Convincing Evidence

If God Shows Up, What Would Persuade a Skeptic?

Photo by Elena Koycheva on Unsplash

This article is one of a series of articles introduced by Flawed Reasons to Believe in God. If you’re new to the series, you should read the Introduction before (or after) reading the material below.

What if a super-powerful being suddenly showed up claiming to be God? I’m a secular skeptic who’s not persuaded that any gods exist. But in my mind, a seemingly godlike being showing up and claiming to be the creator of the Universe would move the god probability bar a major notch upward toward belief in His existence. But it would take more than a claim to tip the scales for a skeptic. The claimant might be from an alien race millions of years more technologically advanced than humans. As Arthur C. Clarke’s third law states, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” We might be living in a simulation, and our programmer decided to step inside the mock-up and have some fun at his sim's expense. If a god ever created a powerful evil adversary such as Satan, it might be the Devil or one of his demons playing with my head. It could also be a god who’s part of a pantheon of deities, but who is not the creator. I might be hallucinating.

I do not know how to distinguish between a convincing impostor and the God of this Universe. But any all-knowing…