By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
Normchacho said:
I'd actually like to take a moment to talk about Pascal's Wager for a moment.

In case anyone doesn't know, Pascal's Wager is the idea that the punishment for not believing in god and being wrong, outweighs any benefit from not believing in god and being right. Which just means that you might as well believe in god, because what's the harm in it, especially since you're dammed forever if you don't and end up being wrong.

I have some serious issues with this.

First, there are so many different religions (roughly 20 major ones currently) and they have so many different rules that how are you supposed to know which ones to follow? And that's assuming that one of the current, major religions is right and it's not some other thing that nobody has thought of, or that the Mayans were right or something.

Secondly, I've never been religious, but I never thought that believing in god was something you could really...choose. Don't you just, believe or not? I can't make myself believe in bigfoot, because I don't think he exists. Why would god be any different?

I'd like to add to that: Pascal's Wager seems to also assume a higher omniscient power would not be able to see through false pretenses.