Pascal's Wager and You...

Sometimes you can talk to somebody and it's amazing how they can suddenly put into words something that you've been thinking for some time - yet you've never been able to find the right words for it.

I was talking to my dad a few weeks ago about God and religion and all that stuff.  He claims to be a believer, and he even calls himself a Christian.  Still, we were agreeing on pretty much every subtopic that came up.  One thing that came up was the old Pascal's Wager.  Of course, not everybody knows it by that name, but a lot of people make this argument anyway.

Basically, it's the argument that it's better to believe in God because after all, believing doesn't cost you anything, but if you don't believe and it turns out that God is real, then you're in a heap of eternal poo.

So, we were talking about that particular argument and my dad pointed out that people who make that argument don't really believe in God.

The thing is, that's such a no-brainer.  He's right.  If you're believing just to hedge your bets, then you believe about as much as I believe - which is not at all.  You just feel that you need to say that you believe for some reason or another.  So, if that's the best you got, why not just admit that you're an atheist?  It's okay.  I have, and I haven't been hit by a bolt of lightning yet.  (Hail Zeus!)