(August 28, 2012 at 3:04 pm)MysticKnight Wrote: A problem with Pascal's wager, is in the very title. You are wagering. Really you shouldn't wager at all. You should rather try to seek knowledge.
And this I feel all religions teach. They teach you shouldn't be basing your life on what you don't know but trying to attain knowledge and follow what you know.
There is a verse in Quran that says "And do not follow what you have no knowledge of" and says "Do you say about God what you don't know?".
As far as the fear aspect of religion goes, it should be reformed into, there is a consequence for disbelieving in the religion, therefore, you better make sure the religion is wrong if you are not going to follow it.
And I think this is a fair request from those whom believe in those type of religions. The reason is because they feel there is a huge consequence for disbelieving in the religion. They believe the consequence for disbelieving in the religion is to be tortured and tormented forever. Moreover, they believe it's "evil" and "greatly wrong" to disbelieve in the religion.
Now of course, none of this is reason for people to believe in the religion, but it's a logical and reasonable reason to take it seriously if and only if one doesn't know it's wrong.
Putting aside the fact that we have enough evidence to know that the known religions are wrong, we are not required to take it seriously even if we don't know that its wrong.
For example, I do not know that the corn on my foot is not a rare type of viral infection which would spread overnight leaving no choice but to amputate my leg and a fat embolism from the resulting surgery would lead to a brain aneurysm. However, my absence of knowledge on this point is not a "logical and reasonable reason" for me to run to the doctor everytime something changes in my body.
