It makes no sense to be an atheist if you think about it.
If you're right and you die, nothing happens.
If you're a Christian, and you're wrong, and you die, then nothing happens.
However, if you're an atheist and you're wrong, you burn in Hell forever.
Believing in God is the only option that makes any sense.
2007-01-21 05:55:55 · 23 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Which God? And which cult should I follow? Muslims, for example, believe in the same God you do. But they also believe you're going to burn in hell because, like your Jesus character, they believe the only way to heaven is through Muhammed somehow. So which cult would you personally recommend?
2007-01-21 06:00:40 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
Pascal's wager:
"If god exists, it's infinitely better to believe, since you get heaven instead of hell for eternity. If he doesn't, it doesn't matter since you're dead anyway. So overall it's better to believe"
This is, of course, false.
Some of the problems with the argument:
* The implied assumption that god may exist (with a 50% probability, no less!)
* The assumption that there is an afterlife with a heaven and hell
* The assumption that the god cares about belief in him/her above all else
* The assumption that if you believe in a god, it will definitely be the same god that actually exists.
* The assumption that you lose nothing if it's false. You have lost a great deal, from time praying to a nonexistent entity (somebody mentioned just today praying several hours a day!!!) to morality (your god may ask you to hurt other people) and much more besides.
* The assumption that people can believe in something simply because it benefits them. Would you believe goblins exist for twenty bucks? Why not?
* The assumption that any god won't see through the "believing just to get into heaven" ploy.
For more:
http://www.abarnett.demon.co.uk/atheism/wager.html
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pascal-wager/
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/theism/wager.html
2007-01-21 14:06:07 · answer #2 · answered by eldad9 6 · 4⤊ 0⤋
It makes no sense not to believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster if you think about it.
If you're right and you die, nothing happens.
If you're a Pastafarian, and you're wrong, and you die, then nothing happens.
However, if you don't believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster and you're wrong, you don't get to hang out at the beer volcano.
Believing in the Flying Spaghetti Monster is the only option that makes any sense.
2007-01-21 14:04:41 · answer #3 · answered by marbledog 6 · 4⤊ 0⤋
There are numerous errors with Pascal's Wager.
I posit the existence of Ombababoa. This god hates Christians. Christians burn in hell, all others go to heaven.
If I'm right and you're a Christian, you go to hell forever.
If I'm wrong ... maybe another god is right... who knows?
If I'm right and you're not a Christian, you go to heaven forever.
If I'm wrong and you'rea Christian, who knows?
It makes no sense to be a Christian.
Pascal's Wager is so flawed that even Pascal admitted it had no valid theological usefulness.
2007-01-21 14:02:05 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 6⤊ 0⤋
Okay.
1) Which God? Yahweh? Allah? Zeus? Mithras? The FSM?
2) Which religion? Christianity? Judaism? Islam? Hinduism? Sikhism? Baha'i Faith?
3) This is based on the unprovable assumption that only one god exists.
4) Say God does exist. I spend my entire life believing in him, and attributing the universe to him. However, when I die, I find out Allah, not God, created the universe. Allah is going to be quite upset with me.
"If you're a Christian, and you're wrong, and you die, then nothing happens." - True, but you've probably wasted a lifetime paying lip service to a deity which never existed.
2007-01-21 14:02:23 · answer #5 · answered by Nowhere Man 6 · 6⤊ 0⤋
I'll take that bet. What you don't understand is that I don't care about "Hell". If I'm wrong, and I burn, that would be a price I pay for being wrong, and I accepted that when I became an atheist. In other words, I'd rather burn in Hell (doubtful) than believe in your God.
2007-01-21 14:03:54 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
I think the same argument could be made for the belief in any God, not necessarily the God of Christianity.
Pascal's wager is not a logical proposition that leads ineluctablly to belief. It's pretty much a bit of sophistry.
2007-01-21 14:02:28 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Actually, there are numerous disproofs:
If your religious and killed for it, and there is no afterlife, you lose.
If you "believe" because of the wager, and it turns out that sincerity counts (which should have a lot of Christians thinking), you burn in Hell anyway.
There are four combinations to belief/nonbelief and afterlife/oblivion. You can put any numbers in the squares, but there are reasonable numbers that shift the balance in favor on nonbelief.
2007-01-21 14:06:27 · answer #8 · answered by novangelis 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
"If you're a Christian, and you're wrong, and you die, then nothing happens."
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO Hindus Pagans and Buddhists also believe in hell, if youre wrong you do time, dont think because youre christian you get out of this argument so easily, BTW im Buddhist/Taoist and I know they both believe in hell, well one sect of Buddhism does.
2007-01-21 14:03:21 · answer #9 · answered by kyubikitsune888 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Which God should one believe in? Yours? Isin't God smart enough (or omniscent) such that they would know the difference between someone who was hedging and some one who was a true believer. Can you force yourself to believe in something which you just find totally unconvincing? I don't believe in Hell so it is no threat to me and thus not a convincing argument to follow a particular religion.
Pascal's wager refuted link below.
2007-01-21 14:01:07 · answer #10 · answered by Zen Pirate 6 · 5⤊ 0⤋