so often, i here some form of pascal's wager being asked by christians to atheists. it makes me wonder. is this a natural thought that just pops into the average christian's mind? or is it a question that they were asked by some other christian? it seems all to common of a question to just be coincidental. to those who have asked this question, not realizing it's been asked thousands of times over, was this just a natural idea that occured to you, or were you presented with it by another christian?
for those who don't know what i'm talking about yet. pascal's wager refers to the christian argument, where choosing to believe in god is the best choice. the reasoning goes, if i believe and i'm right, i get to go to heaven. if i believe and i'm wrong, nothing happens to me. if i don't believe and i'm right nothing happens. however, if i don't believe and i'm wrong, i go to hell. the argument begins to fall apart however when you consider both may be wrong...
2007-12-06 07:29:05 · 18 answers · asked by just curious (A.A.A.A.) 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Pascal was a simpleton?
2007-12-06 07:32:19 · answer #1 · answered by Trina™ 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Can't speak for others but I read Pascal's work (Pensées).
Also, in your question, consider you can't have both positions be wrong. The wager is presented in its closed context. The argument doesn't address other options, that wasn't Pascal's intent. You are suggesting an alternate wager. However, that would not negate this proposed thought. In this wager the positions are diametrically opposed. Either God is and faith in Him results in eternal life or there is no God.
FYI, the logic is applied in other faiths as well. See second link to start your research (Kalama Sutta).. not to be confused with the much more inter sting read the Kamasutram (It has some positions to consider there as well!!!!)
2007-12-06 07:45:21 · answer #2 · answered by Consider_This 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well I've noticed that Pascal's Wager questions come in waves. In fact, the reason bettierage first started drinking to them was that for a few days, it was like every other question was Pascal's Wager. In fact, they were almost always worded, "What if you're wrong?"
That makes me think that somewhere in the subculture of Christianity, that argument was released. Maybe in a newsletter pastors subscribe to for sermon ideas? Maybe on a Trinity Broadcasting Network show? Something.
I think the waves of identical questions we get -- especially about Pascal's Wager -- indicates that somehow Christians are getting apologetics marching orders or something.
2007-12-06 07:33:51 · answer #3 · answered by STFU Dude 6 · 5⤊ 0⤋
The wager boils down to choosing to pretend to believe out of fear. I think that anyone not a fanatical extremist should have doubts about a belief that is by definition based solely on faith.
I think the wager is a natural reaction to that doubt. In fact I personally think that the fear is intentionally built into many belief systems. People who start religions are actually pretty smart about human nature. The fear is a brick wall for many to rebound off of when they begin to question the beliefs.
Think about it. If christianity said that you don't have to believe but only be a good person then who would believe? No you must believe or be punished. And it's the fear of the punishment for not believing that people rebound off of.
And that is the heart of the wager. Better to at least pretend to believe than risk the punishment.
2007-12-06 07:31:59 · answer #4 · answered by tuyet n 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
The loophole is that no God worth worshiping would settle for such a CYA method of "believing." Also, it's not true that if you believe and it turns out the atheists are right, nothing happens to you. You get suckered into giving a church a bunch of money, compromising your own moral judgment by accepting the rules laid down by said church, and at an extreme, allowing yourself to be bamboozled into believing in things that will make it impossible for you to get a decent science education. Not to mention all the unnecessary neurosis for things that are called sins but are really not wrong.
2007-12-06 08:45:08 · answer #5 · answered by auntb93 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They do think they are having an original thought.
I suspect the kind of reasoning used by Pascal is the reason many people become Christians.
2007-12-06 07:35:37 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pascal's Wager is silly.
Believing in God simply to save yourself is selfish. Being selfish is a sin, therefore, you are constantly in a state of sin, therefore you don't go to heaven.
Anyone who thinks a bad person who claims to believe in God has more chance of Heaven than a good person who does not believe is no Christian in my book. If you are a good person, you don't go to hell, regardless of religion.
2007-12-06 07:32:10 · answer #7 · answered by Free Thinker A.R.T. ††† 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Pascal's wager is silly. Obviously you can't just believe in god because it's a good bet. Any competent god would know what's in your heart anyway.
2007-12-06 07:32:21 · answer #8 · answered by flyin520 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I think it is a natural thought: "What if you're wrong". But I also think that a modified version of the wager floats around various circles from time to time.
2007-12-06 07:33:33 · answer #9 · answered by Pirate AM™ 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I have wondered about this often. Most seem genuinely surprised when we point out that approx. 9,134,632,123 Christians living and dead have asked this question since Pascal first named it.
2007-12-06 07:33:15 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Does anyone ever remember any thing else about Pascal besides his wager?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaise_Pascal
He did contribute so much to math..etc
2007-12-06 07:47:58 · answer #11 · answered by PROBLEM 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋