Either there is a God, or there isn't.

[atreas]

I believe in God. Thus I have a fairly high chance of having a good afterlife.

One of the famous writers of my country asked for the following text to be written in his grave

"I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free."

Looking at his texts you could see he really believed in God - he just wanted to send a final message to all those who believed because of fear or hope.

 

[Sidhe]

Pascal's wager:
If there is a god (even if it isn't the monotheistic God that some of us believe in) then practicing morality would get you a better standing in the eyes of the Overlord.

If there is a god (God) and you are immoral then you lose standing in the eyes of the Greater Being, and you will regret your descisions.

If there isn't a god (God) and you are moral then nothing would happen, you just lead a more acceptable life.

If there isn't a god (God) and you are immoral then you have nothing to fear, yet your actions will still be dishonorable.

Thus: If you accept the existance of a Geater being and act moral then you have a 100% chance of being on the good side of a god (God)

Whereas if you are immoral and do not accept a Greater Being, then you have a 50% chance of being trodden upon.


I believe in God. Thus I have a fairly high chance of having a good afterlife.

Problem is most gamblers wouldn't gamble on intagibles, many gamblers are looking for real odds based on real things, be that good or bad or indifferent. Pascals wager is not a wager anyone who has thought deeply about anything would like to make.

No odds in faith and therefore no faith in odds.

 

[The Last Conformist]

In the afterlife, those who accepted Pascal's Wager will be eternally tormented by the Dice Gods.

 

[Kozmos]

God does not play dice. -Einstein

 

[Hotpoint]

To quote myself from a previous thread on the wager...

The obvious flaw with Pascals Wager is, as stated earlier, that there are several Gods so even if the atheists are wrong you have to choose the right one. What if the Norse were right and you end up missing your chance in Vahalla by not dying in battle with a weapon in your hand? Should you carry a bloody great battle-axe with you at all times just in case.

Actually playing the odds you'd be better off as a Polytheist. Why not hedge your bets on several deities in case at least one of those is real, statistically its a safer bet than Monotheism right?

Thinking about it further there is quite a lot of overlap between the Ancient Greek and Roman Pantheons so you get Zeus thrown in free with Jupiter, and Ares with Mars.

Play it safe, make the smart bet and start carrying a Coin for the Charon the Ferryman

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=168557&highlight=Pascals+Wager

 

[Sidhe]

God does not play dice. -Einstein

Einstien, Stop telling God what to do.

Niels Bohr.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Edit: On looking up "bodice ripper" in Wikipedia, it does sound quite bad.

And lots of money was made writing them over the years.

 

[mdwh]

Textbook case of argumentum ad etymologiam. Words don't necessarily mean what they etymologically "should" mean.

But it's also flawed to confuse two distinct meanings of the word. Yes, "agnostic" is commonly used in a "sitting on the fence" kind of way, but this is a very different meaning to the meaning of believing we can't know if God exists.

@warpus: This latter meaning could be compatible with theism, in that someone could believe God exists through faith, even though they say we cannot know whether he exists or not.

 

[mdwh]

Someone's already posted the flaw in Pascal's Wager - but I must say, I find it curious that not only do so many people come up with this argument without realising the flaw, but that they are even aware of its name, yet somehow have not come across the well documented rebuttals.

I think Homer Simpson has the best summary of this - "What if we picked the wrong religion? Every week we're just making God madder and madder".

 

[Bluemofia]

Pascal's wager:
If there is a god (even if it isn't the monotheistic God that some of us believe in) then practicing morality would get you a better standing in the eyes of the Overlord.

If there is a god (God) and you are immoral then you lose standing in the eyes of the Greater Being, and you will regret your descisions.

If there isn't a god (God) and you are moral then nothing would happen, you just lead a more acceptable life.

If there isn't a god (God) and you are immoral then you have nothing to fear, yet your actions will still be dishonorable.

Thus: If you accept the existance of a Geater being and act moral then you have a 100% chance of being on the good side of a god (God)

Whereas if you are immoral and do not accept a Greater Being, then you have a 50% chance of being trodden upon.


I believe in God. Thus I have a fairly high chance of having a good afterlife.

A flaw is:

If the correct god (God) prefers a person to not worship over worshipping incorrectly, then living as an atheist is better than living as a Christian in the eyes of that god (God).

Then again, the correct god (God) might be a death cultist, and living an immoral life (in the terms we consider moral and immoral) actually improves your standings to that god (God).

So my point is, there is no way you can know what god (God) wishes you to do to gain salvation, as there is no way for knowing the correct god (God) to please.

 

[blackheart]

Pascal's wager:

I find it rather blithe that you can base your faith on a simple wage and the probabilities of a punishment, if any.

 

[Sidhe]

Bluemofia: damn you're right, I reallly should of read the original thread, so I'd know how to formulate my opinion according to accepted scripture. I prefer my own wager, win or lose I'm only losing my own money. Sorry never read the absolute truth about Pascals, got bored by it's pointless stupidity.

 

[Tycoon101]

I find it rather blithe that you can base your faith on a simple wage and the probabilities of a punishment, if any.

No, I actually do not believe any of that junk, I just posted it here to see if I could conver the feeble-minded. Pascal's wager is useless in my opinion, but I felt like posting it anyway.

And Bluemofia, I agree with you entirely. I just believe that my God is correct, and that death cultist god is incorrect. But then again, we may ALL be incorrect.

 

[Gr3yL3gion]

I believe in gods, but don't worship any.

 

[bhsup]

Conservative protestant here. The Bible is true, Revelation will happen as John foresaw, and Fox News is the only righteous news channel on television.

Okay, okay, that last one was a joke.

 

[warpus]

@warpus: This latter meaning could be compatible with theism, in that someone could believe God exists through faith, even though they say we cannot know whether he exists or not.

That is a very interesting position.

 

[CaptainF]

God may exist, I don't really care.

 

[Narz]

God may exist, I don't really care.

God hath terrible wrath for those who ignore him and hurt his feelings!!!

 

[CaptainF]

God hath terrible wrath for those who ignore him and hurt his feelings!!!

Bah, so be it. He needs to be more understanding.

I don't care if he exists or not. I prefer to stay in the middle between atheism and religion.

 

[Narz]

Bah, so be it. He needs to be more understanding.

And a better marketing team.