What do you guys think of Pascal's Wager?

[Little_One0307]

Morning All,

I am wondering if basing one’s life on Pascal’s Wager is a logical thing to do. I wonder if there are any substantial objections to this Wager. I found this if any of you guys are not familiar with this.

peterkreeft.com/topics/pascals-wager.htm

Is it against reason to base one’s life on the possilibity of something being in existance, for sake of argument God? I am aware of what the Church says about reason and Faith and how they are not contrary yet, but my friend is not ready to consider even brining in the Church. We are dealing with just philosophy alone, and I am running into a wall really fast and need help. [For the record, I am Catholic who believes and worships God, so I do believe in God by faith.] I am asking this becuase I was discussing this with a friend, and they said it was against reason to base one’s life on this wager. Any ideas of how I can say it is reasonable, becuase he is disregarding faith as being unreasonable. This friend is sincere and is not anti-God, they just are questioning.

Thanks for you (name removed by moderator)ut and help.

God bless all you guys.

Little One0307

 

[BVM_1221]

Morning All,

I am wondering if basing one’s life on Pascal’s Wager is a logical thing to do. I wonder if there are any substantial objections to this Wager. I found this if any of you guys are not familiar with this.

peterkreeft.com/topics/pascals-wager.htm

Is it against reason to base one’s life on the possilibity of something being in existance, for sake of argument God? I am aware of what the Church says about reason and Faith and how they are not contrary yet, but my friend is not ready to consider even brining in the Church. We are dealing with just philosophy alone, and I am running into a wall really fast and need help. [For the record, I am Catholic who believes and worships God, so I do believe in God by faith.] I am asking this becuase I was discussing this with a friend, and they said it was against reason to base one’s life on this wager. Any ideas of how I can say it is reasonable, becuase he is disregarding faith as being unreasonable. This friend is sincere and is not anti-God, they just are questioning.

Thanks for you (name removed by moderator)ut and help.

God bless all you guys.

Little One0307

The Wager makes a HUGE assumption, that Christianity is the only way to God. It ignores the possability that Islam is correct, and Christians go to hell. Same for other religions. The Wager is sort of equivilent to The Doomsday Machine.

 

[joemccarron]

Pascal’s wager as written is not necessarilly that good. However, it can be modified. And any rational person in evaluating whether to take course of action should consider consequences as well as the probability of a set of facts being true.

As far as the chance that islam is true I say you should of course consider the evidence for islam or any other sorts of Gods that may exist. Also consider the evidence that there is a god who punishes those who believe in him.

The following article is a good introduction to the topic.

William G. Lycan and George N. Schlesinger, “You Bet Your Life: Pascal’s Wager Defended,” in Contemporary Perspectives on Religious Epistemology, eds. R. Douglas Geivett and Brendan Sweetman, Oxford University Press, 1992.