Why do christians use Pascal's Wager?
Pascal's Wager is;
Suppose you are right. Suppose there is no God. Then when I die as a believer, I have lost nothing. I just die, as a man that devoted his life to love and morals. But if you, as a non-believer, are wrong and I am right, you have to spend an eternity in hell. See, I have nothing to lose, but you have everything to lose.
The problem with this line of reasoning is that there are thousands of gods that humans have imagined. A person who believes in Allah can make this statement, and so can a person who believes in God, and so can a person who believes in Vishnu. This multitude of fictional beings shows the silliness of the argument. There is no way to know which god to choose, because there is no evidence whatsoever indicating that any of them exist.
2006-10-13 13:35:22 · 14 answers · asked by Spookshow Baby 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Spooky you are absolutely right. It is a form of emotional blackmail. The existence of God cannot be proved so a fatuous argument is devised to create a bind from which there is no escape. What is true, however, is that many Atheists live lives which are far more 'holy' that the religious and to posit the proposition that eternal bliss awaits the evil believer but is denied the saintly unbeliever merely emphasizes how ridiculous religious dogma really is.
2006-10-13 13:57:03 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 2⤋
Pascal's Wager only works if you assume Christianity is true. Otherwise, there is no God figure to wager against. From a nontheistic standpoint, it is too vague a reasoning to consider. Alright, I contend that it would be better to believe in God than not to, but which God do I choose? Again, Pascal's wager assumes the Christian God is real. Faith is a necessary condition for these arguments to work; arguments that attempt to prove God's existance or necessity in the first place! Behold, the atheist's counter-wager: Live your life well, and do all you can to help mankind. If God does not exist, at least you used your one life well. If God does exist, he will reward your love and kindness. If God does not reward you simply because you did not believe in him, that's not the kind of God you'd like to spend eternity with anyways.
2016-05-22 00:01:30 · answer #2 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't recall making any wager's lately.
Quite a few of you seem have a problem with God.
Please don't confuse the worship of God with religion.
I can't prove to you that I exist, I can't prove to you that the sun will shine tomorrow.
But, I can live like I exist and that I will be standing in the light come morning.
I can look at creation and marvel at its design and complexity.
For anyone to say all this 'just happened' beggars the imagination.
Put a bunch of cogs, gears, springs and stuff in a box, shake it up and see how many pocket watches, wall clocks, and timers you get. My guess would be none.
Design and order mandate a designer with a purpose.
I don't know about Pascal's Wager, but even as a Christian, if I am wrong, I will have led what I consider to be a good and honorable life. That would be enough.
2006-10-13 14:15:19 · answer #3 · answered by deepndswamps 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. ..Actually there is and we love our sin more than we love God and have turned our back on the truth...try to remember when you were a child..notice how all little children will make a statement like " when I die I want to come back as " and usually followed by a tree or some kind of animal..it is because that God has put in mans heart the knowledge of eternity as well. Ecclesiastes 3:11 "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end." you see as little children we had a faith and we knew of God but we allowed all of these questions to pollute our thinking and drive the notion of God out of our lives. As it is written Isaiah 53:6
"We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
2006-10-13 15:09:14 · answer #4 · answered by candi_k7 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
If you're pulled over for doing 55 in a 35, and you tell the officer that you didn't know what the speed limit sign said, do you think he'll let you off? So why cop (no pun intended) out by not knowing which God to pick?
What religion, in particular, what faith claims to be the one true one? If you get to "choose" you're God in Pascal's wager, why not choose the one that is not only God, but a God that calls you to bring you into himself as part of his body and family and thereby one of the highest creatures of creation (the clue is, there is only one)?
The secret to questioning faith, is doing so with faith in hand first. If you've questioned faith, without faith, and have gotten no where, trying having faith first and then questioning it (the results are vastly different). The first step in obtaining faith then, is to ask Him for His help in having faith.
Good luck.
God Bless,
MoP
2006-10-13 13:52:46 · answer #5 · answered by ManOfPhysics 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Again, it all comes down to being a big fat clusterfuck of disorganized/organized religion leeches, all seeing who can jump the highest while they are busy bashing each others brains in.
A bunch of sniveling whinyass dikheads who ought to find enough contentment in going about their own persuasions...but no. Too many have to play by the rules of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
Jeez.
2006-10-13 13:36:59 · answer #6 · answered by ? 5 · 4⤊ 1⤋
It's an easy argument to come up with. Lots of people are capable of coming up with it on their own, maybe not as eloquently but effectively enough. There are plenty of flaws in it, but these aren't necessarily visible right away.
2006-10-13 13:49:00 · answer #7 · answered by Phil 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Don't forget what you loose when you accept the mental illness known as religion.
Also, if god only wants us to obey him out of fear (the singular argument presented in pascal's wager), then he is not a god worth wroshipping.
2006-10-13 13:38:48 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 2⤋
Why do you think it is a problem trying to manipulate other people?
Christians, Jews, Muslims, Wiccans, etc. try to manipulate me every day with b.s.
Why ask why?
Why do you save 10% by staying home on Sundays?
http://www.losingmyreligion.com/
2006-10-13 13:44:57 · answer #9 · answered by shlomogon 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Because it's the last card in the deck just before they throw a hissy fit and start calling you a **** tard or douchebag.
2006-10-13 13:44:15 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋