Here's the link:

The Y2K-Equivalent of Pascal's Wager

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), December 12, 1999

Answers

We KNOW that there are computers and calendars. Some people only BELIEVE in a "God" and "Heaven"; they don't KNOW. The premise of Pascal's wager requires that you be an idiot to accept it (even though you have a high mathematical IQ).

-- A (A@AisA.com), December 12, 1999.

That's a great analogy. Malcolm Muggeridge, mentioned in a thread here last week, used to invoke Pascal's wager all the time. It was an elegant argument in theological terms and it's enchanting to see it applied in a Y2K context. Gentlemen (& ladies), place your bets!

-- Jonathan Chevreau (chevreau@istar.ca), December 12, 1999.

Nothing like cold hard logic in the face of uncertainty eh?

Only the insane will discount that kind of logic...

-- (Kurt.Borzel@gems8.gov.bc.ca), December 13, 1999.

Thank God (sorry!) that man is learning more everyday that he knows alot less than he thinks he does (ex. Darwin being discredited, finding new solar systems, etc.). Man's "theories" and "isms" are so pathetic and limited. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom". Got that, you AynisAyn objectivist?

-- Dot (dromano@snet.com), December 13, 1999.

Dot -- what you bible thumpers refuse to realize is that ONLY if we atheists believed in that figment of your imaginations you collectively call "God", would your rantings possibly have any meaning to us. As it is, the vocal and written noises you-all make mean no more to us than the random pounding of a monkey on a keyboard.

-- A (A@AisA.com), December 13, 1999.

- - A (Ais, etc.)

My God is as real as your computer - - and warmer, kinder, more loving and merciful. I wish you knew Him. A cup on a counter cannot come into existence without a person to create it. How in the world can the complexities and exquisite beauty of Creation be accidental? I think THAT belief system takes more faith than to believe in a Creator-God.

He's offering you the free gift of salvation. I pray that someday (don't wait too long! - - "Now is the day of Salvation...")you'll understand this. The Gospel (Good News) is a lot like Y2K. Everyone doesn't GI. Don't be a DWGI!

-- Connie Iversen (hive@gte.net), December 13, 1999.

Connie says: "Yada yada I yada yada am yada yada a yada yada sheep yada yada."

-- A (A@AisA.com), December 13, 1999.

Well, you know the deal (ithink we may be OT anyway, so I'll indulge)...

If I have evolved solely from eons of random molecular collisions . . then I must admit that my life, the people I touch, my thoughts and emotions, and even love itself . . are of no greater significance than the random motion of hydrogen in deep space.

A desert traveller happening upon an acre of sand upon which is inscribed the entire text of the King James Bible would likewise conclude its author to be the random wind.

I, for one, choose to stick my head in the sand upon being presented with the atheists' ultimate conclusion - it's just too dreary for my old bones.

Blaise Pascal, on the other hand, a man who is generally accredited as being one of the greatest intellects in history, had a somewhat brighter and warmer prospect (which starts out rather cold and dreary).

Pascal said,

There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man that cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.

So, I took Pascal up on his wager. It was not without considerable squirming, I assure you.

Being a big Trekkie, I wondered how Spock might look at the question (as though Pascal did not prove his point beyond all reasonable doubt). CS Lewis summed up Spock's would-be analysis rather nicely, in my opinion:

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him (Jesus Christ): 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.

But, in perspective, Y2K boasts nowhere near the stakes of eternity. But, if you have kids, you may be getting warm.

-- Zach Anderson (z@figure.8m.com), December 13, 1999.

- - A.

I am a sheep of His pasture. Sheep ARE dumb. But at age 26 I had to shake off my parent's agnosticism and embrace Jesus as Savior and Lord. I am 66, and it was the best decision I ever made.

The most intelligent people I know are Christians.

The thing about sheep is that they seem to know that they need a Shepherd. I found mine.

I pray that you may find Him, also, not because I'm right but because you need him.

He is so good!

-- Connie Iversen (hive @gte.net), December 13, 1999.

- - A:

Please check out:

www.tip.org

OT - -Does anyone know where the post about hot-linking is archived? I can't find it.

Zach:

I appreciate what you've said and agree with it

-- Connie Iversen (hive@gte.net), December 13, 1999.

What does a cat think when chasing a spot of light from a flashlight on a carpet? "Is this a mouse?" "A ghost of a mouse?" "God's mouse angel?" Probably thinking nothing. Does the cat really know what's going on? No. The flashlight holder never has any expectation of the cat "getting it". Eventually either the cat or the flashlight holder gets tired and the game ends. OK, all you religious cranks, I'm putting the flashlight away; I'm bored with you and you will never "get it".

-- A (A@AisA.com), December 13, 1999.