A modified Pascal’s wager and decision

  • Thread starter Thread starter Struggling1
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
S

Struggling1

Guest
Well guys I’m here with a final update. I’m going to try the route of faith as much as I absolutely hate the idea of faith and even though I’m still immensely fearful of dying. I’m going to try to live the right kind of life and pray and such often. At least if I die and it’s all not real then I went out believing one heck of a belief and might worry about death a little less. The idea of an afterlife is definitely wishful thinking in my case but I’d rather choose to follow a .5% chance of hope than follow the 99.5% and live a life plagued my meaninglessness and nihilism. Thank you all for everything.
 
On the contrary, I’m 100% certain of the afterlife. After all, the Egyptians believed enough to build multiple pyramids for their Pharaoh‘s important journey.
 
Hope you are doing well! I’m confident many people believe in the afterlife I’m just not sure how to discredit entirely its wishful thinking having to do with our inability to understand we are mortal.
 
You’ve been a massive help hopefully my wager isn’t disrespectful or blasphemous. It’s just my starting point.
 
Many civilizations believe in an afterlife it’s hope filling!!!
 
I really hope so 🙂 it would make this hellish life worth it! Thank you.
 
That’s where I was at well kind of am at. I’ve been house ridden just weeping. If life ends at death nothing as any meaning whatsoever. Yes it’s amazing we had the chance to live but if that’s the case we only were born so we can die which sucks so bad.
 
I appreciate the support! I’m the king of baby steps but I’m still trying!
 
This is a good first step that you have come to this conclusion rationally. Now you have to work on having Faith and Hope then having Love. Take one day at a time.
 
I will attempt to be hopeful I’ll discover more :)! Thank you.
 
As a person who has long struggled with agnosticism, and still would probably qualify as one - I took the same journey as you.

I left the faith several years ago, in anger and dismay over all the division and constant politicization of beliefs. I had nothing to replace it though, except books on secular living and snide New Atheist YouTube channels. I found them and their childish rants to be facile.

I slowly made my way back to church, and when I started back it needed to be one that was accepting of doubters and skeptics like me.

There was another factor though - my teenage son, who had been baptized in our old Anglo-Catholic parish, was not being taught about the faith at all.

I realized I was derelict in my responsibility to give him a foundation other than crowd-sourced mores from social media.

I thought to myself, just because I’m not sure I believe all Christianity’s claims, doesn’t mean I should deprive him of his heritage. The liturgical seasons, the wisdom of the Gospel, the meditative prayer life, the music, the history…all of it should be his, to learn, to live, to grow in his own path.

I wouldn’t say “My child may not even choose to live in the US someday. He might go to Japan and live there, instead. So, he can choose his language when he’s an adult.” That would be absurd. He still needs fluency in a native language to begin with, to have a reference point.

In the same way, Christianity is our religious identity, and I will see my son has a fluency in it, so that he can have a “home” spiritually. So that he understands himself and the society he lives in better.

Since we have joined our church a year ago, I feel much more at peace. Church orients me, refreshes me, and yes, challenges me. My better half has been ever patient and supportive of me, and that’s a minor miracle, in itself. Our son, who having spent his formative years outside church, was reluntant but willing to try this faith thing.

He is not a believer yet, but he is open and questioning. And he has been embraced by the youth group as well. So, it’s a support system he has gained.

Anyway, I shared this to hopefully encourage you to be patient with yourself. You do not need to answer all the Big Questions in a month, a year, even a decade.

Just be open to the possibilities. Take one step, one class, one service, one Liturgical season at a time. And let yourself fully experience it.
 
Last edited:
I can say that there are moments of insight into things, and they totally make sense, but it’s like you can’t grasp it later and explain them.
But, it’s just insane to think about the fact you can form such a conclusion in the first place. But what does logical reasoning mean in an illogical universe? But who would say that the universe which seems to follow specific laws and presents predictable models of behavior as illogical? Yet indeed, who can say there can be logic established without a thought?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top