There is no god. - Page 62

AllBeachNoOcean · 09-28-2007, 05:49 PM

This quote (paraphrased) may have been posted already, but I really do not feel like wading back through 61 pages of Philosophy 101- anyway...

"I would rather live believing in God only to find that He doesn't exist, than to live a non-believer, die, and find out that He does."

-???

If anyone can post the actual quote I would appreciate it.

Also, for those of you who feel that it is a truly intellectual pursuit to deny the existence of any higher being you should refer to Pascals' Wager. In short, by denying or choosing not to pursue anything that can't be disproved absolutely you are refusing to acknowledge infinite possibilities. What could possibly be less intellectual or scientific? Other than this post, of course!

Fats Schindee · 09-28-2007, 08:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AllBeachNoOcean

"I would rather live believing in God only to find that He doesn't exist, than to live a non-believer, die, and find out that He does."

I think that Pascal's wager was brought up before in this thread, but I'm too lazy to wade through the myriad pages above to try to confirm that. So here are my two cents:

There are a few problems with using this argument as a reason to believe in God. The two that bother me the most are as follows...

1. Okay, we'll pretend there is a God... but which one? There are many religions out there that believe in many different gods. What if I spend all my time and energy believing in the wrong one? What if, although I'm believing in God just so that if I die I won't have to find out the consequences of non-belief, my false belief turns out to anger [insert your God here] even more than no belief at all? Will I then spend two eternities in [insert your God here]'s version of hell?! Should we all just believe in every single God out there that has ever been invented just so that we have all our bases covered when we die? I'm sure that will go over well with whichever God (if, of course, there is one) turns out to be the "real" one...

2. This wager is basically telling us that we should believe in God just for the sake of believing in him/her/it. If God is omniscient (which many religions view their God to be - including Chrisitianity, which is what Blaise Pascal believed in), won't he/she/it know that we are only believing for this sake? How will you explain that one to him/her/it once you die? You: "Well, I really do believe in you..." God: "No, you don't" You: "Uh, yeah... I do" God: "No, you don't... I'm omniscient - I know everything." You: "Oh... well, I at least pretended to believe in you so that I could try to trick you into letting me into your heaven... that's gotta count for something, right?!"

I'm just not buyin' it... it's not a very good argument for belief in a God.

Yariv · 09-29-2007, 01:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AllBeachNoOcean

"I would rather live believing in God only to find that He doesn't exist, than to live a non-believer, die, and find out that He does."

this quote is not logical, as these are not the only two possibilities.

further, if you don't believe, that basically means (IMO) that you are not concerned with what will happen when you die. If you fear some sort of judgement after your death, you believe in something higher than science can explain, even if you don't call it god.

if there is no evidence that something exists, then it doesn't exist. there is no evidence that anything happens after death, or that there is any higher power unexplainable by science.

"I would rather live a non-believer, because I'm not going to find out anything when I die."

FlyXJTnow · 10-28-2007, 12:56 AM

Thought I'd bring this thread back....

Question for people who believe in Intelligent Design. If the universe shows signs of being created by an intelligent being, and you believe everything is designed by a "creator", then who created God?

If everything comes from a designer, then how can something always exist?

known · 10-28-2007, 01:15 AM

will this thread go to heaven if it ever dies?

Red Swingline · 10-28-2007, 02:08 AM

I'm pretty sure if you bothered to check back through 62 pages you'd realize you aren't the first person to think of that one - or something like it.

"If God is all powerful, can He make a rock so big that He Himself can't lift it?"
-George Carlin

If someone provided an answer would it make a difference to you, or are ya just trying to be clever?