before I came on the Christian Page. I dont base my love for Jesus on a wager. Christ is not to be taken lightly. The Lord is not something you can choose on some sort of a wager. The Lord Jesus suffered real agony under the torture of the Roman whip. He felt the blood from his head dripping down across his tear stained cheeks as the crown of thorns was cruelly pressed into his agonizing head. he felt the searing burning lashes in his flesh as he struggled to drag that heavy cross up Calvary. Upon reaching the summit he was dragged to the cross and held while Roman soldiers pounded cruel steel spikes through his palms and feet nailing him to the cross. He wreathed in agony as he was lifted into the sky and had the hilt thrust in the ground. As he hung there the life blood draining from him another Roman soldier ripped open his side with the point of a sword. Still he could say forgive them Father for they know not what they do. That is my Lord. Not some Pascals wager. God bless.
2007-03-01 11:38:20 · 22 answers · asked by . 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Atheists like to flare up about pascal's wager because thiests present it to them as an argument. Atheists hate pascal's wager because there are many evident flaws in it, such as: "What if you believe in the wrong diety?" or "What if you devote your life to religion and there really is no God?" Then they will also tell you about how there is another wager called the Atheist wager, and that you should look it up. Atheists, atheists.....
2007-03-01 11:42:38 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋
A couple of things for you:
1. When someone was crucified, spikes or nails were not driven through the palm. In the event that it would have been driven through the palm, you must realize that a person's body weight would have ripped the nail through the palm of the hand. They would actually drive the nail through the wrist where you have the two bones and the hand to act as a hook so that the nail would not just rip out of the flesh. The hand lacks that structure.
2. The Bible has a tendency to exaggerate and the stories not be consistent with one another. Take the resurrection of Christ. The different books in the Bible all tell the stories and the events very differently. Hence if those were the eyewitness accounts and nobodys testimony agrees, hard to take that at face value.
3. Unfortunately there was nobody there to record what Jesus may or may not have said. Hence that too must be taken with a grain of salt.
4. Pascal's wager was an attempt by Pascal to convert people to Christianity. His conversion technique involved pressing a point that a person lost less by believing in a God, because in the event that there is no God then no further ahead than not believing, and if there is a God you get into heaven. Where if you do not believe (or convert) then if there is no God, you are not further ahead, but if there is a God then you spend eternity not in heaven. What he really was trying to do was to con people into believing, yet are you not lying to yourself to believe in a God just in case. You should either believe or not, but not believe because well just in case. If that is the case then you are lying to yourself.
2007-03-01 12:15:04 · answer #2 · answered by cor001000 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
That's a fine story. Now what about the story makes it more true than the Mormon story about the tablets and the hat? Why would you read a story and begin to worship things you can't prove even exist? Athiests honestly wonder.
One possible answer is that you are simply covering your bets in case God is real, and that his nature and tempermant and expectations are exactly the way they are described in the Christian Bible.
Another possible answer is that you have access to a magical power that lets you know whether things are true or made up just by reading them and that magical power you have has informed you that the Bible is true, every word of it.
These are not really accusations, just theories to explain what to us seems contrary to human logic.
2007-03-01 11:47:48 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Wow, you really did drink the Kool Aid.
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Pascal's Wager is the French philosopher Blaise Pascal's application of decision theory to the belief in God. It is also occasionally known as Pascal's Gambit. It appears in the Pensées, a posthumous collection of Pascal's notes for an unfinished treatise on Christian apologetics. Pascal argued that it is a better "bet" to believe that God exists, because the expected value of believing that God exists is always greater than the expected value resulting from non-belief. Indeed, he claimed that the expected value is infinite. Pascal believed that it was inexcusable not to investigate this question: "Before entering into the proofs of the Christian religion, I find it necessary to point out the sinfulness of those men who live in indifference to the search for truth in a matter which is so important to them, and which touches them so nearly."[1] Pascal's Wager is an argument for belief in God that he made and used because he hoped it would convert those to Christianity, who were ignorant, uninterested, or unconvinced by the arguments for the existence of God.
==========Or, you can decide not to live a life of fear=========
The Atheist's Wager is an atheistic response to Pascal's Wager. While Pascal suggested that it is better to take the chance of believing in a God that might not exist rather than to risk losing infinite happiness by disbelieving in a god that does, the Atheist's Wager suggests that:
You should live your life and try to make the world a better place for your being in it, whether or not you believe in God. If there is no God, you have lost nothing and will be remembered fondly by those you left behind. If there is a benevolent God, he will judge you on your merits and not just on whether or not you believed in him.
2007-03-01 11:41:47 · answer #4 · answered by A Word In Edgewise 3 · 6⤊ 1⤋
Ask a question and leave it at that. Quit with the preaching...
He "wreathed" in agony, eh?
If you dont know what Pascal's Wager is, then perhaps reading a book OTHER than your bible nmight enlighten you.
2007-03-01 11:53:48 · answer #5 · answered by YDoncha_Blowme 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Well not hearing of a very famous scientist is a problem.
But Pascals Wager is something you guys post like ten times a day. Google it and you will see what it is. It basically says to believe because it is the safer route.
2007-03-01 11:42:09 · answer #6 · answered by Alex 6 · 6⤊ 0⤋
Maybe you should look up Pascal's wager. It means that people go to church and believe in god to "be on the safe side".
And yes, many many christians are doing pascal's wager, without even knowing it.
2007-03-01 11:44:03 · answer #7 · answered by Abby C 5 · 4⤊ 0⤋
There are people claiming the blasphemy of the Hoply Spirit as a test to prove there is no God.
Remember, there are people who will accuse the Christians of being brainwashed.
Nonbelievers will go after believers who have fallen, like Bakker and Haggard, but will gloat over Clinton's affairs and perjury. They will go after Rep. Foley for text messages to a page but give former Representative Gary Studds a red carpet when he has homosexual activities with a teenage boy. It is easier for these people to point the finger the other way than accuse their own.
Jesus said that the will hate you because the first hated Him. Until their eyes are opened, they will not believe what Jesus went through for them. All you can do is stand on your faith, endure the hardships, defend your faith, and preach the word. Pray that one day they will see the need for the Savior.
2007-03-01 11:49:54 · answer #8 · answered by n9wff 6 · 0⤊ 3⤋
I think you are mistaken... Pascal used this to bring people to Christianity... not to deter them from god. Pascal's Wager is an argument for belief in God... not against it. You can't say that Atheists are always accusing christians... when christains shun them and say that since they do not have faith, they are going to hell.
2007-03-01 11:49:41 · answer #9 · answered by fidowido99 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Very nicely said, a couple of typo's but otherwise you were very eloquent. Assuming you're 'bible' is proven to be THE true account of man (ignoring of course all scientific discoveries in the last 50 years alone) and what you say is the word of God then you're going to have been right and look like a hero, or ... the account of man you believe in is absolutely proven to be fiction then you're going to look pretty silly.
2007-03-01 11:42:17 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋