A question to think about.

[Tank]

My friend and I were having a debate about whether god is not real or not.He is a average free thinker and I am also a average free thinker.While we were debating,he said something that really hit me.

 He said "John,if you do believe in god you go to heaven if you don't,you have the possibility to go to hell,so why take the chance?"He then proceeded to tell me that religion is really just a gamble and that choosing one religion is that you have one chance to go to heaven so why become an atheist and take no chances at all?

I was really thinking about the question he asked me,so I wanna know what you guys think about this question.

There could be a God that hates the idea of spending eternity with believers.  I know I do.

I think your safe, you'll be down in hell with all us lot   actually that may not be an improvement!

[NothingSacred]

My friend and I were having a debate about whether god is not real or not.He is a average free thinker and I am also a average free thinker.While we were debating,he said something that really hit me.

 He said "John,if you do believe in god you go to heaven if you don't,you have the possibility to go to hell,so why take the chance?"He then proceeded to tell me that religion is really just a gamble and that choosing one religion is that you have one chance to go to heaven so why become an atheist and take no chances at all?

I was really thinking about the question he asked me,so I wanna know what you guys think about this question.

I struggle with the idea as well as I am a former christian. My problem is most religions don't just require that you believe in their god but also that you worship it and sacrifice your entire life (literally if need be) for it. Every minute of every day of your life is meant to be devoted to that god. Looking at most of the gods of various religions they dont deserve that kind of love and devotion considering the things they are said to advocate. Gambling your life, love,time money,devotion and energy on the slim chance that there is a god and you got the right one is wreckless. There is alot to lose. If I said im going to spend my last dollar on a lottery ticket in hopes of winning you'd probably say i was irresponsible. Why then gamble what is probably the only life you'll get one the remote chance of a god?

[pinkocommie]

Well put, NothingSacred.

[Byronazriel]

Pascal's wager is a terrible selling point for Christianity, but there are a few religions that it makes more sense for.

Such as Odinism/heathenry, Hellenistic Paganism, Shamanism, maybe Shinto?, and my personal set of beliefs. Among others.

Quoted from wikipedia: "Half of those that die in combat travel to Valhalla upon death, led by valkyries, while the other half go to the goddess Freyja's field Fólkvangr."

Notice how it doesn't say BELIEVERS, the only qualifier is that you die in combat.

In my version of things it has more to do with who you are as a person, than what you believe in. All souls go to the summerland, but what they find there depends a great deal on how they lived their lives.

I like my afterlife, but I'd be willing to hang in Valhalla. It sounds like all kinds of fun!  

[hismikeness]

I've been on this board for a little over a year, and admittedly don't have the best memory (thanks in part to numerous concussions) but this seems to be about the 5th thread that has been started by someone who has come across Pascal's wager, without knowing it as such, and the question has moved them enough to post on here about it. Then, the collective we informs that this is PW that they are struggling with and poke holes in it. At least a couple of those threads had to be started by trolls, right???   I don't think that is the case here. No disrespect intended to the OP.

So what is it about PW that makes people who hear it for the first time think it is so profound?

I remember asking myself essentially the same thing when I first started questioning my faith at about 14 years old, but it was more along the lines of "I'll continue to believe, because 'what if I'm wrong?'". It wasn't until I considered there might be an Indian teenager asking himself the same thing about Hinduism that I realized it was BS.

[DropLogic]

If I'm going to hell with the rest of you people...thank god.

[kaze420]

man talks with god 2000 years ago: blessed prophet
man talks with god today: crazy nutcase

[Byronazriel]

Now that's unfair... People can speak to any god they want without being crazy, deluded perhaps, crazy no.

If god speaks BACK, then we can talk about crazy.

[Asmodean]

Now that's unfair... People can speak to any god they want without being crazy, deluded perhaps, crazy no.

If god speaks BACK, then we can talk about crazy.

Deluded is just another dimension of crazy.

[DropLogic]

Yeah I would argue that talking to god is a little on the crazy side.
That, or childish.  see: imaginary friend.

[Byronazriel]

Fine, I'll concede that conversations with unvarifeid invisible beings are a tad crazy... But I retain my belief that crazy isn't a bad thing in and of itself.

[kaze420]

my main point  of my talk was this:
believe you will conscious forever and you will be
easy pass for eternal life?

how can you become 'unconscious' to reality once your conscious it exists? even after death you remain conscious somewhere in existence

i dont believe in 'god', i believe in love, my worldview is love

[DropLogic]

Fine, I'll concede that conversations with unvarifeid invisible beings are a tad crazy... But I retain my belief that crazy isn't a bad thing in and of itself.

Crazy is also relative to the observer.
Healthy crazy is just a synonym for 'different'.

[Byronazriel]

"I'm insane. I didn't understand a word you said."
â€" Friedrich Nietzsche  

[i_am_i]

even after death you remain conscious somewhere in existence

Wait a minute, that isn't in my reference manual.