
then Atheists would take the down escalator and christians would take the up escalator


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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