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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"So you are the Christ, yes the great Jesus Christ!
''Prove to me that you're divine; change my water into wine!"''
|''[[Jesus Christ Superstar]]'', "Herod's Song"}}
[[Carl Sagan|Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence]]. Therefore, when an ordinary-looking character [[God Guise|claims to be]] [[God]], [[Satan]], [[Magicians Are Wizards|a wizard]], [[My Future Self and Me|time
Often expressed as "If you're <X>, then do <Y>!"
Note that, despite the name, the test is not limited to deities; any character claiming extraordinary abilities can be challenged with such a test.
Might overlap with [[Give Me a Sign]]. Contrast with [[Secret Test]]. Also see [[Trust Password]] and [[If You're So Evil Eat This Kitten]].
{{examples|Examples }}▼
== Comic Books ==
* During [[Peter David]]'s run on ''[[Supergirl]],'' with the "angel" version of the character, she meets a little boy who claims to be God, come to speak to her. She asks for proof, and He asks what sort of miracle would prove anything in an age of superheroes who can fly, transmute elements, etc.; so she's just going to have to take it on faith.
* During the "Heroes Return" story arc in [[Marvel Comics]], most of Marvel's heroes have had their memories of their "real" lives erased and they lived in a pocket universe for a year. They are confronted by a [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien|Celestial]] who demands that they return to a home they don't remember. If they don't, either the pocket universe will be destroyed, or the regular Earth will. [[The Mighty Thor|Thor]] objects, saying that he thinks all of them together could take her. In response, she snaps her fingers and turns Thor, a god in his own right, into a frog. He retracts his objection.
* In ''Superman: The Black Ring'', when [[Villain Protagonist]] Lex Luther demands proof from [[The Sandman| Death]] that she is, indeed, Death, she pokes the tip of his nose, causing it to turn grey and crumble into dust.
== Films -- Animated ==
* In ''[[The Road to El Dorado]]'', the Doradans challenge the explorers to a ballgame... two gods against 15 mortals.
== Films -- Live-Action ==
* In ''[[Oh, God!]]'', Jerry Landers asks the [[George Burns|old man]] claiming to be God to prove it by making it rain. On cue, it suddenly starts to rain... inside Jerry's moving car.
** Later, God proves His divinity in a courtroom by making a deck of cards appear and disappear in plain view. He concludes his visit by vanishing in full view of the audience, and there are no recordings (audio and written) left of His testimony.
* Played with in ''[[Bruce Almighty]]'', when Bruce tries to catch God ([[Morgan Freeman|the other one]]) with a [[How Many Fingers?]]
** Apparently, God also pulled the same stunt on Gandhi, who took it a lot harder than Bruce.
* [[M. Night Shyamalan]]'s ''[[The Last Airbender]]'' has one of these.
{{quote|
* In ''[[Back to The Future]] Part II'', Biff challenges his future self to prove that the Sports Almanac knows the results of every sporting event in the next 50 years.
* ''[[Bill and
{{quote|
'''Future Bill and Ted:''' "69, dudes!"
'''Bill and Ted:''' "Whoa..."
''[quadruple air guitar]'' }}
** Double subverted in the sequel; when the heroes' [[Evil Twin
* ''[[Star Trek V]]'': "What would God need...with a starship?"
* In ''[[The Man From Earth]]'', John Oldman quietly subverts his friends' attempts to prove him wrong by explaining that most of his knowledge WOULD fit in with textbooks because that's what happened. Then he {{spoiler|starts explaining that he was both a student of the Buddha and the resulting inspiration for the biblical Christ}}, to everyone's dismay, but he still cannot (or at least will not) give them true proof of his immortality. At the end, {{spoiler|he unwittingly exposes himself to be the father of his psychologist friend, (said friend looks to be twice John's age) giving the man a heart attack and proving, in the viewer's eyes, that his story was true}}.
* ''Angel-A'' eventually proves her claims to André.
* ''[[Just Like Heaven]]'' has David convincing Jack that Elizabeth's right behind him. Jack pulls a [[How Many Fingers?]] that concludes with him [[Flipping the Bird]]. And despite this, it still takes a [[Something Only They Would Say]] moment to convince him
== Literature ==
* ''[[A Connecticut Yankee in King
* In ''[[
* During [[Warhammer
* [[
** Also invoked in the New Testament letters. The Apostles instruct Christians to test any spirit claiming to be from Heaven, by verifying that the spirit in question confesses Jesus is Lord and that He came in the flesh, because demons will masquerade as angels of light to try to deceive people, but will never confess Jesus' Lordship or Incarnation before mortals, because doing so would subvert the deception.
** When Jesus is on the cross the authorities challenge him, "If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross."
** On the other hand, going even farther back, God did provide Moses with some evidence of Who sent him, starting with giving Moses temporary leprosy and turning his staff into a snake and back (with enough time for it to eat the Egyptian priests' staff-snakes), followed up by the Ten Plagues.
** Also in the Old Testament, Gideon tests God twice, both times by leaving a fleece on the floor overnight; once, having the fleece be wet with dew while the floor is dry, and once vice versa. Both are performed without objection.
** Played straight by Jesus and Thomas. When Thomas hears of the resurrection, he refuses to believe the story, thinking it incredible. It is not until Jesus shows Thomas his
** In general, the Old Testament is much more okay with God Tests than the New Testament. Old Testament God was very active, with his miracles ranging from the subtle, such as ensuring
== Live-Action TV ==
*
* ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' parodies this: When the gang land in Roman Times, Pearl claims they are gods, and Brain Guy has to use his powers to demonstrate. "Behold! From nothing I produce this... [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|spoon]]."
* Inverted in the ''[[Star Trek:
* ''[[Quantum Leap]]'': Sam has leaped into an illiterate murderer on the run who is holding a woman and her daughter hostage. He decides to drop [[The Masquerade]], telling her he's a doctor from the future in a [[Time Travel]] experiment. She doesn't believe him. Then he notices her medical textbook, and she reveals that she's in medical school. So he has her quiz him on medical stuff to prove that he's telling the truth.
** Not only that, at first she still doesn't believe him saying that he looked at the book already, so could have memorized the information. Sam quickly fires back: "When was the last time you met an illiterate speed-reader?"
* In the ''[[
** In the two-parter "Human Nature"/"The Family of Blood", Martha Jones, a medical student from the future, uses her knowledge of anatomy to prove that she's not "just" a maid, which she's currently disguised as.
* ''[[Joan of Arcadia]]'' has Joan ask the teenage boy claiming to be God to prove his divinity. He gestures behind himself to show... a tree.
{{quote|
'''God''': "Let's see ''you'' make one." }}
* ''[[
{{quote|
'''Cat''': "If you're god, turn this into a woman."
'''Lister''': "I'm serious."
'''Cat''': "So am I!" }}
* For a show that dealt with fake gods, ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' only ever used this test once, and indirectly at that. When Gerak becomes a Prior of the Ori and is asked to destroy Jaffa who refuse to believe, Teal'c asks him what makes him believe they are gods, citing various impressive miracles they could have performed.<ref>For added rhetorical punch, they're all feats that the Goa'uld regularly performed as part of ''their'' [[God Guise]]</ref>
* ''[[The Bionic Woman]]:'' Jaime Sommers has been replaced by her evil twin, and dropped into prison in her place. After escaping, and getting cornered by the cops, who have been joined by her boss, she tells him to ''whisper'' any question he wants, across a hundred yards of open field, to prove who she really is.
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
* [[
== Theater ==
* ''[[Jesus Christ Superstar]]''. Quoth Herod to Jesus, "Prove to me that you're no fool/Walk upon my swimming pool." Of course, Jesus in the Gospels also comes up against demands for miracles to prove his status, and refuses to play along with them.
== Video Games ==
* ''[[Escape
▲* ''[[Escape From Monkey Island]]'': Guybrush asks his future counterpart to guess what number he's thinking of. Since you 'remember' what future-Guybrush said to past-Guybrush, you can answer him.
* Repeatedly in ''[[Okami]]'', since faith in the gods is at a low ebb. Amaterasu sometimes displays a wicked sense of humor in answering them.
* In ''[[Dragon Age]]'', the Lyrium-addled Templar, Carroll, repeatedly refuses to believe that the protagonist is a Grey Warden;
{{quote|
'''Warden''': *''Irritated''* There ''aren't'' any Darkspawn here! }}
==
* Something of a variant in [http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1584#comic this] ''[[Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]]'' comic strip.
== Web Original ==
* In episode 55 of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!:
== Western Animation ==
* Spoofed in ''[[Beavis and Butthead]]''. The duo meet a cult leader claiming to be God, and try to do the test. The problem is that the guys asking the questions are, well, Beavis and Butt-head.
{{quote|
'''"God"''': Noah!
'''Butt-head''': Whoa!
'''Beavis''': Yeah! }}
* In ''[[God, the Devil
{{quote|
== Real Life ==
* As with many Native American peoples, the Tainos of Puerto Rico were told that the Spaniards invading their land were gods. To make sure, they caught one and tried to drown him... and succeeded. Even then they had no chance against the invaders however.
* As shown above, Carl Sagan's famous quote, "Extraordinarily claims require extraordinary evidence
* According to
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Index of Exact Trope Titles]]
[[Category:Religion Tropes]]
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[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]
[[Category:Magic and Powers]]
▲[[Category:God Test]]
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