How would you respond to someone who only believes in God out of convenience?

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emeise

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I have a friend who is not an atheist, but does not see the need to worship a loving, sentient God. He says that he only believes in God because it’s “convenient” to believe that way, in his words. This reminds me of some sort of famous philosophical dilemma (whose name escapes me)-- does anyone know it? Its conclusion is that it’s safest to be a good person because if there is a God and He is just, he will understand and admit you into Heaven anyway… and that if there is a God but He is unjust, you shouldn’t want to worship Him anyway… Does this sound familiar? I think I remember seeing it in a square if that helps!

This person also says that if God is all-encompassing, then God must be not “black and white” at all but rather “gray”… This is his reason for not living according to any strict ethical guidelines, and he is very skeptical of the “good vs evil” binary.

Is this deism? How would a Catholic apologist respond?
 
The famous person you’re thinking of is Pascal and the philosophical principle is Pascal’s Wager. In terms of overcoming this, don’t be too combative. it’s a weak foundation, but it’s still a foundation. Try to encourage your friend by letting him see your faith through your actions and talking to him. Maybe bring up some points slowly just to get his mind going, maybe find some reading for him. I know that it sounds bad, believing in God for ‘convenience’, but it is a step and it certainly isn’t outright denial of the existence of God. You can work with that. Show him that God isn’t just a question of ‘what happens when we die’, rather “what happens when we live, or how do we live?” Many people will come up with a 20000 word theological PhD thesis in support of the existence of God or in defense of Christian apologetic, but those really only help when someone is READY to hear, or when someone already accepts, at least in some part, a certain level of validity in Christian principles, in my opinion.

As far as I know, the primary tenant of deism is that the world was brought forth by a divine creator, but that divine creator does not concern himself with his creation. I am not, however, anywhere near an expert on deism or religious philosophy, so I hope someone else can offer more insight. The one thing I do know is that there is no one argument, or even a group of arguments, that you can make that will suddenly make this person say “yes, I must live my life according to God’s moral code!”. It has to be a gradual progression that you have to support across a certain amount of time with care, love, understanding, advice, and prayer. Most people who come from agnostic/deistic/atheistic backgrounds require a long period of introspection and acclimation before they’re truly ready to embrace.

I think most people’s reason for not abiding by ‘black and white’ and seeing grey is because it’s a convenient pretext for not having to work for anything.
 
As ‘eltero’ said your friend has a weak foundation, but it is one none the less. In a case like this I sometimes think our example is the best thing to offer. Say you are out for dinner, or a movie; You could try to make an observation here and there about how beautiful the sunset is and relate that to God’s love for us, or if you see the rainbow. Or, if you see something going on that is wrong or unjust make an appropriate response or intersession if possible.

Make sure that when you are with your friend you are not giving into sinful attitudes or ideas and behavior. It is easy to get lost in rude conversations, or even drink too much and act foolishly. So I guess I am just saying that your life and your choices could make a huge difference to your friend over a long period of time. Check yourself to constancy and do you best to be that light he can’t dismiss in the darkness.
 
Lovely Terry Pratchett quote from “Hogfather”: “This is very similar to the suggestion put forward by the Quirmian philosopher Ventre, who said, “Possibly the gods exist, and possibly they do not. So why not believe in them in any case? If it’s all true you’ll go to a lovely place when you die, and if it isn’t then you’ve lost nothing, right?” When he died he woke up in a circle of gods holding nasty-looking sticks and one of them said, “We’re going to show you what we think of Mr Clever Dick in these parts…””

I doubt God is much impressed by these sorts of “beliefs”!
 
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