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Posted by So long on November 16, 19101 at 11:32:01:
In Reply to: Forget God posted by OsmanII on November 18, 19100 at 22:57:58:
: Forget God
: Blaise Pascal suggested that it is rational to believe in God. "Even
: if evidence of God’s existence is slim, a sensible gambler will choose
: to believe in Him, since to so do is a good bet. If I'm wrong, well,
: death is final. If I'm right, then everlasting bliss awaits me."
then what is your God now: money money?? do you still believe in some spirituality? what is your ideology? Your belief? motivation to live?
: I have to disagree with Pascal’s reasoning; believing in God may not be such a good bet.
: I agree, I have no way of knowing whether God exists or not; I have
: also no way of knowing whether he is good or evil or something else.
: I realize that all certainty about God eludes me. I really don't
: know if such an entity exists. I am skeptical about all kinds of
: deductive arguments that "prove" his existence. If someone comes up
: with an argument that proves God's existence and someone else proves
: the opposite....well that results in a logical contradiction. A and
: ~A cannot be both true at the same time. So, only one may be true, or
: both may be false. As you can see this doesn't help me much. Thus, I
: shall return to my original proposition: either God exists or
: he/she/it doesn't; and it's either good, evil or neither.
: Therefore, if I am on bad behavior, then the good God will punish
: me, if he exists. But, what if I am on good behavior and the evil
: God - if he exists - doesn't approve of it and punishes me for being
: good? What if there exists a God who is neither good nor evil? What
: should I do then? How should I act? I have no way of knowing; and,
: contrary to what Pascal claims, doing good, and believing in God, won't
: necessarily be a good bet.
: What am I to do then? Well, I have resolved to do as I please:
: sometimes good and sometimes evil and sometimes neither.
: If no God exists, then I am not in trouble. If a good God exists
: then I would tell him: "you gave me an intellect that is capable of
: reasoning about your existence, and this is what I came up with...."
: At that point he would boot me out to hell. If the God is evil,
: well, then I am screwed anyway.
: I'm not sure if there is such a thing as a good bet.
: I suggest forgetting God - once and for all.