(May 19, 2009 at 12:14 am)icthus Wrote: If,after my life is done,and there is only nothingness as you state,what have I lost because of my faith? Nothing-I still had a wonderful life because of my faith-however ,you speak of a hell in your post,so if I am correct I have gained everything.Pascal's Wager - Some things to think about.
1) What if the Muslims are correct? Then the Christian and the atheist have both lost.
2) What if religion x is correct? Same again!
3) What if god exists but applauds honest disbelief and condemns blind faith? After all, didn't god give us our free will? It would be quite hypocritical to then condemn us for using it.
4) What if your Bible is incorrect about who goes to Heaven; it was written by men after all...
5) If there is no god, you could argue you have lost nothing, but I would argue you have lost your life, the only thing that was important. You spent it going around trying to convert people when you could have been doing so many cool things instead.
6) The whole wager is a false dichotomy; how do you know there aren't many places you go when you die (instead of just two).
7) The wager reduces god down to a mere fool, because it says that people "ought" to believe. However such a wager does not tell the people how to believe, or even make the person believe. I could go around telling people I "believed" in god but if I died and faced it on judgment day, I doubt an all-powerful god would see past that ruse, and if it did, what kind of god is that?
