fatpaul
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Post by fatpaul on Nov 23, 2018 13:27:36 GMT
When Pascal wrote his Pensées in the 17th century, he wasn’t writing for the masses nor The Church, he was writing to his fellow academics whom he saw as turning away from the traditional Scholastic method, becoming more secular. However, The Church wasn’t even happy about it as they saw a belief in God being true and not a matter of coin flipping.
It was an appeal to pragmatism and it wasn’t about being right or wrong. Looking at the wager anachronistically, it does seem stupid but given the period, it was actually pretty clever as it predated pragmatic and decision theories. This why we still remember the wager and not solely because it is a common argument today used by believers.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2018 16:42:57 GMT
Someone on the world wide web came up with this gem:
"Better to believe in something than nothing. If Christianity is false and there is no God, the Christians have lost nothing. If Christianity is true and there is a God, then atheists have lost everything."
Pascal's Wager also begs the question, who is willing to lose more? Who trusts their understanding more? Who is willing to sacrifice more for such a potential error? |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2018 16:46:20 GMT
If so? You can have "if" and make the same argument for any religion/belief. So how is the argument sound? Because one chance of being right is better than no chance at all.  |
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Post by The Herald Erjen on Nov 23, 2018 17:09:40 GMT
Because one chance of being right is better than no chance at all. Nice to see you reading the Bible, Eddy. I think you get more out of it when you read it yourself. |
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Post by rizdek on Nov 23, 2018 18:42:18 GMT
Pascal was Roman Catholic, wasn't he? So was he right to be Roman Catholic? And are Protestants wrong to be Protestants?
Besides, in Matthew, Jesus said there are some who will say "Lord Lord" believing themselves to be believing correctly but he will say depart from me I never knew you because, despite their "belief" that they believed in the Lord, they will not have been pleasing to Jesus. The upshot being that Pascal could be wrong about being right. He could lose everything by believing...believing (and doing) the wrong things.
Pascal believed in the only true God of the bible. The demons believe in the "one true God" of the Bible. As Christ said... "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder." So, we see that simply "believing" isn't enough. |
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Post by Cody™ on Nov 23, 2018 18:49:27 GMT
Pascal believed in the only true God of the bible. The demons believe in the "one true God" of the Bible. As Christ said... "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder." So, we see that simply "believing" isn't enough. The demons believe and tremble. Pascal believed and worshiped. But also accepted Christ as his Savior. |
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Post by rizdek on Nov 24, 2018 0:25:48 GMT
The demons believe in the "one true God" of the Bible. As Christ said... "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder." So, we see that simply "believing" isn't enough. The demons believe and tremble. Pascal believed and worshiped. But also accepted Christ as his Savior. Sure. Lots of people claim to "accept" Christ as their Savior...Many will say Lord Lord and Jesus will say depart from me, I never knew you.
Plus, there are many places where it seemed the right thing to do to "Fear" God.
Exodus 14:31 When Israel saw the great power which the LORD had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in His servant Moses.
Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.
Sounds like it's not just the demons who tremble.
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