From: Dick.Gray@bull.com
Date: Mon Dec 07 1998 - 09:20:22 MST
On Fri, 4 Dec 1998 01:08:17 -0500, "John Clark" <jonkc@worldnet.att.net>
wrote:
Subject:
<<<
Emmanuel Charpentier Wrote:
> (from Blaise Pascal) the argument of the bet:
>One: if you do not believe in christian god there are two
possibilities,
>if christian god exists you will go in hell, if it doesn't nothing
happen.
>Two: if you do believe in god, and it doesn't exist, then there is no
>consequence, but if it does (finally) exist, then JackpoT!!! you go in
heaven.
You forgot an equally likely possibility.
Three: You do believe in God and for that reason he sends you straight
to hell. God likes logical people and he knows he has not provided
mankind with information to prove his existence so belief in Him is
illogical.
Only militant atheists go to heaven.
>>>
...or God, being the capriciously sadistic monster portrayed in many of the
biblical books, will damn us all no matter what we do or think, just for
the, uh, hell of it.
There's yet a fourth possibility: if the Judeo-Christian God, or something
like him, exists, you may still be saved. Many Christians believe in
universal salvation, i.e. regardless of what you do or believe, God will
still save you in the end. This would be a lot more just than eternal
damnation for unbelief.
To summarize, we have the following:
1) God exists and saves only believers: we're doomed;
2) God exists and saves everyone: Halleluia!
3) God exists and damns everyone: doomed again, but at least we're no
worse off than anyone;
4) God doesn't exist: eternal rest, or immortality through technology
(Tiplerian resurrection?)
Thankfully, #4 seems overwhelmingly the most likely, while if a (just)
Supreme Being does turn out to be real, I think #2 far more likely than #1
or #3. So the odds are entirely in our favor.
Happy holidays -
Dick
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