To the Regulars: atheists, pagans, agnostics..2 part question?

Question

1. What if you're wrong and I'm right? I maintain that Pascal's wager is the biggest refutable argument for belief in the christian god ever. (to satisfy the rules, now DRINK UP)
and now for the REALLY important question:
2. How much did you miss me yesterday and today while I was gone?

sorry Chels.. here's the wager:
"If you believe, and God exists, you gain everything. If you disbelieve, and God exists, you lose everything."

um, St. Toad, sweetie?? I AM a heathen.. re-read part 1 of my question.. lol
Hugs anyway!

ooh Shari!! I like you!!

Answer 1

i missed you a lot, my friend.
i haven't been on much lately either as duty calls, responsibilities shift.
plus, the weather broke a few days ago and I am on the prowl late at night looking to reproduce in the back seat of my '57 Chevy...

Answer 2

My dear, may I answer # 2 first? I just found you and I did indeed miss you. As far as Pascal's wager? I'm not one of the above listed, but it is so, so flawed sweety. Refutable? I really don’t believe so. As a Christian, it all just boils down to faith. We can argue and debate the wager - which I am somewhat learned (LOL) and could, if need be. But, you could too. It all just boils down to what we Christians call faith. Trying to claim that I would rather believe now than to die and find out I was wrong is so lame. Philosophically there are much better arguments for the Christian religion. There are also much better arguments you could present in the opposite as well. My philosophy, quite simple and “unlearned” if that’s even a word – why can’t we be friends?

Answer 3

"If you believe, and God exists, you gain everything. If you disbelieve, and God exists, you lose everything."

I'll take a shot at this: Now what is being perceived, is that if you believe, then with God you have everything, and materials become unimportant. But should you refute God, then you lose the most important part of life. Truth. There is such a thing as a man being loyal to his goods, and not towards anybody else, making material GOD-HEAD to
them. Now, during his life, God becomes lost, and well, he doesn't perceive what is wrong or right, only living off his materials.

I've really never read "Pascal's wager," although some assume that I have.

Answer 4

The idea that there is only one 'right' concept about the Divine is insulting to the human spirit. How can every single other idea about the spiritual nature of reality and man's place in that spirituality be wrong, except for yours? That's illogical and extreme. Too extreme to be true. And this idea originated from the Middle East, a place where extremism is well at home. I know that it cannot be true. At the very most likely is that we are both right. I think the Divine conforms to our expectations of It. No threat of Eternal Torture looms over my head. I would no more spend time in a Christian afterlife than you would in a Heathen afterlife. Our own faiths govern our future. Yeah, I know both you and Islam want to conquer the world, but please don't insult the actually broad range of spiritual reality that humans can prescribe to with an extreme concept.
I wasn't here yesterday either, spending time with my hunny.

Answer 5

It's an interesting concept, but nowhere near as clever as dear Pascal made it out to be. The problem is that it attempts to do a cost/benefit analysis on religion (which is a somewhat absurd approach to begin with) without stating its assumptions first. It's a not-too-unreasonable wager if there's only one religion - but, hells, there's plenty of options. Even if you accept it as a reason to believe in *something*, there's still the same old question left at the end: *which* religion to believe?

I didn't notice you were out, but I've been sick, so I haven't been paying too much attention. So, um... welcome back! :)

Answer 6

1. All Divinity is is That which has put Order to the Universe... whether that is any one of the many names used in religions and belief systems worldwide... all of the names used in religions and belief systems worldwide... or merely Astrophysics and Biology.... Given that Divinity is Perfect and Humanity is not, how are any of us to say 100% what belief system is "right"?

2. Um. Some I guess... not on so much that I miss anyone really. Sorry.

Answer 7

Pagans? we are nevertheless around for effective, and in increasing numbers. Like atheists, pagans have self assurance countless issues. exceedingly provided that paganism isn't a single faith, yet a classification of many, many faiths. additionally, the only situation that each and one and all atheists share in hassle-loose is their loss of concept in a deity. so which you will respond to your question, no we've not got a similar techniques. Our similarity is that we are all distinctive, satirically sufficient.

Answer 8

If god doesn't exist, there are plenty of Gods that have allowed us a true name to call them.
If god does exist, I've got the true name of a bunch of Gods that are just waiting for an excuse to take him down a peg or two.

Slurp.....in the fullness of age one does not drink up....they slurp a bit.

Heard of you....saw a bit of your stuff....1st time to do a direct.

Nice way to go over the 5k mark.

Answer 9

I missed you Kallan, you always post very good answers and questions. It is a shame now because I will be gone for over a week. Tomorrow I leave for Iceland.

*drinks some Thor's Hammer Vodka*

Answer 10

Pascal's wager is flawed.

If you believe in the Christian god, but it's actually the Pagan god that exists, then you're screwed.

If you believe in the Pagan god, but it's actually the Christian god that exists, then you're screwed.

So either way, you're screwed.