Christians etc, how do you respond to this?

Question

Atheist's Wager
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

Getting a lot of great answers, just wanted to add that it is kinda crazy that your deeds on earth mean nothing unless you believe in christ or accept him according to some on here. That you could do the most vile things, but believe in god and christ and get into so called heaven but lets say someone like the Dahli Lama, who does not believe in the divinity of Christ would burn in hell. Crazy or what?

People !!!! People!!!! This is Pascals Wager, not mine. And the Atheists wager was not written by me. I just wanted to know what you thought about it. Don't go blaming the principles on me. Yes I am an Atheist, but it holds no relevance for me because my belief that god does not exist is unwavering.

Answer 1

The 'Atheists Wager' seems a bit pointless when those who profess to believe in God will live that way anyway.

Cheers :-)

Answer 2

Ah, but the whole thing God wants you to do is to believe in Him. This is why your wager doesn't work, it's just the "do the right thing" which every religious person should be doing anyway if they are following the rules they are given. (face it, many of the basic laws around the world are part of the 10 commandments or variations thereof, not to say they are the source, but you get the picture)

I personally will believe in God because it's not worth being judged and going to hell just because I wanted "live life to the fullest" as you put it. I can still be a the good person you are trying to be, so what have I lost? Nothing. Jesus said that we are to be the salt of the world, give it some flavor! He gave me rules to live by, have you read them and disagree with them? If not, what have you got to lose in putting faith in Him? Honestly, consider that. I believe THAT was the point of the wager being stated, why shouldn't you believe? You lose nothing by doing so, and gain everything.

The belief in Him is what saves you, good works without faith are garbage in His sight. No man can do good, not one. They will always have a motive behind it that is not pure, only He can make it pure and good. Now you will likely argue about this, and that's fine, I would expect you too unless you really stopped and thought about the things you've done and what you have seen others do. It won't hit until you see it in action and catch yourself doing something "good" and notice the hidden agenda of it. If you are truely open to things, you will see it in yourself and those around you, and it will eventually disgust you that you just can't shed it. I've told you why it is that way, and you know how to fix it. :)

Answer 3

Your thinking is flawed on this matter in regards to belief. You must believe in Jesus as the Son of God, and that He died for your sins, and was resurrected and ascended into heaven. You must accept Him into your heart, and as your Lord and personal Savior. This is most important. You must then seek to be filled with the Holy Ghost, and only then will the fruits of your labors in this area be manifested. These fruits make the world a better place. By letting Christ live through you, you show perfect love toward people, and therefore make the world a better place. You MUST always be aware that it is not you, but the Holy Spirit IN you that makes it better. Any righteousness that a man has on his own is as filthy rags to God. He gets the glory.

So I suppose that I do not think much about your atheist wager. Sorry.

Answer 4

God judges you first by whether you believe in Him or not, then you are judged by your fruitfullness.

unless you truly believe in God, Jesus, and the finished work of the Cross, you will never spend eternity with Him regardless of whether you are a good person or a terrible one. so by not believing in Him, you are risking everything. you can't have both.

if Pascal's wager is as you say it is...i do not agree with that either. i don't believe faith is a risk...you have to commit to believing one way or the other. if you're believing because there might be a risk and you don't want to be stuck, then you don't TRULY believe in it in the first place do you??

-edit-
God says that you are new person when you believe in Christ. the work of the Cross attones for ALL sin. God also says that you can tell a believer by the fruit that His life produces. so, logic would say that if your life produces no fruit...you probably never truly believed in the first place.

just being good isn't enough because NO ONE is totally without sin. sin puts us all on an equal playing field. it seperates us from God no matter who we are, and it is the work of the Cross that bridges that seperation.

Answer 5

The same could be said for the atheist- be a good person and believe in God and you are judged worthy should there be a God. If there is no God, you have lost nothing and will be remembered fondly by those you left behind.

Answer 6

I would disagree because the Bible says that our good works are as filthy rags. It is the belief in the life, death and resurrection of Christ the Messiah that assures my salvation and eternal life in Heaven.

But, I could also answer the question with a question. If I've strived to live according to Christian principles, wouldn't I be living my life to try to make the world a better place for being in it? I'd still strive for the same objectives, yet with a higher purpose and greater eternal reward, even if my faith was for the purpose of not wanting to gamble with what lies on the other side of eternity.

Answer 7

HA! God will laugh at our puny merits. The only virtue to this is "you reap what you sew", which is a Bible verse (do good and good will be done unto you, like the Golden Rule, ALSO in the Bible).
BUT Jesus didn't die on the cross for nothing!! On Judgement day, God will be angered that you rejected His Son, the blameless, spotless sacrifice. How then will you answer to that? It has been said that if there is no God, you have nothing to lose, but if there is God and you don't follow His plan, you lose ALL. The stakes are high.

Answer 8

..when a person don,t believe in God that is their chose .. the scriptures in many place says this where is your faith?.. is it in a educated guess or in science of some other religion that does not include God..God claim to be just in him is no darkness .. it seem we have no right to questing his way of doing things...in my opinion about Atheist they chose not to believe and that is their right as free moral agents which God has made all men to make a choice.. we are convinced that the Bible is true and God is the maker of all men and all the elements that are ,,,we know that something don.t become something out of nothing.. so it is so evident that God made it ...don,t ask me how ...all i know is that he did ... we also have to realize this ..i don,t see how any logical person could say that the earth and all other things like planet and the elements just puff into being... and the big bang theory is false ...note this it is impossible that the world never had a creator impossible how could anyone believe otherwise?

Answer 9

Interesting point, and I agree with you but what I find even more interesting is what the responses. That classic criteria for entering heaven is you must be good (is that right christians?). Yet there are a great many people claiming that 'merit' (ie. being good) is not enough, you have to believe in the right set of scribbles...

Are you seriously telling me that Mother Theresa won't go to heaven just because she's not protestant/baptist/jewish/hindu/any of a dozen other religions... or Florence nightingale won't go to heaven because she spent her life helping people instead of worshipping god? That's BS. Count me out if that's the case, I'll go gamble, play cards and round up hookers with Satan and Mother Theresa...

This question makes my point...
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AmEdjDoqgeEbm3NgETHOxUDd7BR.?qid=20070424191931AAezpQH

Answer 10

Are you an atheist by any chance?

There are lots of faithful Christians out there. I'd have to choose none of the wagers. I believe in God, as a Catholic teenager, not because I do not want to risk of missing eternal happiness. I can't believe some people actually think of it that way. We all have free will. Choose wisely.

If there are atheists who simply reject the belief of God, keep it to yourself. There are a lot of people who believe in God whatever their religion may be. They are faithful so please, atheists, just respect our beliefs as we respect yours.