I keep seeing this idea all over the place.
"If you believe in God and you're wrong, it doesn't matter. If you don't believe in God and you're wrong, you go to Hell. So why not cover yourself and believe?"
Isn't belief for the sake of salvation an act of greed and selfishness, not love and faith?
2007-02-09 16:54:55 · 17 answers · asked by cindy 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
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"
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
2007-02-09 16:57:36 · answer #1 · answered by eldad9 6 · 2⤊ 2⤋
I just love your thought and apt observation! "Belief for the sake of salvation" is not really a belief. It is just an attempt to cheat oneself and deep inside they know they lack love & faith, so that makes them even more fearful. Thats why religion is the biggest and most profitable business these days! Such people are making for themselves their life a hell in preparation for where they are headed.
2007-02-10 01:04:38 · answer #2 · answered by Raju 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's called Pascal's wager and was a way that philosophers of the nineteenth century thought would appeal to agnostics. It's an attempt to explain God in rational terms, but God can't be defined solely by reason. He said that he makes the wisdom of the world foolishness. Ultimately those who reject him because they think having faith in something you can't prove by reason is foolishness will find themselves the worse off for their strictly rational belief.
edit:
Sorry, I was mistaken, Pascal lived in the seventeenth century.
edit:
to Palomnik, isn't that why it's called faith, because our faith proves that God is our savior and not any other?
2007-02-10 01:05:53 · answer #3 · answered by hisgloryisgreat 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Salvation is a free gift you receive when you experience the love of God. It is by grace--Gods goodness--through faith that one is saved.
Gods love and mercy and our faithfullness are all apart of the gift of salvation!
2007-02-10 01:01:37 · answer #4 · answered by zoril 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's called Pascal's Wager, and it's crap. It's based on the idea that there are only two possibilities, Christian faith or total disbelief. Maybe that was true in 17th century France. But we all know now that there are countless possibilities for faith. What if you stake your fate on Christianity, and it turns out that some Australian aboriginal god is the true god?
2007-02-10 01:00:44 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
I completely agree.
Christianity is a fear-based religion, no matter how much they talk of love.
Imagine a father saying to a child, "I love you. I love you completely and will protect you and help you always. But if at any point you disagree with me or decide to be with another man, I will torture you for all eternity."
Sorry - that's not MY god.
2007-02-10 01:01:38 · answer #6 · answered by Huddy 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
That phrase isn't the best phrase but, God gave us the choice to go to heaven, or hell, so which would you choose? Choosing Hell just because heaven seems greedy doesn't make sense.
2007-02-10 00:59:46 · answer #7 · answered by Christopher 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It's called Pascal's Wager and it's flawed from any angle you look at it. You're right. the premise is that you can fake belief to get into heaven...Just in case he is real. As if the omniscient biblical god wouldn't realize you were faking it.
2007-02-10 00:57:46 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋
I have found that God is real, but not because of that "wager", but from the abundant evidence and personal experience.
2007-02-10 02:39:53 · answer #9 · answered by Joshua 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That is a bunch of crap. If ppl think like that then they do not know God at all. PPl are a bunch of lost sheep.
2007-02-10 01:01:10 · answer #10 · answered by CHAEI 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋