There is a theory known as Pacel's theory or something like that ( not sure on spelling), but it states that if there is a God and you belive in him there are no bad consequences, if there is and you don't belive in him there ARE bad consequences, if there is not a God and you belive in one there are still no bad consequences. Logically he reasoned that it is better to belive in god than not because beliving in God brings no bad consequences.
2007-01-23 07:02:49 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Pascal's Wager is spiritually bankrupt.
2007-01-23 07:06:35 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
This makes sense and it is an argument put forth quite often by religious people. However, when I was younger and I went to church I was taught that God does not like lukewarm people. He prefers that you either believe or don't believe, and do one or the other for the right reasons. In essence, I learned that believing in God just because you don't want to go to hell, or rather practicing religion for this reason is not sufficient to get into Heaven. So if you believe just because it's the only option with no consequences, then you can't truly believe and thus you will find no salvation, right? I'm agnostic and I can't be absolutely sure whether what I was taught was due to the church I attended, or if it is truth. This is just my take and it was an interesting question
2007-01-23 07:10:58 · answer #2 · answered by eastchic2001 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Pascal's wager is a load of bs.
First off any god that would not recognize and judge a person by thier deeds rather or not whether they were worshipping god is not good and evil (sound like you catholics, read on).
Most religions have a "good man" exception meaning that if you are a good person in life, it doesn't matter if you are religious or not.
Thus pacal's wager fails miserably.
It also fails because of the notion that a god who actually cared if you worshipped over bieng a good person, would also care if you really meant it.
2007-01-23 07:16:19 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
It's Pascal's Wager. And it's long refuted. It can only work if The All-Powerful God does not recognize false belief. How logical is it now that you know that?
2007-01-23 07:09:59 · answer #4 · answered by Dawn G 6 · 4⤊ 0⤋
It's called Pascals Wager, or Pascal's Gambit.
It was refuted 150 years ago and is now considered a logical fallacy.
2007-01-23 07:09:07 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 6⤊ 0⤋
Well, that theory is not true, because even Satan believes that God exists, and there are certainly bad consequences awaiting him.
Revelation 20: 1-3: "And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven with the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he seized the dragon, the original serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 And he hurled him into the abyss and shut [it] and sealed [it] over him, that he might not mislead the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After these things he must be let loose for a little while."
Revelation 20: 7-
1 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven with the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he seized the dragon, the original serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 And he hurled him into the abyss and shut [it] and sealed [it] over him, that he might not mislead the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After these things he must be let loose for a little while.
4 And I saw thrones, and there were those who sat down on them, and power of judging was given them. Yes, I saw the souls of those executed with the ax for the witness they bore to Jesus and for speaking about God, and those who had worshiped neither the wild beast nor its image and who had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand. And they came to life and ruled as kings with the Christ for a thousand years. 5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. 6 Happy and holy is anyone having part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of the Christ, and will rule as kings with him for the thousand years.
7 Now as soon as the thousand years have been ended, Satan will be let loose out of his prison, 8 and he will go out to mislead those nations in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Ma´gog, to gather them together for the war. The number of these is as the sand of the sea. 9 And they advanced over the breadth of the earth and encircled the camp of the holy ones and the beloved city. But fire came down out of heaven and devoured them. 10 And the Devil who was misleading them was hurled into the lake of fire and sulphur, where both the wild beast and the false prophet [already were]; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever...
notice this next verse...it shows what the lake of fire is...the second death, from which there is no hope of ever existing again...
Revelation 20; 14 & 15: "And death and Ha´des were hurled into the lake of fire. This means the second death, the lake of fire. 15 Furthermore, whoever was not found written in the book of life was hurled into the lake of fire."
2007-01-23 07:13:53 · answer #6 · answered by wannaknow 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Pascal's Wager. It comes up about twice a day, and half a dozen people, all smarter than you, immediately explain why it's complete bunk.
2007-01-23 07:09:38 · answer #7 · answered by Lee Harvey Wallbanger 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
If you believe in God only because your afraid of what will happen if you don't you have more problems. This is not why you should follow God in the first place.
2007-01-23 07:08:24 · answer #8 · answered by Jayclark 3 · 6⤊ 0⤋
That's a great reason to believe in something. Just because of fear.
2007-01-23 07:11:36 · answer #9 · answered by Laura 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Do Buddhist believe in god?
No. There are several reasons for this. Buddhism, like modern sociologists and psychologists, believed that religious ideas and especially the god idea, the god-concept have their origin in fear. In the Dhammapada it clearly states:
"Gripped by fear men go to the sacred mountains,
sacred groves, sacred trees and shrines".
Dp 188
Primitive man found himself in a dangerous and hostile world, the fear of wild animals, of not being able to find enough food, of injury or disease, and of natural phenomena like thunder, lightning and volcanoes was constantly with him. Finding no security, he created the idea of gods in order to give him comfort in good times, courage in times of danger and consolation when things went wrong. To this day, you will notice that people become more religious at times of crises, you will hear them say that the belief in a god or gods gives them the strength they need to deal with life. You will hear them explain that they believe in a particular god because they prayed in time of need and their prayer was answered. All this seems to support the Buddha’s teaching that the god-idea is a response to fear and frustration. Buddhism teaches us to try to understand our fears, to lessen our desires and to calmly and courageously accept the things we cannot change. He replaced fear, not with irrational belief but with rational understanding.
The second reason Buddhism does not believe in a god is because there does not seem to be any concrete evidence to support this idea. There are numerous religions, all claiming that they alone have god’s words preserved in their holy book, that they alone understand god’s nature, that their god exists and that the gods of other religions do not. Some claim that god is masculine, some that she is feminine and others that it is neuter. They are all satisfied that there is ample evidence to prove the existence of their god but they laugh in disbelief at the evidence other religions use to prove the existence of another god. It is not surprising that with so many different religions spending so many centuries trying to prove the existence of their god, or gods that still no real, concrete, substantial or irrefutable evidence has been found. “Buddhists suspend judgement until such evidence is forthcoming !!”
The third reason Buddhism does not believe in a god is that the belief is not necessary. Some claim that the belief in a god is necessary in order to explain the origin on the universe. But this is not so. Science has very convincingly explained how the universe came into being without having to introduce the god-idea. Some claim that belief in god is necessary to have a happy, meaningful life. Again we can see that this is not so. There are Millions of atheists and free-thinkers, not to mention over 8.8 million Buddhists, who live useful, happy and meaningful lives without belief in a god. Some claim that belief in god’s power is necessary because humans, being weak, do not have the strength to help themselves. Once again, the evidence indicates the opposite. One very often hears of people who have overcome great disabilities and handicaps, enormous odds and difficulties, through their own inner resources, through their own efforts and without belief in a god. Some claim that god is necessary in order to give man salvation. But this argument only holds good if you accept the theological concept of salvation and Atheists and Buddhists do not accept such a concept. Buddhism teaches that each human being has the capacity to transform the mind, develop infinite love, patience, and compassion AND perfect understanding. Buddhism shifts one’s attention from the heavens to the heart and encouraged us to find solutions to our problems through self-understanding.
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2007-01-23 07:13:51 · answer #10 · answered by Thomas 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋