what does pascal's wager mean?

Question

"its better to live your life as though God does exist and find out he doesnt exist then to live your life as though he doesnt exist and find out he does" what does this mean

Answer 1

It means that 1)the effects of living a christian life, generally accepted to be better than the effects of a non-christian life, and 2) the possibility of heaven, outweigh the con of the possibility that you are basing your life on falsehood.

Answer 2

I am a Christian and I don't agree with Pascal's Wager.

Pascal's Wager basically says, "You should believe in God just in case he does exist, because if you don't believe in God, you might burn in hell."

In 1 Corinthians 15:19 Paul says, "If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men." In other words, if the Christian faith is false, Christians are wasting their lives.

It is hard to truly follow Jesus. You will be mocked by others, you have to try to resist doing things that the Bible says are wrong, and you have to love people who hate you (Matthew 5:44). Jesus wants you to obey him because you love him, not because you are scared of him (John 14:15).

However, I do think that every person should spend time researching the Christian faith and other faiths by reading the Bible and other religious texts and understanding the arguments that support or weaken a certain belief. If there is an eternity for us in either Heaven or Hell, it is a shame if we do not even give eternity much thought before we die (100 years is nothing compared to eternity).

I have studied other religions, I went to a secular college and studied secular philosophies, and I think that the Christian faith makes the most sense, but I still learn about other beliefs and try to determine if they make sense or not.

The book "A Case for Christ" provides a good example of how to search for the truth. Lee Strobel was an Atheist when he started working on the book. As he was doing his research on the evidence for Jesus, he became a Christian. The book details some of the evidence that he believes supports the Christian faith.

So as far as faith in God is concerned, don't take my word for it, go do some serious searching for yourself.

Answer 3

It is a mathematical view of the probabilities of God existing...

from Wikipedia...
"The Wager posits that it is a better "bet" to believe that God exists than not to believe, because the expected value of believing (which Pascal assessed as infinite) is always greater than the expected value of not believing."

It's much like playing any gambling game, like poker, for example. The bet is sound because the chances of pay-off are worth it, or more specifically, in this case, betting against is a big loss. However, if you bet for the existance of God and you are wrong, you loose nothing. It's an idiot's decision when viewed mathematically.

Answer 4

It was Blaise Pascal's rationalization of the question about whether there is a god. Basically, he considered the two options: God exists, or doesn't exist, and the 2 choices: acknowledge his existence, or deny it.

Pascal was playing the odds. If no god exists, then whatever Pascal does in life counts for nothing when he dies. But if a god does exist, then Pascal's actions do have consequences in an afterlife. So whether he believes in a god or not, Pascal acted as if one exists.

The big holes in the theory are:

There could be more than one god, since there are more than one major religion.

There could be only one god, but he is from a religion you don't follow.

There could be a god, and you followed the right one, but he will realize you did it for the wrong reasons, as Pascal apparently did.

Answer 5

The concept of God = Absolute morality.

Veer from the absolute and risk your soul ( an implicit outcome of the wager). So if you have doubts about God, stay true to the morality you understand of God and you won't risk putting your soul on the line for your doubts.

Or as I like to phrase the whole ridiculous thing " Even if you don't believe, you better believe or else!"

Pascal's Wager is contrived, illogical piece of nonsense using fear of the unknown as a motivator for obedience.

Answer 6

its a sort of speculation of the consequences of God's existence or inexistence in a form of a wager. These are the possible outcomes:
God exists, You believe in God
- you benefit (win the wager) after death
God exists, You do not believe in God
- you suffer
God does not exists, You believe in God
- nothing happens
God does not exists, You do not believe in God
- nothing happens

so it seems that if you believe in God, you have nothing to lose. hence the statement.

hope this helps=)

Answer 7

I just learned about this wager. Apparenlty the others have made it clear.
For me, what's harm in believing that God exists and do the good.
Of if you do not believe in God but do the good, it is fine, right?

EnJoY

Answer 8

He's saying if you mindlessly put your faith in god then there's no risk of going to hell forever, whether god exists or not, so it's worth believing in god illogically. I disagree, Pascal!

Answer 9

It means that if you live the right way the rewards are enormous whether god exists or not. and you can't really lose by it anyway. but if he does exist and you ignored his wishes the whole time you're really in it deep.

Answer 10

if you live your life as if God exists and he does according to certain religions then you would go to heaven. if you live you live as if God exists and he doesn't, then your life just ends, no heaven, no hell.

if you live your life as if God doesn't exist and He doesn't, then your life just ends, no heaven, no hell. if you live your life as if God doesn't exist and He does, then according to certain religions, you would go to hell.

therefore the lesser of 2 evils would be to go about your life living as though He does exist, and you will have covered your bases, according to that passage....

as to what is the actual correct answer/religion....that is all a personal choice