2007-04-04 12:13:17 · 17 answers · asked by Yahoo! 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
ROFL...
Im only drinking Sams Club Cola but Im wired. This is number five!
2007-04-04 12:17:24 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Pascal's wager fails logically in several ways.
One is just that there isn't a simple choice between believing in God or not - there are many religions, and more than a few condemn non-believers to some horrid after-life, or none at all, while offering the rewards of heaven only to the faithful.
Another nasty possibility is that God, himself, might take exception to the reasoning involved - predicating belief in Him upon a risk/benefit analysis, rather than faith - and toss even those who take up the proper religion for that selfish reason into the ol' lake of fire.
Conversely, it's not at all inconcievable that God might welcome into heaven even athiests - if they're good people.
Any of these could put the infinite joy/suffering outcome on both sides, where they cancel out, and you're left with just the cost/benefits of the mortal realm to evaluate.
In a more direct, logical, sense it fails because it uses an unkownable (the afterlife) as a premise.
2007-04-04 19:37:53 · answer #2 · answered by B.Kevorkian 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No.
What if my Gods are the right ones and you have picked the wrong God? Trust me, the Aztec Deities would not be pleased with your use of Pascal's wager.
2007-04-04 19:19:55 · answer #3 · answered by Tlazohtzin 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
No, once you've gotten to know God, it's not really a wager anymore.
2007-04-04 19:27:58 · answer #4 · answered by dave 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Absolutely not! I'm far too ethical to be a hypocrite like Pascal. He was a great mathematician though..........
Cheers! (glug, glug, glug) Gulp!
2007-04-04 19:31:45 · answer #5 · answered by Diogenes 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Believe it exists? Yup. I drink to it. But it's a stupid, cop-out argument, meaning I would live a lie.
2007-04-04 19:17:07 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Only people who are new to yahoo answers use it. They read it and think they've stumbles on a groundbreaking writing.
2007-04-04 19:17:58 · answer #7 · answered by Armund Steel 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
No, because of the flaws that it has, like which God to believe in.
2007-04-04 19:17:39 · answer #8 · answered by Ievianty 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I don't believe most people who try to use it know what they are talking about.
2007-04-04 19:16:39 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Its a valid point in describing how absurd religion is.
2007-04-04 19:17:48 · answer #10 · answered by poseidenneptune 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋