Pascal's Wager never made any sense to me. (And I *am* a Christian.)

If you only choose to believe in God as an insurance policy against being wrong, that isn't really believing in God, now is it? You can choose to say the 'magic words', but obviously your mind isn't convinced, so you still aren't saved by it.

All things considered, Pascal's Wager just sounds like like it makes some people even bigger assholes than they already are.

>> ^soulmonarch:

You can choose to say the 'magic words', but obviously your mind isn't convinced, so you still aren't saved by it.


@soulmonarch
I agree with the logic of thisbut I have to ask how you, as a Christian, don't find this remark kind of .. disturbing? It reminds me of one of the more grueling aspects of George Orwells "1984", namely how you're not only forced to comply, and forced to accept as unchangeable all the lies and distortions of "The Party", they are not happy with you lying, you have to actually believe it.. So for instance, in one scene Winston Smith is subjected to torture, and the interrogator shows him 3 fingers and asks how many it is, and then how many it is if the Party says its 5. The natural thing for Winston is to answer correctly "three", or to lie and say "five" to avoid torture. But his interrogator calmly explains to him that lying or playing stupid wont work. Eventually he gives up and says "I dont know!" "Better", says the interrogator.


If you genuinely think that I wont be "saved" unless I actually believe in something I really cant make myself believe, and I cant even lie and pretend to believe.. Don't you find that unsettling? What does that really tell you about Christianity?, about God?