Why not believe in Pascal's Wager?

Question

It is smarter to bet that God exists, and to believe in him, because if it turns out that he is real, you win everything; if he is not, you lose nothing. So why not take the leap of faith?

Answer 1

Your question assumes there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I.E., a reward (afterlife) for betting (or believing) that God exists.

What if the reward for living a "good life" is a good life? Period.

I guess I'm sparked to ask why living a good life, inandof itself, isn't the best, most humanly fulfilling way to go, regardless of whether or not you believe in God.

Answer 2

If you believe Pascal’s wager. Xilplotip! There, that word if a powerful curse. What does the curse do you ask? Well, it causes immense suffering mentally, spiritually, and physically. It will grantee you life has no meaning, and that your soul after you die will be devoured by the void.

Now I can lift the curse if you pay me $50.

So, via Pascal’s logic, you should pay me $50 because compared to eternal suffering it is a very small price to pay. So, I accept Pay Pal and you can drop me an E-mail if you want to send me a personal check.

Sorry, there is no logical reason why someone who doesn't already believe in God should worship it. If they need a security blanket to allow them to pretend that existence isn’t meaningless go right ahead, that’s ok. Just don't get in the way of my view of the void I think its pretty.

Answer 3

One needs to read the whole book from which Pascal's Wager is just article and they will get a much fuller understanding of what he is talking about.

First of all, he wrote it not as a means of proving the existence of God much less Christianity. It was written to show that there is a reason for believing in God. Also, he insisted that once you had accepted him, you had to live and practice your faith in Him. It was not be mere lip service.

Additionally, it was NOT written to try to convince atheists of the existence of God-at a streatch, it could include agnostics but primarily for people that wanted a valid reason that made sense.

With this in mind, it does a very good job!

Answer 4

Pascal's wager is false dillema:
It assumes that there are only two possibilities:
1. There is no God
2. There is God who rewards Christians

What about the following possibilities:
3. There is god but he does not reward anyone
4. There is god but he only rewards Muslims
5. There is god but he only reward atheists
6. There are Aztec gods who reward those who make human sacrifices.
etc etc etc

Now if were to accept Pascal's wager should i pick possibility 6 and sacrifices humans on the off chance that it will give me a reward?
I don't think so

Answer 5

Since when did "smart" and "faith" go together? I'm not saying belief in God is stupid, I'm saying true faith should come about independently of thought.

"Leap" of faith is also an interesting term. We're told to look before we leap - many children who are brought up by staunch believers are not given that option. I was lucky; I looked, and I was not moved to jump.

Answer 6

A great proposition but...

...can a person switch belief on and off like a light switch?
...can people 'choose' to believe?
...can I stop believing that South America really exists, even if you threaten me? (I may tell you it doesn't exist, but in my heart I know it really does).

So... I was never able to figure out what Pascal was thinking. Maybe he was just talking about a verbal profession of faith. (?)

Answer 7

Sociologically, if large numbers of people were to believe Pascal's Wager, it would lead to the spread of cruel intolerant religious (those that threaten hellfire as the penalty for being "wrong"), and curtail open tolerant religions. So it's better not to accept the bet.

Answer 8

I'm certain that Pascal never intended to trick people into belief. He knew that wasn't possible. He also knew that God would see through such a ploy.

Pascal hoped to get people to see the infinite worth of God and the value of seeking God. We ought to seek God to find God and not to use God to get to go to heaven. The only reward we ought to want for seeking God is to find God. If we really don't want to find God, I think a just God would grant our wish.

One objection is always "which god should I seek? Zeus? Thor?" The answer is seek the God who created you because you already know something about your Creator. You know about love and compassion and justice and mercy and you know that those things are good. If you know that those things are good, and you were created, it is very likely that your Creator put that knowledge into you. If He put that knowledge into you, then He is the source of such virtues.

If your Creator exists, He is going to see through all your ploys to avoid seeking Him. So when you say, "which god" or "I think God would want me to have evidence before I believe", ask yourself if those aren't just little ploys designed to deceive God just in case He really does exist.

Answer 9

Because the wager assumes it's the Christian God. There are many other cultures for which to cast your bet, and most of them have jealous gods. Not to mention, even if there was only the Christian God or nothing, if you live a life according to the Christian ideas, and it is wrong, you have wasted your life in delusion instead of investigating other possibilities.

Answer 10

It would mean that you not neccessarily believe that there is a God if one takes that approach. But to convince people, Icons of Evolution is a great book( the movie is good too) to make someone realize that evolution is just a lame excuse for atheists.