Pascal's wager - a third option!?

[Rum]

[mistermack]

That is not as far-fetched as it sounds. I've got seven goldfish in a tank, and if they started praising me all day long, day in day out, they would be down the toilet by the end of the week.
.

[A Monkey Shaved]

What if there is another option and the Muslims were right and their God despised believers in any foreign God such as what the Christians believe in, and punished them more severely than believing in no God at all? They will be the ones with the poker up their bottom and us atheists would be forgiven as just a little ignorant.

BTW it does remind me of this sketch by Rowen Atkinson

I especially like the bit where he said "and finally Christians, Christians? Ah yes, I'm sorry I am afraid the Jews were right"

[Svartalf]

Yeah, Pascal's wager is pure drek from end to end... never got how he could be fooled by it himself, unless he was so afraid of hell that he grasped at straws to help him sleep at night or he pulled a brilliant Descartes and inserted a nonsensical argument for god in the middle of his serious writings to fool the church and be let work in peace.

[Rum]

Yeah, Pascal's wager is pure drek from end to end... never got how he could be fooled by it himself, unless he was so afraid of hell that he grasped at straws to help him sleep at night or he pulled a brilliant Descartes and inserted a nonsensical argument for god in the middle of his serious writings to fool the church and be let work in peace.

It is easy to underestimate the fear of hell which Christians used to labour under. I have recently become aware of the Muslim fear of it too, which seems even more ingrained, oppressive and controlling.

A 'Pascal's wager' is quite understandable in a world where you have to be really brave to step out of line and stand up for what good common sense tells you is the truth, rather than centuries of traditional and indoctrination.

[Svartalf]

Trouble with Pascal's wager is that it rests on the unshakeable premise that not only there is a deity, but you already know the right one to placate... given the fact that Pascal had faced trouble in his life for skimming too close to protestantism for the church to be pleased (and lived in an atmosphere where catholic states warred with protestant ones, each claiming the other side were hellbound heretics) makes me feel uneasy about his completely glossing over the "what god and rite" question like it did not exist at all.

[Rum]

The OP (and the TV prog) was not, I fancy, referring to Pascal's particular circumstances, which if I am honest I am not familiar with myself, but with the commonly understood 'option' , which I do understand. I think for those people who are moving from a position of having faith in a deity to one of letting go of that particular safety net, which for many it clearly is, it is understandable as what might think of as an 'interim' position.

But what wtf - it matters not. People can believe what they like as long as they don't mess with me.

[Svartalf]

But.. But...my creed IS that it's good work to mess with rum, especially pouring him into a glass with lemon juice, honey and spices and topping with hot water...

[Rum]

But.. But...my creed IS that it's good work to mess with rum, especially pouring him into a glass with lemon juice, honey and spices and topping with hot water...

[Dries van Tonder]

[tattuchu]

Jolly good! I love cream cakes

[Bolero]

I got a real giggle out of that. Cheers, Rum.

[A Monkey Shaved]

Kind of reminds me of threatening children who gurn a lot. "Look if you make that ugly face and the wind changes with will say like that". I could just as easily put a Pacals wager on believing or not there are serious consequences in gurning before a cold front passes over as I could with believing or not in a god.