Pascal's Gambit (Bear with me)

[agentflare]

As a counter argument,

This. (

)

[Xenocidius]

But if you're worshiping God just because it makes mathematical sense, then you're not really believing in him, are you?

[gumbeh]

Maybe I should simply join every religion in order to hedge my bets as much as possible!

Scientology could get expensive, though... and the right religion might turn out to be a religion that punishes you for additional lifetimes based on how many wrong religions you joined. Bugger.

[adrix89]

There is no right religions, only God.

[PuppyChow]

Oh Lord... Why am I joining in religious discussions again? This cannot end well.

Anyway, as a Christian, I can say that while Pascal's Gambit may make theoretical sense, there are a multitude of problems with it:

1) God knows your heart. If you choose to believe solely for Pascal's Gambit it won't work. Because in your heart you'll know you aren't REALLY sure that he's real; you only know that the benefits if he IS real outweigh the negatives if he isn't.

2) For atheists it makes no sense either, even if you don't believe point one. Athiests are generally absolutely sure there isn't a God, in which case the math doesn't work out; in their case the expected value is negative for believing and positive for not believing since they believe the chance that there is a God is 0*.
*If you don't, I count you as an agnostic.

Good reasons to be a Christian are plentiful, but Pascal's Gambit is not one of them.

[mildlyfrightenedboy]

If someone's only reason for "believing" in God is to go to heaven and not hell, then I don't think that they would be going to heaven in the first place...

[Wimbledofy]

If you're going to believe in something arbitrary at least put you faith into something worth it.
I always like people that believe themselves god, at least they know the trick,after all you can't go wrong with believing in yourself

Hitler believed in himself, and we all know how that turned out.

[doublecross]

If you're going to believe in something arbitrary at least put you faith into something worth it.
I always like people that believe themselves god, at least they know the trick,after all you can't go wrong with believing in yourself

Hitler believed in himself, and we all know how that turned out.

Small historical point: Hitler didn't really start believing his rhetoric until later in his regime.  If you actually look at his actions as he is gaining power, his speeches were full of tons of conflicting policy ideas, as well as talking points, and he re-used the ones the crowds reacted the most strongly to. If was not until after he had been repeating the lines for several years, and listening to his own party's propaganda for some time, that he begins providing evidence that he actually believed in what he was saying, because at that point, he began making decisions that were contrary to the war effort just to advance the racist agenda.