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RE: Pascal's wager redux.....
September 15, 2013 at 11:59 pm
Wouldn't it be ironic if only freethinkers go to Heaven because God has only so much room and needs the best and brightest minds. Turns out life really is a test and those who keep the faith fail.
So renounce Jesus and become a free thinker just in case.
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RE: Pascal's wager redux.....
September 16, 2013 at 12:17 am
All this guff about what "God" wants us to do totally misses the point that it presupposes this "God" is real in the first place. What happens if you get to whatever passes for the other side and the first thing you see is Ganesha's trunk sticking in your face? Have you xtians ever given a thought as to what you'll say then?
Of course, you could fake it and say you'll believe in whatever god confronts you out of convenience, but is that really going to work? Personally, I'm not a god - I know, shocker - yet I can tell when someone's not being entirely honest with me. My Princess was always amazed that I seemed to be able to read her mind but it was down to simple human empathy. Imagine if I really was a god with all that goes with the job:
"Ooh yes, my Lord, I've always been your biggest fan..."
"Ok, 'off' is the direction I would like you to fuck now. And don't grovel; if there's one thing I can't stand, it's people grovelling."
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
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RE: Pascal's wager redux.....
September 16, 2013 at 9:10 am
(September 13, 2013 at 3:08 am)max-greece Wrote: Just a bit of fun....
Pascal's wager is essentially either there is a God or there isn't a God. If there isn't and you worship you lose a bit of time from your life but overall - not much harm done. If, however, there is a God and you reject him (her/them) then you get to burn in eternity.
Why take the risk?
Well lets look at the size of the risk - or rather lets look at your chances of getting into heaven, accepting God:
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rel...traditions there are some 4,200 religions in the world. The one common element amongst them is that they all believe they are right AND that therefore all other religions are wrong.
If we accept that only one religion can be right then we have to conclude immediately that, even if there is a God(s) your chances of getting into heaven is 1 in 4200.
Actually we have to make that 4201 immediately because there is a finite chance that none of the religions around today are right, that there is, however, a right one waiting to be discovered.
Further - very few people would actually argue that God is an absolute certainty. If we put an arbitrary factor on God at 50% then you chance of going to heaven becomes one in (4200+1)*2 or one in 8402.
So it may be only a few hours a week that is needed - but that's gonna add up over my lifetime and for a long-shot with odds at 1 in 8402 I'll risk it.
And, to build on this, in Christianity alone there are over 41,000 denominations who all believe each other to be incorrect interpretations of the texts and therefore likely to displease god and lead to a somewhat toasty afterlife, so, for Christianity alone the odds are 1 in 41,000.
Personally I'd rather buy a lottery scratchcard, the odds are better.
MM
"The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions" - Leonardo da Vinci
"I think I use the term “radical” rather loosely, just for emphasis. If you describe yourself as “atheist,” some people will say, “Don’t you mean ‘agnostic’?” I have to reply that I really do mean atheist, I really do not believe that there is a god; in fact, I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one ... etc., etc. It’s easier to say that I am a radical atheist, just to signal that I really mean it, have thought about it a great deal, and that it’s an opinion I hold seriously." - Douglas Adams (and I echo the sentiment)
