Pascal's Wager is basically, "If you believe and are wrong, nothing all that terrible happens to you, but if you don't believe and are wrong, you're going to suffer eternally.
Can't you really use that type of thinking for almost anything? I could sit here and tell you that I am God, and that if you don't follow my rules, you're in serious trouble, but if you do, you're granted peaceful bliss for an eternity. Sound like a good wager to you? Of course not. Pascal assumes that his religion, Christianity, is the only choice other than disbelief. What about all of the other religions?
And if you used Pascal's Wager to "believe" would it really be a sincere belief, or would you just be artificially believing, JUST IN CASE? It seems to me that if Christianity is true, that you wouldn't really be saved using this mindset.
Those are my thoughts. What are yours?
2007-06-26 09:11:35 · 15 answers · asked by Fire God 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
"Pascal assumes that his religion, Christianity, is the only choice other than disbelief. What about all of the other religions?"
This point is what keeps me out of the wager.
Yes, I do believe that if I'm wrong and there is no God and nothing after death I'm certainly not going to know and living my life in the best WWJD way I can isn't going to hurt anyone. But I'm not betting that those who aren't Christian are automatically going to hell or won't be saved or whatever. And I also agree with you that the "better safe than sorry" mindset isn't going to be enough. So yeah, the wager makes a nice drinking game, but I don't buy it.
2007-06-26 09:21:45 · answer #1 · answered by Church Music Girl 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Being a Christian is a response of the heart to Christ's call to "follow me." This call is not a threat, and the response that is asked for is love; a love of the kind described by Christ's words to his disciples to "love one another, as I have loved you." This is supposed to be the Christian path.
It isn't hard to see that this kind of path must be completely voluntary. A threat only takes away all meaningful free will. And it provides no means by which to love.
Pascal's wager assumes a kind of Scrooge-like approach to his bet: we look at his bet, see the awful consequences, and then buy little Timmy a Christmas turkey. True conversion of the heart is always motivated by love. Nobody ever became a genuine Christ-like person because they were frightened into it.
"Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1.) Not fear.
2007-06-26 17:24:19 · answer #2 · answered by evolver 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
That it's really not a gamble. It's like saying that you can move into a nice neighborhood in New York City if you like, but what if Doctor Octopus is really out there and Spiderman decides not to come to your rescue because you said he was just a comic book character.
2007-06-26 16:16:39 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 0⤋
What if Pascal picked the wrong religion? I mean, c'mon, there's a bunch of em out there, ya know?
2007-06-26 16:17:24 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
I asked a simillar question earlier today about what someone here called "Homer Simpson's Wager":
"But Marge, what if we chose the wrong religion? Each week we just make God madder and madder."
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ar83bw3KlqM6s6SmNoYwDmHsy6IX?qid=20070626110324AA8UkTc
You'll find my thoughts there.
2007-06-26 16:24:52 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Pascal's wager doesn't consider that God might reward critical thought and punish blind obedience.
2007-06-26 16:15:20 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 10⤊ 0⤋
It is an argument for the intellectually facile ... as the tens of thousands of times it has been discussed here have shown.
Slainge!
.
2007-06-26 16:17:33 · answer #7 · answered by abetterfate 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Christians cherry pick and misinterpret from books that are inspired by an unholy spirit. does that sound safe to you?
2007-06-26 16:36:39 · answer #8 · answered by single eye 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
1 shot of patron
2007-06-26 16:14:35 · answer #9 · answered by ♨UFO♨ 4 · 3⤊ 1⤋
this is my first drink on yahoo and i hope your happy because im a year underage!!
2007-06-26 16:19:58 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋