How do we know if there really is a God, and if there is how do we know if he is good or bad?
408682
Second question: Just reading Genesis and Exodus (for starters) should send you running for the exit -- the judeo-christian god would appear to be a sadistic psychopath.\n\nFirst question: We know there's no evidence for the existence of a god or gods.  We know there are mountains of evidence -- actually, a cosmos-full of it -- about how the cosmos came into being and how it works; and none of that evidence indicates the existence of a creator or prime mover.\n\nTherefore, those who assert that yes there is a god, are proceeding not from knowledge, but from belief.\n\nSo if you want to KNOW the truth about god's existence and his/her/its nature, the answer is, you can't. But if you wish or choose to BELIEVE in god's existence, why then you can have any god(s) you care to dream up.  \n\nWhich, come to think of it, is exactly what people have done down through the ages.  But such creations have an expiry date; after all, nobody attends the Church of Odin these days.
578798
I don't think anyone has really answered this question.  I found out that everything I was being taught about God were lies or mistruths and was very upset.  I have since set out on my own spiritual quest and have a much better understanding of our creator.  Don't believe everything anybody tells you (even the authors of the bible).  Seek and ye shall find.  God is within.
723867
If we could be good on our own power, we would be God.\n\nGod didn't make us just so that we would be weak. That is, this was not his aim. But what he created was people, not God. Why didn't he create God? Because there is only one God who exists outside of space and time--who always was, is, and will be--who IS, not who was created. Therefore, God cannot create God. What he made was a creature in his image, but who could not be him.\n\nGod takes no pleasure in our weakness. He has compassion for us because we are weak. This is why he sent our Son--that through Him, we might become perfect, not on our own power, but by the power of God.\n\nIn addition, God created within us the need for Himself. So that upon our constant failures, we would begin searching for the One who never fails.
1092979
If all things are from God, than what evil is there aside from what the human mind perceives. \n\nGood and Bad, are like positive and negative energy. In harmony and in balance, these entities are useful forces. When they become out of balance and one over shadows the other, we sometimes fail to understand and our perception becomes distorted and refer to it as, evil.
938897
God is a firm connection between all of us.  We all have many things in common which connect us to each other.  What one of us will do has an impact on each other so we need to be thoughtful about how we live.  I think even if we don't see someone what we do can have a profound outcome either good or bad.
101838
God ... AND ... there are several references.  Here's a link to check out:  http://www.allaboutgod.com/names-of-god.htm
22100
I know there is a God. I didn't arrive at this conclusion by my intellect, for human intelligence is limited. Give up on trying to figure everything out, for common sense itself should tell you that you can't know or understand everything. This is not a matter of the head, but of the heart. Ask yourself this: "If God is the truth, do I really want to know the truth?" Our sinfulness makes us afraid of a holy and righteous God who we feel must demand an accounting of us His creatures. Atheists say they don't believe in God, but I don't believe in atheists. If they don't believe in God, then who are they so mad at? They claim wisdom and knowledge and call believers simple, but I see atheists as being extremely smallminded and limited. Did atoms and microbes not exist until some human came along who was smart enough to detect them? How small these people's reality must be! How futile and pointless their existence! I commend you for at least being openminded enough to ask? How foolish it is to think that one's ignorance is evidence! Thanks for not being that way, wisdom is not beyond the grasp of one such as yourself. There is a God; He is beyond human comprehension; He is absolutely holy, righteous, and frightfuly just. His awesome majesty and power is terrifying and he is completely unapproachable by vile, prideful humans. Remember I said that it is our innate sense of this reality that drives some to deny His existense out of fear of the truth. They can't face themselves and their guilt, and they can't face a righteously angry, holy, and just God whom they rightly think will demand retribution of them. What they don't understand is that this same God is also infinitely loving, kind, gracious and merciful, and that He paid the penalty for their sins and removed their guilt which was keeping them from Him. How? He gave us His only begotten Son Jesus Christ who took our sins and guilt upon his holy and innocent self and was put to death so that we may go free. Believe this, make claim to it as a FREE GIFT from God, confess it to Him and to others, then walk in peace from now on with Him, always trusting Jesus' sacrifice as your justification in God's eyes, not your own merit. Then keep on learning more of Him and growing spiritually.><>Sir Brian
680038
This is a very good question.  People that deny it are narrow minded and need to look at it for what it really is, truth.  It has to be either one or the other, for if there really is a god, then why were we created other then the reason that he needed something.  If god does not exist then it was man that came up with him, kind of like an imaginary friend, to comfort him and give him the answers to life after death.  Personally, I believe that if god cannot be needful, then man had either to had a part in making him seem so perfect, or man made him up.  That is my logic, there's not much to it, sorry for that...
310896
1. If God exists, then God is omnipotent, omniscient, and morally perfect.\n   2. If God is omnipotent, then God has the power to eliminate all evil.\n   3. If God is omniscient, then God knows when evil exists.\n   4. If God is morally perfect, then God has the desire to eliminate all evil.\n   5. Evil exists.\n   6. If evil exists and God exists, then either God doesn't have the power to eliminate all evil, or doesn't know when evil exists, or doesn't have the desire to eliminate all evil.\n   7. Therefore, God doesn't exist.\n   8. If God doesn't exist, hell can't exist either.
102517
Whether or not there is a God I can't believe He spends all\nHis time basking in the worship of His followers,punishing\nthe sinful,and dreaming up natural disasters to test or\npunish Humanity. A Creator of the Universe might not even\nbe aware of our existence. If He was,we could seem like nothing more than microscopic beings,of no real interest.
366437
He does exist!  There's no other explanation that doesn't contradict it's self.  I'm a believer in Christ, but a lot of people are skeptic.  If you do your research, you'll find outstanding proof that God exists!
490697
Wow, good question!\n\nFirstly, your question is concerned with the idea that God believes in Himself. If He believes in Himself then He still has one believer. But then anyone of us could believe that we are God, which is why I would prefer to use the definition of God as our creator.\n\nSince you are asking 'can there be a God if...' can we first start with the assumption that there is a God, and he does have believers? If you can accept this idea, then it should be quite easy to accept that He doesn't just cease when people stop believing. He still created us, even if the creations reject him.\n\nOf course it depends what you mean by 'be'! If we don't talk about, or know about, God, then what would be the point in there 'being' a God. If he has no point, then is his existance still relevant?\n\nI've asked more questions than I have answered, but I hope this gives you something to chew on!
517060
do GOOD - God laughs\ndo BAD or hurt someone - God doesnt laugh
922213
i know that there is only one God because i have seen Him work in my life in ways that no one or nothing else could possibly do. God is amazing and you just have faith that he is real, he can change your life. do you believe in creation? if so then you must realize how amazing God really is to create such a complex world! He can do anything! i know that God is real because i see it when i look around me.
955097
When someone called him "Good", Jesus said that the only person who is "Good" is his Father, even though he himself was/is perfect in all ways! (Mark 10:18) So, if he isn't "Good", then certainly none of us could be!  This is quite a controversial subject.  So, instead of my telling my views, I'd like to share an article that elaborates on God's view of the subject ...\n\nThe Hereafter---Where Will It Be?\n - Is Earth Just A Testing Ground?\n - Eternal Happiness--In Heaven or on Earth?\nhttp://www.watchtower.org/e/20001001/article_01.htm\n\nI encourage you to check the Scriptures in your own copy of the Bible.\n\n"Make sure of all things; hold fast to what is fine!" \n1 Th 5:21
760039
It could be, it could not be. Its one of those things you have to experience and study yourself, and come to your own conclusions. One could ask "Is God for real"? And in reality, nobody has 100% solid proof that God is "for real". You just have to believe in it yourself regardless of what other people think.
1166862
The problem is, you are assuming in your "if there is a God" case that you know what to do to "serve" Him.  But you don't have any basis to know that.  If you are talking about some generic God, there are infinitely many possibilities for how to "serve" Him (assuming He even needs serving).  On the other hand, if you are postulating a very specific God that you have heard about from other people or a book, then you have created a false dichotomy; there aren't just two possibilities (no God versus the God of the Bible), but rather infinitely many (God of the Bible, God of the Koran, God of a book that no one wrote yet, etc.).  So if you "serve" one of them (whatever that means), you are neglecting to serve others.\n\nSo we are back to figuring out what you believe, and going with that.  I guess if you believe in no God, you could still pick one of the infinitely many possibilities of God to "serve," but that seems awfully arbitrary, and your odds of guessing right seem so infinitesimally small that it seems hardly worth the random guess.