This is based on Pangels question. I have never heard Pascals wager "preached" in a church and I am only loosely familiar with it.
If you have been taught this in church- what specifically were you taught about the Wager and God.
Atheists- what is your objection to the use of Pascals wager as it relates to God or Christianity.
I am going for "instant education" here. I am too tierd to google and read alot! lol
2007-05-31 12:41:30 · 11 answers · asked by anne p 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Thanks for the anwers! I think I get the gist of this.
2007-05-31 13:41:46 · update #1
It makes no sense if you stop to think about it - it scares me that so many people don't.
Pascal's wager:
"If god exists, it's infinitely better to believe, since you get heaven instead of hell for eternity. If he doesn't, it doesn't matter since you're dead anyway. So overall it's better to believe"
This is, of course, false.
Some of the problems with the argument:
* The implied assumption that god may exist (with a 50% probability, no less!)
* The assumption that there is an afterlife with a heaven and hell
* The assumption that the god cares about belief in him/her above all else
* The assumption that if you believe in a god, it will definitely be the same god that actually exists.
* The assumption that you lose nothing if it's false. You have lost a great deal, from time praying to a nonexistent entity (some people pray several hours a day!!!) to morality (your god may ask you to hurt other people) and much more besides.
* The assumption that people can believe in something simply because it benefits them. Would you believe goblins exist for twenty bucks? Why not?
* The assumption that any god won't see through the "believing just to get into heaven" ploy.
For more:
http://www.abarnett.demon.co.uk/atheism/wager.html
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pascal-wager/
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/theism/wager.html
2007-05-31 12:45:10 · answer #1 · answered by eldad9 6 · 6⤊ 0⤋
Okay here's my take.
If your only going along with belief "in case" there is a god, then that might not cut it as far as faith goes anyway.
Also the point of Pascal's wager is that the believer has nothing to loose while the atheist does. This is false logic. The believer does loose something, he places limits on his own thoughts and actions based on the precepts of religion.
Also, what if you accept Pascal's wager only to find out the polytheists were right? You're in the sameboat as the believer.
So basically the wager makes no sense, it won't help if the christian god does exists but it harms you if he doesn't.
2007-05-31 12:50:00 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The wager was never intended for use in Church. It was from a Guy named (obviously) Pascal who converted to Christianity and then turned his eye to his hard partying friends. SInce they were gamblers, he tried to convert them by "Showing them the odds".
If the Christians are right and you die an atheist, however, if the atheists are correct and your a christian - you just cease to exist and so the smart money is on being a Christian either way you win or break even. see?
Theproblem with the wager is it assumes a 50/50 spread of the odds. If it was only Jesus versus the nothingness it would be good, but there are 500 sects of Christianity alone all of which claim to have the only truth. Then you branch out into all the other religions, well, you see the problem.
A few churches probably do still teach the wager but really, this is more fodder for the tract writer.
2007-05-31 12:48:24 · answer #3 · answered by Cindy H 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The problems with Pascal's Wager: (1) You cannot feign belief in God before an omniscient deity, so such a blatant deception would be seen not only as being unfaithful to God, but bearing false witness about it. (2) Pascal's Wager essentially ignores the thousands of other Gods and just assumes the choice is between the Christian God and no God at all. Why Yahweh? Why not Thor?
2007-05-31 12:45:15 · answer #4 · answered by WWTSD? 5 · 5⤊ 0⤋
Because it places Christianity above all other religions, which it is clearly not. There have been thousands of Gods throughout history. All evidence points to religions first evolving as polytheistic. Monotheistic religions are new in the scheme of things.
The wager only accounts for two options, Christianity, and atheism.
2007-05-31 12:45:31 · answer #5 · answered by Starvin' Marvin 3 · 4⤊ 0⤋
I am neither a Christian or an Atheist
and that is my disagreement with the wager
it disallows for anything else to be correct
it is the Christian God or no God
what if the other Gods/Godesses are correct ?
and more to the point
what God wants believers who have simply placed a bet ?
2007-05-31 12:46:54 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
The wager works to prove any and all gods exist as well as any other. So if it did "prove" anything, it would be that there could not possibly be just one true god.
2007-05-31 12:46:40 · answer #7 · answered by Boris Badenov 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Living as if there is a God is a better wager than living as if there is no God.
~ Pascal's Wager ~
Why not gamble that there is a God? You have everything to gain and nothing to lose.
2007-05-31 12:48:28 · answer #8 · answered by Dwayne 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Yawn. Do a ******* SEARCH for the goddamned term, and you'll find 500 pages of rebuttals that thouroughly TRASH it.
See the little box that says "search for questions"?
Type "pascals wager".
Go read them and stop bothering us.
.
2007-05-31 12:48:32 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
It doesn't prove the existence of God. It just wants people to accept him because it's easier than not.
2007-05-31 12:45:07 · answer #10 · answered by S K 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋