What if Atheists are wrong?

Question

If the believer is wrong and God doesn’t exist, then nothing has been lost; on the other hand, if the atheist is wrong and God does exist, then the atheist risks going to hell. Therefore, it is smarter to take a chance on believing than to take a chance on not believing, and the atheist is in a bad spot.

There are a number of problems with this argument. For one thing, it assumes that believing or not believing is a choice which a person can make rather than something determined by circumstances, evidence, reason, experience, etc. Wagering requires the ability to choose through an act of will, and it seems unlikely that belief is something which you can choose through an act of will.

But what if Atheists are wrong? This is scary, and according to us Christians, " Hell is where the sinner burn eternally. "

And if Christians are wrong, nothing comes out of it.

Answer 1

WHOO-HOO!!

Pascal's Wager!

Drink up, folks *glug glug*

Do a search on this question, it's been asked 189,537 times (approximately), and it is a completely flawed arguement. It has become a drinking game.

Answer 2

Why do you think that I keep asking questions?

But Pascal's Wager doesn't prove anything. The best that you guys have come up with is "this is how I feel, so you had better believe me or else!"

As there is no proof for any god, Pascal's Wager actually makes sense if you choose the religion that offers the best prize, like a lottery (would you pick the ticket that offers $2 million or $5 billion? There is a high chance that you will lose, but you will have to spend a lot of your life to enter the game!)

And as that Allah guy offers you 72 virgins after death, I think Islam has you beat in promising ridiculous things.

Answer 3

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

Answer 4

Out of curiosity, what did you copy/paste this from?
This is Pascal's wager. If you googled "response to pascal's wager" you would be able to find a professional opinion.

Religious conflict is one of the worst things in the world today. Hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of people are dying over bronze-age fiction. Much time and money is wasted on religion when it could be used for other, more noble causes, like helping the poor. In this way, what you said:
"And if Christians are wrong, nothing comes out of it."
is wrong. It is almost certain that atheists are right. If you feel a little shaky on this, read The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins. You will be able to reassure yourself that God does not exist. Fear of death is a very common thing; Christians learned to exploit it for their own terrible purposes.

Answer 5

Balls to that mate, think about it like this- I try to live a good life as far as possible which happens to agree with the bible on the major points ( I don't kill people, nick stuff, etc.). I do this because I feel it is the right thing to do, and I do it without the belief in an eternal reward- if there is a god, therefore, who's he more likely to let in? The guy who did good in what he believed to be a godless universe for it's own merit, or the guy who did it knowing at the back of his mind he'd go to hell if he didn't?

Answer 6

It makes no difference what people believe. The truth is you die eventually. What happens after your death is mere conjecture and cannot be determined by living people. Arguments either way are solid evidence of the fact that people are concerned about it all but only dying can bring you a final answer. Religion and spirituality are wonderful crutches for people who need some sort of guidance through life and perhaps find an easier acceptance of their inevitable death. People like to feel smarter and/or superior in some way to others and they think their beliefs are the road to such moral or general superiority. I personally don't care what anyone believes and I'll not argue over it in any way.

Answer 7

Thanks. I needed a drink. Pascal's Wager is stupid by the way.

- It assumes there is no downside. There is. You spend your life (the only one you do have) following a lie. That is a HUGE downside.

- How would you know which God to pick? The evidence is the same for Anubis, so what happens to you when you are wrong and you can't pass the questions from the Book of the Dead or your heart weighs heaver than a feather. There are thousands of others with the same evidence. Just picking one randomly doesn't do much for your odds.

- How could you hope to fool a god by saying you believe when you don't?

Answer 8

more problems: it's assumed without proof that if god exists it rewards belief while punishing disbelief. why would god punish someone for using the powers of perception, reasoning and conscience that he supposedly endowed them with? and would god be happy to have a believer who believed solely out of self interest?

pascal's wager is really a very silly argument in so many ways. i wonder if the believers who suggest it would ever have been convinced by it themselves.

Answer 9

*Drink* Do you know I'm so sick of this question that I'm not going to dignify it with an actual response, but give you a metaphorical *thump* on the head for not realizing that this question has been asked about 10 zillion trillion times!!!!!

What if Christians are wrong and the Jews are right? Or the Muslims are right? Or the Buddhists are right? Or the Greek Polytheists are right?

I'm sure you thought you were the first person to ask this question and that you were so clever..think again.

Answer 10

But what if the Boogie Man is real and you don't believe in him? Won't you be eaten by him?

If Christians are wrong you think nothing comes out of it? If atheists are right, you just wasted all the time you had on earth believing in nothing for absolutely nothing -

Answer 11

It's not about taking a chance. It's about being yourself, following what you know to be correct. Atheists view belief in God and religion as so ridiculous that it's laughable even to consider it.