The Atheist's Wager states as follows:
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 may judge you on your merits coupled with your commitments, and not just on whether or not you believed in him.
Why do most you consider this wrong???
2007-07-20 11:48:33 · 17 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Nothing wrong with that.
2007-07-20 11:51:33 · answer #1 · answered by thethinker 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Like I said before in another post, God's nature is not only benevolent. He has many other qualities that characterize his essence. God's justice and holiness are balanced with his love. Thus, banking on a benevolent God seems to be an iffy situation because the God that is depicted in the Bible is a God with a strong desire to bring justice to the world.
As for the first section of your wager about being good and making the world a better place, Great. I just think banking on a benevolent God is an undersight and fails to take into account all of the data.
2007-07-20 11:55:46 · answer #2 · answered by seminary bum 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Why do you nevertheless be an Atheist relating to the god Kali? Or the god Ahriman? Why do you nevertheless be an Atheist relating to the hundreds of different gods who could make your afterlife a torment in the event that they actually existed? does not Pascal's wager advise you're able to be worshiping all of those gods merely in case they might actual exist? The Jewish god is barely between the others utilized with the aid of the manipulators to have the naive and gullible have self assurance that they had greater suited worship otherwise they are going to be ceaselessly punished.
2016-10-19 06:23:10 · answer #3 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because the problem is less about what you do and more about who you are. If the problem is inherent in you then only re-creation will answer the problem. The wager assumes that God will accept you based on the good things you do. When God considers lying and murder to have the same consequences (eternal separation from God) then you are in grave danger of that consequence. Your merits will never be enough. The christian theology (and only christians) say that you cannot do it no matter how hard you try, but God came to save you, to do it for you, to live the life you should have lived (perfect) and die the death you should have died (sacrificial).
2007-07-20 12:03:17 · answer #4 · answered by epaphras_faith 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
God will not judge you on your merits, because it is not through works that we are saved, but through the belief in His Son, Jesus Christ that He died to save us.
Once you have a relationship with the Lord and understand that, you will begin to follow His teachings and will find that in doing so, you will become a better person and thus make the world a better place by doing so.
Edit: This is in no way meant to imply that you cannot be a good person without knowing the Lord. Of course that is possible! I meant that once you are a true Christian (a follower of Christ), you will see there is no need to live by the Atheist's Code, as you will spend your time walking with the Lord, and therefore the question is moot.
2007-07-20 11:55:12 · answer #5 · answered by January Love 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
I believe you are perfectly correct.
If God is not benevolent, then he is not worthy of devotion and adoration. If I am condemned, the I go willingly knowing that I am on the side of justice.
A God that can condemn a moral person proves itself not to be benevolent. Therefor it is not a god worthy of my devotion and I should not worry about its opinion because that would cause me to abandon my morality therefor proving itself not only to be not benevolent, but more specifically, it would be malevolent thus being the opposite of benevolence a.k.a. pure evil. So, if your god condemns moral people, you might take care that you are not worshiping the enemy.
2007-07-20 11:57:17 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
If there is a God who punishes "bad" people and rewards "good" people, then He is the one to decide the criteria, right? Well, according to the Christian faith, God has decided that to get to heaven, you must do one thing, and only one thing. Of course that thing is to accept Christ as God and the one who has forgiven you for your sins. God has not decided that if you can do enough good things or deeds, that you will get into heaven when you die. The bible is very clear that no one could meet the standard of holiness, no one. So, entry into heaven is not based on merits or commitments, only on the acceptance of Christ.
2007-07-20 12:12:01 · answer #7 · answered by Unorthodox 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
that is a great wager!!! can we call it anti pascal's wager? unfortunately there are those full of greed and hatred who could care less for us peasants and our earth cleaning ways. this is why, if there is a God, they will be the ones roasting. that is so important to those that believe. there is a big difference.
2007-07-20 11:52:48 · answer #8 · answered by ConstElation 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
If that's the atheist wager then why in the world do most atheists spend more time spewing venom at Christians than living their own lives?
2007-07-20 18:27:56 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
We don't believe that it's our works that will get us into heaven it's by believing that Jesus died for our sins.
You seem like a pretty nice guy otherwise though!
-B
2007-07-20 11:52:32 · answer #10 · answered by The Brian 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
With All Due Respects to Atheist's:
this is satans way of Deceiving Human Beings and taking them to Hell with him (satan).
Believe it or not WHETHER you Believe it or not.
Sad.
The results of Deception is very sad.
GOD (Jesus) LOVES all Human Beings.
satan Hates all Human Beings.
Hope this helps.
2007-07-20 11:56:13 · answer #11 · answered by maguyver727 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋