Pascal’s Wager Rewritten

Would you rather live your life as if there were no God and then die and find out that there is? You have got nothing to lose believing in God and trusting in the Lord, well nothing but eternity if you don’t.

Copyright of Lone WolfThis argument is called Pascal's Wager. The name comes from Blaise Pascal who was a mathematician and physicist who lived in the 17th century but it predates Blaise Pascal. This is probably one of the most common arguments for the existence of god.
It is bad a argument. It fails to provide evidence for a god and it fails to convince people there is a god.

The first problem is: You do loose things. You loose 10% of your income, your Sundays, you have to follow meaningless rules that have no practical nor any real world value, you can loose your health by praying instead of going to a doctor, you can cause the deaths of your children by praying instead of taking them to the doctor you can loose your life in an exorcism, you can kill your children by taking them to an exorcist, you can loose your life savings and you can loose yore happiness by denying who you are (and thats just the short list).
Second: Belief is not a choice. For five minutes believe there is no god, that you live in the matrix or that you are some one completely different. At the most you can put your beliefs aside and look at things from a different perspective but you don't choose your beliefs.
Third: Which religion and which version of that religion? There are many religions and many gods. Which should I choose? Well I live in a primarily Christian country and primarily deal with Christians so most would tell me "Christianity". Which version? there are over 38,000 versions-oh I'm sorry, "denominations". Which denomination do I choose?
Forth: It is a completely fallacious argument. It is a false dichotomy by assuming there are only two possibilities when (as pointed out above) there are many and it is an appeal to consequences.
Fifth: It violates two of the Three things to remember when trying to convince someone.

The argument utterly fails and should never be used.

Lastly I offer you my wager
Whether there is a god or not live as if there isn't one and try to make the world a better place for you and others. If there is a god and its good you will be reworded, if there isn't, you lived your life and made the world a better place.
© 2009 all rights reserved

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