When you buy a ticket for a lottery you are 100% certain the ticket and the lottery are both valid. Your only uncertainty is that you have only a tinny tiny percentage of winning the jackpot.
With religion, you are not even certain that the ticket (the religious book & the lottery company (god) are valid, and you are not even certain if there is a jackpot.
2006-09-12 06:04:02 · 17 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Your comparison of God to a lottery ticket is deeply insulting.
What I don't understand - and I've seen posts like yours time and time again on this site - is why can't you just have respect for the beliefs of others whose viewpoints differ from your own?
Your post makes it crystal clear you don't believe in God, nor in Heaven. Why can't you just leave it at that? It's like you're saying "...well, I don't believe it - and I want others not to believe it too."
Is it that difficult to just believe what you believe, yet still have respect for the beliefs of others?
2006-09-12 06:20:22 · answer #1 · answered by loveblue 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
First of all, with the lottery you have a large certainty, not an uncertainty, that your chances of winning are small.
Secondly, Heaven represents a much, much larger prize than any lottery I'm aware of.
Third, the lottery is a matter of luck. You have no control over whether you win or not. Even if you buy more tickets, within the practical limits most of us have you do not significantly increase your odds of winning.
Heaven, on the other hand, would seem to have some practical entrance requirements -- depending on your religion, of course -- that are not hard to ferret out even if the fine print is pretty blurred. Everyone can "win" by following those entrance rules, and while they're not easy they're not that hard, either.
Fourth, Heaven is basically the reward for doing something else. In the lottery, buying the ticket and winning the prize are all part of the same thing; the only real reason to buy the lottery ticket is to win the prize, it serves no other purpose. To the believer, however, you follow the Heaven entrance requirements to (a) honor God and (b) obey His commandmants and His desire that you treat your fellow man in a proper way. Even without the reward both of these would be sufficient reasons to follow the "entrance requirements." Heaven, then, is gravy for doing something else.
Finally, as for the certainty of the lottery verses the uncertainty of Heaven, well, the lottery is a business and like all businesses it only succeeds if you believe it will. Religion is also based on trust, which is usually referred to as faith. The lottery, of course, gains the trust of its participants because man can create all kinds of laws -- most of which man can also break -- that attempt to ensure its security. In other words, the lottery ticket buy puts his or her faith in the government to do the right thing and not only make laws but uphold them.
The religionist puts his faith that there is a God and that He will do the right thing, make laws that He finds pleasing for His own reasons and uphold those laws. Between faith in the government and faith in God, which would you rather have?
2006-09-12 06:27:34 · answer #2 · answered by DR 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
With the lottery you are taking a chance, you are going to win or lose.Its a gamble. With going to heaven I know that I am not taking a chance. I have received the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal savior and I read his word and obey his will.Heaven is not a lottery you don't have to buy a ticket to win.
2006-09-12 06:12:31 · answer #3 · answered by nanaofthree 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Since those going to heaven already know their destiny, to work with Jesus, I'd say your lottery has the better chance.
Heaven bound people are picked by God, and they know that during their lifetime because the Holy spirit communicates certain facts to them. They don't try to be good people, it radiates from them all their lives and those around them know it.
They live their whole life for God, doing his work, and nothing else matters to them. I have been with some who are what we call, the anointed. They are different.
2006-09-12 06:14:22 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Faith gives me all the certainty I need. My chances of going to heaven if I continue to keep God foremost in my heart are 100%, where as, my chances of winning the lottery are still around a million to one.
2006-09-12 06:07:40 · answer #5 · answered by Robert L 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
!00%. dirt nap baby, i'll take the goods up front any day than whats behind curtain #3. Only politicians and guys who wear dresses and constantly tell you you are going to hell will steal your money and pat you on the head and say what a swell boy you are, and maybe if you are good still you might get in god's good graces you iiiiiiiiiiidiot
2006-09-12 06:15:27 · answer #6 · answered by Patrick Bateman 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not sure about the odds of winning, but the game is played the same way; in both cases, you give your money to an institution that hedges its promises as to whether or not you will get anything in return.
2006-09-12 06:09:14 · answer #7 · answered by backinbowl 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Thats deep for a lottery question,
But i think you will find reward in any religion as long as it suits your needs , if it dont divorce it and find one that does.
2006-09-12 06:08:35 · answer #8 · answered by pete 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That's because you have more confidence in man's invention of the lottery, than you do of God's promises.
2006-09-12 06:09:40 · answer #9 · answered by MK6 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
As a Christian, I'm guaranteed salvation and heaven. I like those odds, I don't play the lottery.
2006-09-12 06:07:19 · answer #10 · answered by ? 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋