Check out the following situations:
1. You believe in God & God exists.
2. You believe in God & God does not exists.
3. You don't believe in God & God does not exists.
4. You don't believe in God & God exists.
Of all the options above only #4 is a horrible outcome.
You do realize that by not believing in God, you are reducing your odds greatly?
2006-12-24 02:43:06 · 24 answers · asked by Tawani 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Gambling? Not really.
#4 is a potentially a really horrible outcome for you, too.
4a. You believe in God and Zeus exists.
4b. You believe in God and Allah exists.
4c. You believe in God and Woton exists.
4d. You believe in God and a god exists that prefers people who think for themselves instead of old books and fast talkers.
4e. You believe in God and Mithra exists.
and so on and so on and so on....
Your chances are not good. Any one of those other options and you might have a horrible afterlife. At least a few of those options, like 4d, give atheists a wonderful afterlife.
Looks like we're all at the same odds. The evidence favors #3, though.
2006-12-24 02:46:23 · answer #1 · answered by nondescript 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Why would #4 be a horrible outcome?
If a deity exists, would my nonbelief affect how it handles me? Maybe to some god concepts, but to others?
You don't know...
Maybe some deities favour atheists over believers, by the fact that they left no evidence of their existence and they wanted to find those who would apply logic and become Atheists?
Not to mention, that everyone would have to "take a gamble" with different gods offering the same eternal punishment.
If you're a Christian, you risk the Islamic concepts Hellfire. Vice versa for Muslims.
2006-12-24 10:50:05 · answer #2 · answered by eigelhorn 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Why would anyone want to believe in a god who will punish them if they pick wrong? To me that is so cruel, I will threaten you to believe in me. What a loving god that is. Not to mention a very violent thing to expose children to, Jesus loves you honey well as long as you do what he wants you to do and realize that you have no self worth and that you are nothing and he's every thing and you better put a lot of hope and faith in to something that there is very little to no proof of so that you do not burn in hell. And going in another direction here, if god knows everything then he would know that you were only believing in him to avoid be punished just in case he exist. So your heart isn't pure and neither are your intentions. I would rather go out with at pure heart and intentions that are true instead of a belief system as "a fall back plan" of "just in case." How flattered your so called god must be.
2006-12-24 11:35:44 · answer #3 · answered by Ollies_Mama 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
1. You believe in God & God exists - well we all know this is utterly ridiculous. This is only true to Christians, Jews, etc anyway.
2. You believe in God & God does not exists - you've wasted your entire life praying, singing, investing so much emotion only to find out it was for nothing.
3. You don't believe in God & God does not exists - Then you've enjoyed your life fully without worrying about a god to kiss ***.
4. You don't believe in God & God exists - So I take by this option I will cook in hell. Well I say if god is going to be such a small-minded jerk that won't allow me into heaven (even if I have been a good person) just because I didn't spend my life petting his ego and grovelling like a dog before him, then so be it. I mean if god is so great why would he deny a good person into heaven just because they never spent their lives grovelling for him.
Then you are being ruled by fear. So god is like a dictator then?
2006-12-24 10:53:34 · answer #4 · answered by teh @nn0y3d kItteh (^_^) 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It is also a lot to do with the affects Christianity has on modern society.
1) Poverty is ok and will always be with us.
2) Greed is ok.
3) Envy and jealousy isn't OK (so its ok to let the dispossesed starve and freeze and just label them jealous - who does that suit exactly?).
4) The consequences of a afterlife, and taking lightly all the stuff in this earth for the people who come after us and ourselves.
5) The powerful christian political lobbies and the power and affect they want to have on me through the law.
6) It encourages racism.
7)Killing is ok.(Christian religion has killed more people than anything on earth).
8) Everything bad about British and America society can be blamed on the influence of the christian religion.
9)Rudeness is OK.
10)There is no scientific or reasonable evidence of god.
If i was going to pick a religion (not that I would) it wouldn't be the christian one.
2006-12-24 10:53:01 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Your point includes an assumption. #4 only has a terrible outcome if God exists and is the spiteful being depicted in the Abrahamic texts. If God is actually loving and forgiving, there can be no terrible outcome no matter what one choses.
2006-12-24 10:58:16 · answer #6 · answered by neil s 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This very very common mindset is the worst level of spirituality. Unfortunately, it's very common. It's very sophomoric and it's all about a selfish and self-centered desire to avoid punishment and get a reward. It makes god into this mafia-boss-like deity who must be appeased and believed in in order to avoid the big punishment. It's horrible. And people who think this way will never understand what I'm saying until they've progressed spiritually to higher levels, where judgement, sin, hell, punishment, etc. are seen as silly. It's IMPOSSIBLE to understand what I'm saying until you've progressed.
2006-12-24 10:58:42 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
You too. There is exactly the same evidence for Zeus
1. You believe in Zeus & Zeus exists.
2. You believe in Zeus & Zeus does not exists.
3. You don't believe in Zeus & Zeus does not exists.
4. You don't believe in Zeus & Zeus exists.
Insert any one of the thousands of others that man has made up over the years. You are going to busy since you frighten that easy.
2006-12-24 10:48:54 · answer #8 · answered by Alex 6 · 4⤊ 0⤋
So fear is the basis of your belief system. If there were a God with the spiteful personality you attribute to the concept I would rather cease to exist upon my death than follow the tyrant.
2006-12-24 10:48:40 · answer #9 · answered by thewolfskoll 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Most Atheists believe in number 3 (as i do) so i don't see what we are reducing our odds in.
I look at religion as a lottery and i have never bought a ticket.
2006-12-24 10:49:55 · answer #10 · answered by Bladerunner (Dave) 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋