Comments on: Pascal’s Wager for Stick Figures

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 22:58:06 +0000

Is belief in some god an instrumental good? Pascal’s wager seems to suggest just that. Belief becomes a practical matter and not a matter of epistemology.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 01:59:20 +0000

James and Kraig hit the nail on the fallacy of Pascal’s wager. The Christian God is only one possibility among hundreds or even thousands of gods. How can one wager on them all?

Plus, the Christian God not only requires belief but also worship. How can that “all knowing” God accept your belief and worship when it’s based upon a gamble? Not to mention, how fervent can that belief even be when it’s based upon the lessor evil?

The God I studied for 12 years cannot be manipulated that easily.

By: James

James — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 03:40:43 +0000

One of the major problems with Pascal’s Wager is it comes from a Christocentric philosophy. What if the Christian God is false, but the Zoroastrian god is real? There are an infinite number of potential gods one could worship, making the “wager” of the thing rather more dangerous, like playing roulette on a wheel with infinite slots. Maybe it’s better to understand god(s) or the lack thereof through reason instead of possible consequences.

By: thad

thad — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 05:30:56 +0000

Yeah, that is an interesting attempt to show that an omnipotent God can’t exist.

One possible response is to say that it is not a limit on God’s power to be unable to do something illogical. This approach simply defines God as a being that is not above logic.

Unless one can also find a situation where it is incoherent for God not to be above logic, this response tends to be a rather strong one.

[ Your English is quite good. ]

By: Miro

Miro — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 04:36:08 +0000

Here is a logic paradox that might help:

If god is supposed to be that omnipotent all powerful being then answer the following. Can god create a stone that is so heavy that he himself could not carry ?

If your answer is yes then this means there is something that god can not do and that is carry the stone there for he is not all that powerful.

If your answer is no then there is something that god can not create therefore he is also not powerful and great.

P.S: Sorry for my lousy English but English is not the first language in my country