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The wager is based on the false assumption that living life as if God existed has everything to gain, and nothing to lose. Unfortunately, God, at least in religions I know of, demands considerably more than ‘nothing’.
What was the point of the video? Bad Jokes?
The wager is based on the assumption that God is a complete idiot who couldn’t see through you playing the odds, even if you don’t really buy into it.
If you think your God is a complete buffoon, then sure, play the Wager.
“Pascal’s Wager (or Pascal’s Gambit) is a suggestion posed by the French philosopher Blaise Pascal that even though the existence of God cannot be determined through reason, a person should wager as though God exists, because living life accordingly has everything to gain, and nothing to lose.” Wiki
… and since living life according to “God” is subjective, or in Pascals words, cannot be determined through reason, then Pascals wager is impossible to make.
Over to you Pascal.
… oh right, you’re dead. How convenient.
is an unreasoned wager impossible to make?
Hey Pasca! Post something from Heaven.
… ya, I thought so.
#5, sargasso…. no, a wager on something undefinable is impossible to make.
For instance, can you wager that “it” will be “something”, and have any meaning?
Just to recap: Live life as if god exists = be a decent person else you will end up with a mob of impolite morons posting all sorts of extremely childish responses any chance they get without actually ever trying to read and understand anything.
#7
Read Wittgenstein and there is your answer.
Donal, how do you know God is decent?
Actually, Wittgenstein doesn’t answer my question in any of his writings. Why? Because the answer is obvious. It’s no.
It would be reckless to not take Pascal’s wager seriously.
@Skeptic #4
I win.
But what if the god I believe in is, say, Cinteotl. Seems he required a lot of blood sacrifice.
Or maybe I follow the true way of several other gods that command me to kill.
Any god who’s smart enough to create a universe will respect the skeptic’s intellectual approach more than the blind believer’s unthinking approach.
[Best religious comment ever. – ed.]
#14 If you want to believe in Aztec corn gods go ahead. You can explain where the blood came from should the need arise. 🙂
The need to specify a Judeo-Christian god (leaning more towards New Testament) tends to prove my point about morons (in which group, I must include myself for responding to this comment)
#10 see the paragraph above.
#15
Don’t forget some (super tiny minority) believers (or used to be non-believers but became one) who approached this topic through actual rational interrogation on the matter.
Debating the existence of God purely resting on the Pascal’s Wager is like debating the validity of General Relativity (OK, I just know the fundamentals but not any thing deep on this theory) purely focusing on Algebra. That is why most of these debates on God are shallow at best.
Religion: History’s longest game of telephone.
You all are faggots, heaven is awesome.
Sincerely,
Pascal
Donal… you refer to the God of love AKA the god of wrath AKA the god of complete indifference?
Yeah, I’ve read about him. I’ve choosen to be a better person than that.
Like Pascal, one can ponder “what if” and one is still left with only questions and no answers. Adults discussing “what if.”
Silly Hoomans.
Re:#13, Blaise Pascal, re: “I win”.
You’ll understand that, me being a skeptic, I’ll need some verification. I will humbly ask for you forgiveness as soon as you make the type in this post spin 100 times at 20 rpm counter-clockwise.
I guess Pascal was an idiot after all. Go figure. Christian mathematicians and scientists… makes you want to … um… oh wait, they did good science AND were Christians. Oh snap.
Mitchell…you make me laugh … again. Love the M and W Look… http://youtube.com/watch?v=5Tcopu2qukE
“You all are faggots…”
Wait a minute!
Just because we are all being f__ked by Barney Frank doesn’t mean we like it.
“♫ ♫ … so be good for goodness’ sake! ♫ ♫”
I’ve seen the clip…
…and searched for QI bbc show on the YouTube.
Don’t know about Pascal’s wager very much, but the show is awesome.
But seriously, it’s a sign of weakness and unmanliness to believe in a god. It’s like saying “daddy, I don’t want to go camping because there might be bears”. (god = bears) And daddy the scientist is saying “Kid just try it and you’ll see, there’s no bears”.
Man that’s fancy silken top Dave has on.
#28 So what you’re saying is that you love bears? What a bold twink you are! Dallas will be calling you soon sailor!
According to my translation of the Koran if you are an atheist you fall outside the groups that can be permitted to live even by paying the tax and accepting a subservient position in society.