{"id":10306,"date":"2011-10-18T12:23:59","date_gmt":"2011-10-18T04:23:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/?p=10306"},"modified":"2011-10-18T13:37:22","modified_gmt":"2011-10-18T05:37:22","slug":"debunking-pascals-wager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/2011\/10\/debunking-pascals-wager\/","title":{"rendered":"Debunking Pascal’s Wager"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

There are too many ungrounded assumptions in Pascal\u2019s Wager.\u00a0Firstly, one must believe there is a God [who must be believed in].\u00a0Secondly, one must believe that this God is almighty and good [in rewarding].\u00a0Thirdly, one must believe that one will \u2018gain all\u2019 if this God is believed in.<\/p>\n

…that there are thousands… born into suffering and dying everyday due to disease and war,\u00a0there cannot be an almighty and good creator God \u2013\u00a0because there is nothing good about endlessly \u2018creating\u2019 beings to suffer.\u00a0If there is indeed a creator God, this God is almighty in a most evil way instead.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Pascal’s Wager (simplified):<\/strong>
\n‘If you believe in God and God does exist,
\nyou will be rewarded with eternal life in heaven; thus an infinite gain.
\nIf you do not believe in God and God does exist,
\nyou will be condemned to remain in hell forever; thus an infinite loss.
\nIf you believe in God and God does not exist,
\nyou will not be rewarded; thus a finite loss.
\nIf you do not believe in God and God does not exist,
\nyou will not be rewarded, but you have lived your own life; thus a finite gain.’<\/p>\n

Pastafarianism’s Wager (why not?):<\/strong>
\n‘If you believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) and FSM does exist,
\nyou will be rewarded with eternal life in heaven; thus an infinite gain.
\nIf you do not believe in FSM and FSM does exist,
\nyou will be condemned to remain in hell forever; thus an infinite loss.
\nIf you believe in FSM and FSM does not exist,
\nyou will not be rewarded; thus a finite loss.
\nIf you do not believe in FSM and FSM does not exist,
\nyou will not be rewarded, but you have lived your own life; thus a finite gain.’<\/p>\n

Whoever’s Wager (or whatever):<\/strong>
\n‘If you believe in the Whoever and Whoever does exist,
\nyou will be rewarded with eternal life in heaven; thus an infinite gain.
\nIf you do not believe in Whoever and Whoever does exist,
\nyou will be condemned to remain in hell forever; thus an infinite loss.
\nIf you believe in Whoever and Whoever does not exist,
\nyou will not be rewarded; thus a finite loss.
\nIf you do not believe in Whoever and Whoever does not exist,
\nyou will not be rewarded, but you have lived your own life; thus a finite gain.’<\/p>\n

Barker’s Wager (paraphrased):\u00a0<\/strong>
\n‘Suppose there is a god,
\nbut he is only going to reward those who have enough courage\u00a0not\u00a0to believe in him.
\nThis god is no less likely than Pascal’s.
\nBy believing in a god, you are risking eternal torture!
\nWhen you die, they might be very surprised.’
\n(I hope you see the pointlessness of Pascal’s Wager.)<\/p>\n

Note:<\/strong>
\nBuddhists believe there are many gods,
\nsome of whom mistaken themselves to be almighty creators,
\nwho mistaken themselves to have eternal life in some heavens,
\nwho mistaken themselves to be able to grant eternal life,
\nwho are unable to condemn anyone to eternal hell.
\nTo believe in such gods is to be deluded, to stray further from enlightenment.
\nTo not take refuge in such gods is to be wise, to advance further towards enlightenment.<\/p>\n

Related Articles:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Is It Safer to Believe in God?
\nhttps:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/2009\/11\/is-it-safer-to-<\/wbr>believe-in-god
\n<\/wbr><\/a>The Invincible Iron Chariot Proof
\nhttps:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/2011\/10\/the-invincible-iron-chariot-proof
\n<\/a>Flying Spaghetti Monster
\nhttp:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster
\n<\/wbr><\/a>Invisible Pink Unicorn
\nhttp:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Invisible_Pink_Unicorn
\n<\/wbr><\/a>Why There is No Creator
\nhttp:\/\/thedailyenlightenment.com\/2011\/08\/why-there-is-no-<\/wbr>creator
\n<\/wbr><\/a>Did the Universe Have a Creator?
\nhttp:\/\/thedailyenlightenment.com\/2010\/12\/did-the-universe-<\/wbr>have-a-creator
\n<\/wbr><\/a>‘Creation’ of Evolution
\nhttp:\/\/thedailyenlightenment.com\/2011\/09\/creation-of-<\/wbr>evolution<\/wbr><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are too many ungrounded assumptions in Pascal\u2019s Wager.\u00a0Firstly, one must believe there is a God [who must be believed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[244],"class_list":["post-10306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mix","tag-god","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10306\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}