If there is no God as an atheist would say...?

Question

then in the end I lose nothing. But if there is a God like I say, in the end an atheist would lose everything, right? So why even risk it? As if believing in God is a horrible thing to do?

Eternity is a long time to be wrong. Why would you want to gamble with something as important as your eternal destiny? It takes only a moment to trust Christ for your salvation. There will be an eternity of pain and regret if you don't.

You don't take chances with guns do you? You don't take chances and run red lights do you? Why would you take a chance on something that is far more important than these? Don't take a chance on something eternal. It isn't worth it.

I dont care what wager its called...if you are wrong then its curtains.

Answer 1

This is called Pascal's wager and is probably the most piss-poor excuse to follow a religion.

Answer 2

Narrow is the gate and few are they that enter their. Most people rely on human reason and logic. We are not perfect and therefore they make bad choices.
There are many evidences of God. As the bible says "All creation glorifies God and none shall be held unaccountable." Many Scientist know within the core of every piece of DNA are indications that their is evidence of intelligent life that created it (God) yet they use their own human reason and thinking and logic
to come up with a reason why so they don't have to accept the true reason. They will be without excuse.

Answer 3

Any "God" that would punish me for eternity for me not believing in him after he left no evidence of his existence is not worthy of my worship.

What you've just done is restate a classic argument known as "pascal's wager" in philosophical circles. I reject it on the grounds that it attempts to appeal to a sense of fear and does not address the truthfulness of verifibility of the issue...

If I did bow down to this argument, I would not be worshiping because I believe, but because I was afraid of the consequences if I didn't. If I am going to worship, it's going to be because

1) I believe that there is a God that is responsible for my existence

2) This God is worthy of my worship

3) That it is possible for me to know what behavior would please this God.

So far, all I have seen or heard are the words of other men... No offense, but I don't have faith in other men... especially what they tell me about God.

Answer 4

It is not important to me. Eternity is a long time, and I would be bored in a short time, wanting out. No one said believing in a god is a horrible thing to do. You can and that is fine. I do not, and that should be fine with you. It is worth it to me.

Answer 5

you say in the end you lose nothing. i beg to differ. you may not lose anything "in the end", when you die, but your life is a spring of wasted potential. if you are a christian who actually lives by the bible, think about it...
example - i grew up in a rather weird extended family (about 95% black sheep). to give you a clue, the more white"ish" of my uncles thought it would be cute to drown his brother's kittens (when he was almost 60). however, as in any family of roman catholics, i was supposed not only to respect every member of my family older than i was, but do as they told me without questions, and generally believe that every word out of their mouths was a gold nugget.

fortunately for me, i had a mind of my own and i used it. i respected those who deserved respect and was quick to make it clear to those that didn't that i was not their puppet. i got in no end of trouble growing up because of this. but you know what? had i been a good catholic, lived by the bible, i would have suffered humiliation daily, and have grown up with no self-respect.

when you allow some book to do your thinking for you, you lose a lot of things. self-respect is only one of the possibilities. you lose the respect of a lot of people who matter, miss out on a lot of harmless fun. whether you know it or not, you lived a life of self denial for the sake of some future reward, and then you are faced with the fact that there is no reward, no one was watching, there isn't even a "good job" waiting for you on the other side. you should have had your fun when you had the chance...

Answer 6

what is this eternity everyones talking about?if its real why don't we know more about it?when you die,whatever your religion is ,that's how you are mourned,either six feet under or burnt to ashes,taking a chance on something not proven?running red lights is proven to cause wrecks,everyone with common sense knows chances with guns are stupid,but an imaginary place called eternity,is ridiculous.

Answer 7

I feel that people that force their religion upon others are pathetic. It should be ones choice to believe in whatever they want to and I think it makes them all the more stronger if they can follow a path in their own beliefs. I myself am openly agnostic and yet I do not force it upon people. I don't judge anyone and I do not dislike those who don't follow in the same beliefs as I have. It is just pathetic.

Answer 8

When will Christians give up on Pascal's Wager?

What if you die and find out Islam was true? Or buddhism? Or that God was testing you too see if you'd actually believe all that nonsense and then send you to hell for your gullibility?

Answer 9

Why should I live my life, to believe a lie? Why should I pollute my thinking and opinions based on some fictional book written thousands of years ago? I think for myself, I live in reality, and it's very nice.

Answer 10

I have a hard time believing any sentient being capable of creating natural law would really care if you correctly anticipated their existence or not.