Atheist,what do you lose by believing?

Question

YOu have nothing to lose by believing,but definitly plenty to lose by not.So what is the percieved lose from believing God?

Answer 1

Sounds a lot like Pascal's wager to me.

Answer 2

Sigh. This is the ol' "Pascal's wager" argument. It's not a very good one. I won't go over all the reasons why it's not very good, because other people will be sure to do so, but let's put it like this: if you have only one life, and you don't know how long and short it might be, surely you want you live the best life you can, in loving human relationships unhampered by fear or dogma or obscurantism.

The earthly sacrifice involved might be worth it if you were sure that believing actually offered you the possibility of another life in the hereafter, but Pascal's wager cannot offer any such certainty.

Answer 3

You make it sound like believing or not believing is just a switch that we can turn on or off. We can't just wake up one morning and say "OK, I believe in God now." We need evidence. That's the entire point.

But to answer your question: What do I have to lose by believing in God? I have to lose an entire lifetime of devoting all my time and energy to the wrong thing if Christianity is not the true religion.

And you forget that there are thousands of religions. What if one of THEM is the right one? Being a Christian isn't a no-lose situation.

Answer 4

This is called Pascal's Wager. Why not apply it to Global Warming or something productive. What about Thor, Zeus, Isis, Allah, Vishnu or all of the other gods that you reject? What do you have to lose? I reject your god just as you reject all of those and for many of the same reasons. They do not exist.

The ability to be intellectually honest is what is lost initially. Believing in spite of all of the evidence is dangerous to the mind. Religious belief has created some of the most dangerous, fanatical ideologies that have ever existed. It promotes hate and is exclusive rather than inclusive. With such irrational beliefs we lose the ability to think for ourselves and to show compassion to those who do not agree with us.

Answer 5

DRINK!!!

Well, lets see. For starters, you lose 10% of your income, and the ability to think for yourself. And, judging from your grammar skills, you lose your ability to communicate clearly as well. If youre gullible enough to believe in God, youre gullible enough to beleive just about anything you are told. That makes you an easy target/victim as well... Perhaps the saddest evidence of the fact that you lose the ability to be logical is this very question - how many times are you going to use this terribly flawed argument, despite us constantly educating you as to its flaws?? Come on Maurice - youre better than that man....

So, when youre standing before Thor and he hits you over the head with his hammer, dont whine because you chose the WRONG god...

Answer 6

You said I have a lot to lose if I don't believe, but then I don't believe that I have anything to lose except what fantasies yo make up. There is no percieved loss from not believing there is only a question. Prove it to me and I will accept it. Tell me to believe a fantasy or die, and I will choose death over your fantasy.

Answer 7

I don't think we can make ourselves believe. Perhaps your question ought to be, "what do you have to lose by seeking God?"

If God exists, it is apparent to me that He is offering us the opportunity to know Him. If we are really just trying to get to heaven then we are seeking God, not to know Him but to use Him.

The good news is that finding God will mean finding a loving heavenly Father. The bad news is that finding God means that we will be under the authority of the Father and we will not be able to live our lives independently of Him.

One consequence of this good news/bad news is that some people hope that God does exist and they seek Him despite the bad news. The other consequence is that some people hope that God doesn't exist and avoid seeking Him despite the good news.

Answer 8

Thank you for that intellectually bankrupt argument. Pascal's wager is worthless. The argument that you have nothing to lose by not believing is an unfounded supposition on your part, and based on history, there is plenty you can lose by believing.

Answer 9

Maurice, how many times are we going to have to educate you on the faulty logic of Pascal's Wager?

You have just as much to lose if you're wrong.
What if the god you worship isn't the one true god?
What if god will reward the atheist for following the evidence?
What if, out of the 2500 known gods to man, the one true god hasn't revealed him/herself yet?
What if god is evil and only rewards evil?

Your chances of choosing the right god are less than 1 in 2500.. so atheism is just as safe a bet as any other belief.

Answer 10

i think that salvation could be lost. . .even though it takes some doing: exceptionally, a brilliant wide awake determination on the area of a mentally and emotionally sensible guy or woman to reject the Holy Spirit's message of salvation through Christ. He could desire to have the potential to fully and willingly reject his in the previous attractiveness of Jesus as Lord and Savior Your hypothetical twist of destiny sufferer isn't a distinctive guy or woman than the only that gained Christ: he's the comparable guy or woman with a heavily impaired memory. whether he seems to be able to rejecting salvation, he does not have a real potential to remember what brought about his preliminary attractiveness of Christ in the previous the twist of destiny. while he stands in the previous God in judgment and sees the completed image of his life, the two in the previous and after the twist of destiny, then he would be waiting to declare, "confident, I settle for Christ" or "No, I reject Him." until that factor, there could be no very final assessment of his salvation.

Answer 11

It isn't necessarily that you will lose something by believing in God. You can't make yourself believe something. If God exists, don't you think he/she will know whether or not you are a good person?