As a Christian, I believe in heaven and hell and I know I will go to heaven when I die. As an Atheist, you don't believe any of that stuff and that's your God-given right (He gives us free will you know.)
My question is this - If you are right and I am wrong what have I lost by believing in God? BUT if I am right and you are wrong what have you lost by not believing?
And please don't say I've lost my whole life wasted on something fictional. I live a great life. I am very happy, I have a loving family, a great home, a great church, awesome friends. I am very happy.
As I see it - if you are right I've just lived a good life and that's it for me. But if I'm right - you have to spend eternity in hell.
YOUR THOUGHTS?
2006-10-11 16:22:04 · 27 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Just for the record...I have studied other religions and I have friends of other religions and friends who are atheists. If we pray to God and seek his answer and have FAITH which I see is a key lacking ingredient to all atheists then I know God will show me what is right and wrong. I don't believe there will be only people of one religion in heaven so that's not working on me. And by the way, my life is a lot of fun!
2006-10-11 16:34:52 · update #1
Thank you all for your time and your honest answers and your screen names. God knows who you are behind the name and I will be praying for each and every one of you to find Him. Faith is really not so scary guys. It's actually a wonderfully freeing feeling to know that you don't have to constantly go through life proving everything and what and why it is. I feel I've got the better end of the deal.
2006-10-11 16:40:47 · update #2
Pascal's wager is what you are describing. Hmm, that's an idea...Okay, I'm going to go ahead and believe in God now. If you were right, I'll see you in heaven. Gee, I wish I had thought of this one before.
Edit -- Alright, I told myself to believe, but I still don't. Now what do I do? Is there an instruction manual other than the Bible, because I've tried that one out and I still don't believe.
2006-10-11 16:23:54 · answer #1 · answered by Kathryn™ 6 · 3⤊ 2⤋
This is not an original question. This has been asked many times, and it's a restatement of Pascal's Wager. I won't list all of the criticisms, see the link below for that. But here's an important one... you say "Why not believe in God, what do you have to lose?"
Fine... to you, I say... "Why not believe in EVERY God? That way you CAN'T lose!" But what about the Gods who claim to be the ONLY God? Ah ha! Now you have to make a choice... by committing to ONE God, you're NOT believing in any other Gods, therefore, you take the same risk.
It's like Richard Dawkins said... "Everyone's an atheist to some extent... we just believe in one less God than you."
2006-10-11 23:27:30 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
i think you cant see outside your bubble... not all christians live a happy life like you do... and im not saying that christianity doesnt help out. and... if you think well... are everyone in your church as happy as you are? i believe you would agree that most probably there are a lot of miserable, poor, sick, from a broken family, has a criminal record, members in your church.
if im right then you wasted a lot of money and time on you religion. if you're right, 95% of christians will not live in heaven. well. maybe it's 99.999% of humans wont because im sure that the christian god does not exist... would be an agnostic if i say that if there is a god, he wont be christian. but i dont believe in any god for that matter so there.
2006-10-11 23:55:10 · answer #3 · answered by lnfrared Loaf 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think that some people need something to believe in. If you truly think that you are going to heaven, and then you die and nothing happens, you have wasted nothing. You say that your life is fulfilling. That is what matters. My mother is a Christian as well. She works at a Christian school, attends Bible study, and goes to Church. ALL of her friends are a result of her religion. If she did notbelieve in God, she would be very lonely.
ON THE OTHER HAND...if I am wrong and you are right....I guess I am screwed, huh? For some reason, the prospect of hell does not bother me...BUT, if you happen to be right, that's where I'll be.
2006-10-11 23:27:15 · answer #4 · answered by Stevy L 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
This is as dumb as saying that you believe the Bible to be true because the Bible says that it's true. It's circular, you can not force a belief that you do not feel in your heart, it doesn't work and only cause mental strife through out your life. It was once said be true to thine own self. You can't say that you believe in something if you really don't, it doesn't work and that would make you a hypocrite. That's not the way that I would want to lead my life, and it would not work anyway, if God is for real he would know what was in my heart, so my life would have been a waste regardless.
"What a man believes upon grossly insufficient evidence is an index into his desires -- desires of which he himself is often unconscious. If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way." -- Bertrand Russell
2006-10-11 23:26:58 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
So you've just discovered Pascall's Wager, and you're feeling pretty cocky. If your faith works for you, fine. Super. But I doubt your God would look to highly on Mr. Tricky Dick Won't Lose Nuthin' By Believin'
Besides, if you are right, your God's gone really far out of his way to make sure that there's no evidence of his existence outside of his followers' assertions, and even further to build a universe that contradicts many of them, and if He's all He's cracked up to be, He should know I'm not going to be convinced by some colorful poetry in books written centuries ago by He only knows how many anonymous authors, across however many countries, languages and groups. So, probably your God doesn't want me hanging around regardless of whatever I claim to believe.
Really, all I'd lose by believing would be whatever shred of intellectual honesty I'd like to think I have.
2006-10-11 23:35:53 · answer #6 · answered by answersBeta2.1 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
How can you believe in a God that is supposedly loving and compassionate and just, and yet believe that same God will condemn me to hell for eternity just because I think your God sounds more like a myth than a real God?
You see, I am willing to accept a small possiblity that there is a God, and that there is an afterlife. But I am not willing to accept the whole schizoid package that you Christians have bought into. If there is a god, then I expect her to be truly loving and compassionate and just, and if she judges me she will judge me on how I lived my life, and how I tried to use every bit of reason and knowledge and wisdom I could muster to understand myself and the universe I am in. I think she will agree with me that the Bible is more myth than reality, and forgive me for not believing in the sadistic God of Abraham.
Your happy delusion is fine with me, if you keep it to yourself, your home, and your church. But Christians do not seem to be content with that. I do not want my freedoms trampled to support your delusions.
2006-10-11 23:41:17 · answer #7 · answered by Jim L 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Ok, well say you are right about an after life...but say you are wrong about a deity or who gets to this after life? Christianity seems to have such strict guidelines of who gets "in," to the point that a life actually lived as a good person, who contributes to our would, and everything does not qualify. That only if you BELIEVE in the deity will you get in. Which is a totally ridiculous notion full of only human ego.
So maybe we're wrong about a continued existence...but maybe you are wrong about the deity/hell part of it! It isn't necessarily all you are right or we're all right, ya know!
And btw, thanks for level 2, at least something came out of this.
2006-10-11 23:35:27 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Pascal's Wager. Pitiful grasp at the straws. Tell me, if another religion is right and your are wrong, what have you lost? Anybody from any other religion is just as sure as you that they are correct. By what basis? The exact same thing as you: faith. There is absolutely nothing that makes your belief more conceivable than that of the Atheist, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, Taoist, Hindu, or anybody else. You, nor does anybody else, do not really KNOW. All we can do is THINK we know.
2006-10-11 23:26:45 · answer #9 · answered by whosyodaddy3030 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
so your playing the i know something for sure without any real proof, but i might be a wee bit off card....sounds like you have no real beliefs at all...your just scared silly to think for yourself...if a person is unsure about the existence of a god does that make them worse than you, who believes in a christian god but only sorta...sounds like you have a bigger problem on your hands than that person does...obviously you are taking the easy road with all this im saved any which way stuff...but doesnt it make sense that worshipping a false god will not get you the wrath of the real one (if there is one...probably not but itd be nice)
2006-10-11 23:42:06 · answer #10 · answered by jimmy V 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Well following your logic, you ought to pick the religion with the worst possible hell and follow that one even if it is the followers of Mr. Potato Head. Because we could both be wrong and now you are going someplace even worse that your hell.
I mean you are currently betting that Islam isn't correct, because you could be condemed that way. It must really make you head spin trying to figure out what has the best odds. What do you base it on?
2006-10-11 23:32:01 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋