**Disclaimer: I am not writing this because I want a fight — I think it’s a valid question and as a convert to Christianity, it’s one that I should answer.**
From Jen @ BlagHag who tossed this out to her readers on what they would do if they knew/had proof that God was real.
Jen acknowledged that conceiving of a Protestant godhead would be different than a deist godhead or a Zeus-like godhead. The discussion in her comments was assuming that we were talking about the Judeo-Christian godhead. (I would personally prefer the term “Abrahamic” so as to include Islam which shares its conception of God with the Jews and Christians.) Within that framework, most of the commenters were saying that they’d rebel if it was the God of the Old Testament and going off on what a jerk this God was.
(The best comment by far was from someone who said that they “[didn’t] want to worship the god that Glenn Beck worships”. My response: “Most of us don’t worship that God. We worship the God manifested in Jesus Christ.”)
So… if I knew God was real (had proof/whatever), would I actually worship him and would my life change? Would I rebel?
I’m sure that people who might surf here from Jen’s site would expect my answer as a committed Christian to be a resounding and perky “OH YES!!! I WOULD WORSHIP HIM ALL MY DAYS AND LIVE MY LIFE ACCORDING TO HIS WILL!!!! I WOULD NEVER REBEL!!! WHY WOULD I WANT TO?!?!?!?” (BTW, anyone surfing over from BlagHag is most definitely welcome here both to read and to comment.) My answer is definitely different from that. Why? It’s because I wasn’t always Christian (or religious) and I can see both sides of that coin.
My seminary’s president, Dr. Mark Ramseth, would frequently quote Hebrews 10:31 which states that “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”. I can relate to that because I know that fear was one of the first emotions I felt when I realized that OMG God is real and OMG I am such a screw-up. When you’re confronted with a God whose standard is perfection and you seriously fall short, it’s a very fearful thing and I struggled with that for a really long time.
The thing that gets me over the terror is the fact that God created me in love and loved me enough, even in my sinful and rebellious state, that he sent His Son to die in my place and atone for all the sin and rebellion. That love is much deeper, wider, and higher than I can comprehend. That love is life/soul/heart-changing and as a result, my life changed. When you come into relationship with someone you love and who loves you, your life is going to change and your outlook on things will change.
As for worshipping God, it’s a choice. I see God’s fingerprints in everything around me from the skies to the mountains to the ocean and worship, at least for me, is praising God for the amazingness of His creation.
One repetitive thing I saw in Jen’s comments was the thought that the God of the Old Testament was a jerk. (“Jerk” is about the most polite way I can express the sentiment conveyed.) Having been through Old Testament studies at a mainline seminary with a seriously FEMINIST professor, I can honestly say that I understand where people are coming from on this. However, the God of the Old Testament (who is the same as the God of the New Testament) isn’t exactly a jerk when you consider that He created the world and called it good, created man and called him very good, and then had to deal with disobedience when Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge. The disobedience pretty much spirals from there and you see the Israelites dealing with the consequences of their bad decisions.
Oh yes… in response to any criticism about all the laws in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy: the children of Israel were the chosen people and as a result, they were called to live a life that was different from the other peoples that lived around them. Being holy is being set apart and all those laws were meant to help the people be that way. If you want to know the purpose for all of them, read the Talmud and Mishnah. You can find enough discussion on them to make your head spin.
Does all that answer the question?