(December 2, 2008 at 10:39 pm)EvidenceVsFaith Wrote: Its funny yes. Its pathetic yes. Its amusing yes. Its stupid...yes.
But its still a 'bad reason to believe in God'. its extremely pathetic. Because wagering, betting. Isn't actually belief. LMFAO! Faking belief is not belief. Pretending to believe in God. Is NOT believing in God. Belief is not a matter of policy
I wouldn't say Pascal's Wager was specifically bad reasoning, it's just bad reasoning for us ... what I mean by that is that it depends on what you value most from life. In essence Pascal's Wager is an insurance policy, it seems to say what have you got to lose by believing, and that could be true if you're not the kind of person that tries to use their mental faculties a great deal, it might actually make no difference to you so hell yeah, why not hedge your bets? If however, you value your freedom to think then the wager is not good because believing in something without evidence, without good reason effectively imprisons your mind in a cage. There are smart theists out there (yes they really exist despite being minus a few rational brain cells)that don't consider their minds imprisoned and I presume that is because they've bought into the idea but I haven't and I would so the wager doesn't work for me at all.
Kyu
