“It is in your interest to believe that God exists.” Do you agree?
Blaise Pascal, French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher of the 17 century proposed a wager, that indeed, it is in your interest to believe in God.
Pascal’s wager is as follows: If God exists and you believe in Him, you will go to heaven upon death and have infinite happiness, while if He does exists but you do not believe in Him, you will go to hell upon dying and experience infinite suffering. If God does not exist but you believe in him, you will gain nothing upon dying, and if He does not exist, and you do not believe him, there will also be nothing gained upon death. While Pascal is talking about the Christian God, the question does not specify this, and therefore …show more content…
Time is wasted in the short, finite lives that we lead on reinforcing belief, abstaining from sinful pleasures and following whatever the God desires in order to get into heaven. Thus, the believer loses out in life while the non-believer gains a better life, indulging in sinful pleasures. A believer’s response would be two-fold: a life is not wasted by believing and not sinning, but lived good and healthy, and that these sinful pleasures that a non-believer gain is only finite and the afterlife is infinite happiness. This of course all depends on whether God does exist. But now, the argument has been discredited, because what it states is different than what the reality is, regardless if God exists. Now, the argument is now that if you don’t believe and there is no God, there is a gain of sinful pleasures, while if you do believe in God and he does not exist, you have had a wasted and boring life (regardless if you think it was good and healthy, it is less fun than sinning). Thus, this off-balances the seemingly overwhelming support that it should be in everyone’s interest to believe in God, and gives support on refuting Pascal’s
Blaise Pascal, French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher of the 17 century proposed a wager, that indeed, it is in your interest to believe in God.
Pascal’s wager is as follows: If God exists and you believe in Him, you will go to heaven upon death and have infinite happiness, while if He does exists but you do not believe in Him, you will go to hell upon dying and experience infinite suffering. If God does not exist but you believe in him, you will gain nothing upon dying, and if He does not exist, and you do not believe him, there will also be nothing gained upon death. While Pascal is talking about the Christian God, the question does not specify this, and therefore …show more content…
Time is wasted in the short, finite lives that we lead on reinforcing belief, abstaining from sinful pleasures and following whatever the God desires in order to get into heaven. Thus, the believer loses out in life while the non-believer gains a better life, indulging in sinful pleasures. A believer’s response would be two-fold: a life is not wasted by believing and not sinning, but lived good and healthy, and that these sinful pleasures that a non-believer gain is only finite and the afterlife is infinite happiness. This of course all depends on whether God does exist. But now, the argument has been discredited, because what it states is different than what the reality is, regardless if God exists. Now, the argument is now that if you don’t believe and there is no God, there is a gain of sinful pleasures, while if you do believe in God and he does not exist, you have had a wasted and boring life (regardless if you think it was good and healthy, it is less fun than sinning). Thus, this off-balances the seemingly overwhelming support that it should be in everyone’s interest to believe in God, and gives support on refuting Pascal’s