Pascal's wager time: for christians.?

Question

do some christians believe in christianity just for the sake of being "safe" without realizing that their god just might see trough it?

i think some christians dont know that they're playing tag and no one is it. they're just running around.

Answer 1

Some may. That is how some faiths "sell" Christianity. (as a safety net)

Answer 2

If that is the only reason for someones belief in God then they do not really believe in God. Pascals wager is a lesson in logic perhaps, but it is not viable in reality.
To rhsaunder,- I believe in God and Science both. And I believe there is more evidence for a young earth than an old earth, if you take out supposition by geologists that guess at the age of the earth based off rock formations. And Dawkins is nothing more than a rebuttal based on Dawkins suppositions and presumptions on what God would be like or should be like. Even most of his science starts with suppositions
daf s- If you think that Christians are cowards you do not know many. First it would be much easier to believe that I would not be held accountable for my actions. If man is the one I have to answer to, then I have no one to answer to. Simply put if man is the ultimate judge, I am my own judge, and my opinion counts as much as anyone and everyone Else. I now have no moral obligation to act in any certain way. I can do as I please, and I don't really have to care what anyone thinks of that action.Your logic is backwards.

Answer 3

It always surprises me when Christians reinvent the wager. Poor Pascal, he must be the laughing stock of heaven (in which I don't believe).

Let us remember him for his other works:

Pascal's work in the fields of the study of fluids (hydrodynamics and hydrostatics) centered on the principles of hydraulic fluids. His inventions include the hydraulic press (using hydraulic pressure to multiply force) and the syringe. By 1646, Pascal had learned of Evangelista Torricelli's experimentation with barometers. Having replicated an experiment which involved placing a tube filled with mercury upside down in a bowl of mercury, Pascal questioned what force kept some mercury in the tube and what filled the space above the mercury in the tube. At the time, most scientists contended that, rather than a vacuum, some invisible matter was present.

Following more experimentation in this vein, in 1647 Pascal produced Experiences nouvelles touchant le vide ("New Experiments with the Vacuum"), which detailed basic rules describing to what degree various liquids could be supported by air pressure. It also provided reasons why it was indeed a vacuum above the column of liquid in a barometer tube.

In 1648, Pascal continued his experiments by having his brother-in-law carry a barometer to a higher elevation, confirming that the level of mercury would change, a result which Pascal replicated by carrying a barometer up and down a church tower in Paris. The experiment was hailed throughout Europe as finally establishing the principle and value of the barometer.

In the face of criticism that some invisible matter must exist in Pascal's empty space, Pascal, in his reply to Estienne Noel, gave one of the seventeenth century's major statements on the scientific method: "In order to show that a hypothesis is evident, it does not suffice that all the phenomena follow from it; instead, if it leads to something contrary to a single one of the phenomena, that suffices to establish its falsity." His insistence on the existence of the vacuum also led to conflict with a number of other prominent scientists, including Descartes.

Answer 4

Many of the "Enlightenment" philosophers were trying to prove the existence of God through reason. Rationalism had the effect of undermining faith in the educated classes who valued reason above all. The philosopher's of the Age of Reason assumed that God's existence could be proven through rational argument. Pascal's wager was an argument that would appeal to agnostics. All philosophy can do is to help clarify religious beliefs, it does not furnish a secure foundation for belief because belief is being confident in God, not in our own ability to reason, or our understanding as it were. It is faith which elevates God above all else.

Answer 5

Probably. In any event, Pascal's wager has been discredited for centuries; it makes just as much sense for God to be P.O.'ed at people maintaining a silly belief in Christianity instead of using science and logic to figure out how things really work.

Answer 6

"Who then will condemn Christians for being unable to give rational grounds for their belief,processing as they do a religion for which they cannot give rational grounds?" It is by being without proof that they show they are not without sense ".
Blaise Pascal also said , " Thus wishing to appear openly to all those who seek Him with all their heart and hidden from all those who shun Him with all their heart , He has qualified our knowledge of Him by giving signs which can be seen by those who seek Him and not by those who do not . There is enough light for those who desire only to see ,and enough darkness for those of a contrary disposition ".

Answer 7

Of course. But technically, they're not true Christians, or "good Christians" and their "Faith" is false, as is everything else. These are the kind of people who are easily brainwashed, I think. Easily swayed...Or they are the people who choose not to choose and just sit on the fence happily.

Answer 8

There's an athiest's wager, too: "You should live your life and try to make the world a better place..." Yes, but there really are no guidelines. This is a belief in the noble savage, which has been discredited. But this question and many of the responses are very curious in this regard; does it make the world a better place to belittle a class of people? If you only know Christians as judgmental straitlaced bigots, you don't know too many Christians. Values that truly count like empathy and compassion aren't natural and don't spring from nowhere. They're taught by example, and a careful reading of the New Testament will show there is a framework for passing this on. What example have athiests shown here? What's funny is, I don't see you acting as free to bust on Muslims. Are you afraid of them? Are you hedging your bets in case Muhammed was right? Since it's so much more an intolerant belief system, the athiest penchant for ignoring them and dwelling on Christianity instead is rather odd.

Answer 9

This is the farthest thing from someone's mind. You should do some real research if you think Christians believe anything like this.

Answer 10

90% chrstian are betting on heaven, they are cowards