Just got forwarded a quote from a muslim/agnostic friend of mine and decided to share it on AP.
Quote: “Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is.” [Blaise Pascal, Pensées, Infini-Rien]
I would say buying into God based on Pascal's Wager has to be the most cynical and insincere form of belief there is. (Televangelists' motivations excepted).
Posts: 7687 | Location: On Vacation | Registered: 06-06-02
Originally posted by juanruiz: I would say buying into God based on Pascal's Wager has to be the most cynical and insincere form of belief there is. (Televangelists' motivations excepted).
Proberbly you are right. But the assumption he is making is 'it is better than no belief'.
It commits the fallacy of the false dilemma. The choice is not binary - no god or the Christian god.
There is another possibility.
There is another god, for example the Jewish god, who will condemn the person who has taken Pascal's wager, and put his faith in the Christian god. Most Mediterranean cultures believed in hell as a place of torment for the unfaithful.
Even if you use Pascal's wager more broadly, and say either - god, or - no god, the possibility exists that there are more gods than one, and you could pick the wrong one. You might insult the one that cares who you believe in.
Posts: 6568 | Location: British Columbia, Canada | Registered: 06-11-02
You might insult the one that cares who you believe in.
Can this be backed up by any scriptural reference of any belief ?
Christian God ! If that refers to Christ (peace be upon him) then yes there is a big risk , if at the end say Jewsih or Islamic faith turns out to be true. But if Christain God, refers only to the Heavenly Father, I see no risk from the point of view Islam or Judaism (i think even from the point of view of Hinduism and Buddhism).
I do not know if the assummption of Pascal's God is Christian God... I thought it is One (Unseen) God as stated in the first commandment from Christ (peace be upon him) himself.
at the URL you have given us above, you will find the reference to the Christian god.
Of course the greeks, who may have originated the idea of only one god, (which some of them called the unknown god, deduced the god's existence from the notion of the Prime Mover. So they had no need for a trinity, Mary as a demi-god, or any of those later ideas.
Posts: 6568 | Location: British Columbia, Canada | Registered: 06-11-02
I think that the New Testament says that all blasphemies will be forgiven. So this must mean that whichever God in whom one believes is all right. However, what about belief in no God? Is this a blasphemy, or a horse of a different color? I vote for just another blasphemy to be forgiven.
