Pascal's Wager: is God a safe bet?

You -can- believe that all Gods are just faces of the power behind the universe without believing in ALL the teachings of all said religions, plenty of people do it. I do it, in my own, prolly strange way. After all, I know that most religions have been around for millions of years...and I know that power corrupts and there was probably a point where it wasedited...or, translated wrong, 'cause no one's perfect, an error coulda been made in writing something down, et cetera, et cetera. I know that, all life is a gamble. But I agree with you, Pascal's wager is flawed. His logic is assuming that christianity's the only safe bet, when really...if we're to follow his logic at all, the christian God's just as unsafe a bet as the rest. Still...the important choices aren't always safe. And the only thing any of us can do, is to follow what we each feel is right. I feel that all the Gods and Goddesses are simply faces of the power that runs the universe, because something so many claim to be "imcomprehensible" in my opinion, must be strange enough and a paradox within and of itself, to be that. For a long time I struggled with the idea that the deity that runs anything was only one being, or only one gender, or even had one at all, et cetera..but after awhile I thought about it and came to the conclusion that this made the most sense, heh. Frankly, who's right or wrong (and basically, believing in every God(dess) in that sense could be just as wrong as an Athiest's say, believing in no God(dess) could be, so it's just as much as a gamble as everyone else), means little to me. I'll find out for sure when I find out, you know? And until then I'll live fully and happilly, so that IF I'm wrong, I'll have happy memories in hell..or else I'll simply cease to be, and that's not really such a terrible thing, I think.

Certainly, belief in God is a safe bet. However, organized religion is a sucker bet. The question has been asked,"Who can look skyward on a clear starry night or at a baby's smile and not believe in God?". Thinking on this question and witnessing the other similar simple miracles we all can see for ourselves everyday, of course, I believe in God. Observing the toothy phoney smiling, glad handing, fast smooth talking, fund raisers posing as pastors while pushing religious mythology on the guillible, of course, I reject organized religion. So, there you have it. God exists as the creator of the universe we know for sure. The universe is here isn't it? Those who pretend to know the rest of the details of this mystery are liars. It is a very safe bet to ignore those people.

There are a couple of major problems with this idea. One is the one you mentioned, that there are many religions and so believing in just one doesn't guarantee you anything. The other major issue I see is that if you don't TRULY believe, it doesn't matter what you claim to believe. You can say you believe in God because it's a safe bet all day long, and unless you develop a real faith it's not going to do you any good, even if that religion turns out to be the right one. What kind of God would reward hypocrisy? Personally, I believe in the Gods and Goddesses that I do based on my personal experiences, not on what is a safe bet or what could help me out later. I focus on what my Gods already do for me, not what they might or might not do for me in the future. The Goddess who first offered me comfort and strength will always be first in my heart, no matter what, because I have real love for her, not because of any kind of "bet".

Depends on your use of the word "god".

Hi kundalini444, I know that there are people who think that way, even today, but of course it makes no sense at all. If someone is a person of faith, no matter what religion, it is fine, and probably a great comfort to them, but to say we believe in a God or Gods, just because "it might be so", is ridiculous. For one thing, it assumes that this God cares whether you believe in him or not. Why should he/she? If it is so important to believe in just one way, why have we been getting all those mixed messages over the centuries? To hope for something beyond this life is quite natural, but most people give their God the same traits as humans, that is anger, jealousy, etc. Any God who would condemn someone for not believing in the "right" way is not worthy of our belief. Blessings.

Ah! Now this takes me back Kunda. As for Pascal's Wager it is a bit lopsided. If other religions are correct then yes, one would have to wonder what would happen to the faithless. Of course the gods could be merciful and still allow you a better afterlife. Then there is a possibility that no mortal has conceived yet (some being, or beings running the show not yet mentioned). What happens then? If I take my other argument maybe mercy will be shown to the deserving. But with things of faith its just a stretch, and one can easily say all mankind is doomed to the abyss (or something worse). What of believing in multiple religions or at least parts of them? In real life that would be the "wimp bet" of roulette. But lifestyle wise I do not disapprove of it, everyone is sovereign and will believe as they wish. I still bring up the point that even this belief may not save one from damnation. Again, I refer to if there is another entity or entities running life/afterlife. It'd be like making a flawed all red and black bet at the roulette wheel (the player forgetting there are two green slots). I have no answers here, but hopefully some of what I said gets people thinking.

I think it is silly because I'm pretty sure if there is a god he will be able to tell if you were believing in him just to hedge your bets or if you really believed because of faith. Pascal's Wager actually goes against faith which is what most religions are based on so it is just silly.

religion and faith i believe cannot be justified on the basis of winning and losing.nor it is a game winner is rewarded and the loser is punished. i believe the religion is a way of life as everybody chooses.

The wager doesn't make sense because even if God exists, who's to say that He is going to damn people to hell for all eternity for not believing in Him. I wouldn't damn people to hell for not believing in me. Would God be less magnanimous than I am?

Pascal's argument falls flat on its face for several reasons. The biggest reason among them is one that you mentioned--Pascal falsely assumes that "the Christian God exists exactly as Christians define him" and "there is no god or gods of any kind at all" are the only two possibilities. This is absurd. There are more valid criticisms of the Wager on this wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal's_wager#Criticisms