2007-10-24 08:56:29 · 5 answers · asked by anthony 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
yes yes, this is someone's conjecture, or gamble or something, it has a name, and I'm sure someone will identify it. It is false tho, because in believing in god you must necessarily dis-believe in anything that is inconsistent with the existence of god. So you don't lose "nothing" at all. You lose access to all else other than that idea and those ideas consistent with it.
2007-10-24 09:01:13 · answer #1 · answered by All hat 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
That sounds like a variation on Pascal's Wager. Basically, he said that if he acts as if he believes in god, and no god exists, he's further ahead than not believing, but god does exist.
There are a few problems with this. First - if your god is omnipotent, won't he know that you're only acting? Second, which god do you believe in? The christian one? The jewish one? Any of the greek, roman, norse, or hindu gods? Manitou? Pele, the goddess of volcanoes? Pick the wrong one, and you might be offending all the others.
2007-10-24 16:03:29 · answer #2 · answered by Ralfcoder 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Actually God loses nothing if one doesn't believe that he exists. What a human person would lose would be their faith in God's existence.
2007-10-24 16:32:03 · answer #3 · answered by Timaeus 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
That was Pascal, I think.
He was right.
I've heard people over and over again say you have to make your own personal meaning. If we all make our own personal meaning, then one meaning is as good as another. And if it turns out that we received our personal meaning through an incorrect belief in God, so what?
Belief is an act of the intellect. You can choose to seek God and if you do, then you have to believe (hold as true) that He exists because we don't seek things that don't think exist. Belief is a means to an end.
And if we do pick the wrong God by honest error, I think a good God will forgive honest error. But I don't think that's a problem if we simply resolve to seek the One who created us.
2007-10-24 16:03:27 · answer #4 · answered by Matthew T 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Yes, this is known as Pascal's wager. It is also a logical, informal fallacy: The False Dilemma. I am also saying this as a Christian myself, and this is a false dilemma, because unfortuantely faith is not sufficent for salvation--grace is though. Many people who have 'faith' may not have the sufficent grace, and therefore go to hell and lose everything. That is the third possibility.
2007-10-24 18:42:33 · answer #5 · answered by nick p 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋