What do you have to lose by believing in a God/Creator?

Question

And, on the other hand, what might you stand to lose by not believing in a God/Creator?

Answer 1

You lose nothing if the God you believe in is Christ.

You lose your soul if you don't believe.

Answer 2

*drink*

Against my better judgement (those drinks sure work fast), I'm going to explain this to you.

Belief in a god usually implies some limitatons for your life, correct? No alcohol for muslims, no pork for jews, no beef for hindus...

So, there's a clearly defined "loss" there, unless you mean belief in an abstract way that doesn't involve religion at all. Furthermore, belief tends to mean modifying your behaviour to fit within the parameters of that belief. That's another limitation that'll diminish your choises in life.

Assuming you see those limitations as justifiable compared to the compensation of salvation/nirvana... or anyting like that, you're pretty much where you started.


The next problem is, which god/creator to believe in? There are quite a lot to choose from. There are the 3 abrahamic religions, and their subsects... Wiccans would give you a goddess, Hinduism gives you a whole panthenon, you could go native (shamanism, australian aboriginal, native american)... there are literally thousands of options.

Now, the question is, what's your best bet. Keep in mind that most religions tend to see the wrong choise as worse than no choise. If you pick the christian god, and the correct answer was Kali... you're in trouble, same thing the other way around.

If you really want to play with pascal's rules, you need to research them all, and see who gives the worst punisment compared to the odds of making the right choise. You might be safer not choosing in most cases ;)


Then there is the question of belief. There are admittedly some religions that emphasize the right way of living over actual belief. On the other hand, christian faiths tend to give little or no credit for right living. So, christian god would require real belief, not acting like you believed. And since god by definition is omnipotent, do you think you could bluff him/her/it? Honestly?


So, basically, it's a sucker's bet. You're taking a definate loss, for a possible later reward, and you don't even know who you're betting against. It just doesn't work. For a more thorough exlanation just google "Pascal's wager"

Answer 3

Lose free thought to think about ethics and other various subjects without being "forced" to believe in whatever a deity said. Lots and lots of time would also be lost in church, preaching, attempting to convert others, and much more.

Can't these Pascal Wager's arguments get any better?

Answer 4

i would lose rational intelligent thinking, i would loose time better spent on anything other than worshiping a fictitious character, i would loose money that could otherwise be spent on items for me or donated to help further the beneficial research of stem cells or even to help starving children eat a meal. i would also loose all self respect for degrading into a primitive intellect that allows religion.

religion is mythology

Santa is returning soon, are you prepared?!

Answer 5

What do you have to lose by believing in a God/Creator?

All the money you make.

Answer 6

You lose your entire life. But its the life that you would have lived without God. The new one is better..

Answer 7

Pascal's Wager.

Which god should I believe in? Since there are thousands to choose from, I don't want to choose the wrong one. Doing so may condemn me to suffering.

Answer 8

In Quran 41/52
Say: ‘Consider [this]: if it, the Qur’ān, is from God, as the Prophet says, and you disbelieve in it, who — in other words, none — will be further astray than one who is in extreme defiance?
In other words:Just imagine that Quran was the real word from God and you disbelieved in it. What will be your destination

Answer 9

Hi Pascal.

Answer 10

One cannot believe in something that defies logic.....at least not intelligent people.

It's like believing in beings from the Orion constellation.