DQ#1 What do you think about Pascal’s famous dilemma regarding God? Try rewriting it from an Atheist’s point of view, starting with “If God exists I have everything to lose by not believing in him…” I604-2

I’ve been working for the last two days on my final in Genesis part two as avoidance behavior to completing the second discussion question due this week.

Could it truly be as simple as follows?

If God exists I have everything to lose by not believing in him.
And if God does not exist, I have nothing to lose by not believing in him.
Either God does exist or he does not exist.
Therefore, I have everything to lose or nothing to lose by not believing in God.

I did take a little time to play in the eBay “Sandbox” chat room where most members are new agers, agnostics, atheists or Christian bashers. There are other Born Again Christians who post, just not too many. One of threads recently started is titled “Why do we need God?” So naturally I posted Pascal’s dilemma. Most members skipped over it to bloviate on their views as to whether or not there is a God, god or goddess, etc.

One of the more reasonable chat room members replied “I used to think like Pascal. But then I started to wonder... if God exists and is omniscient then He knows I'm only choosing faith as the best odds for whatever awaits me in the great beyond.

Then I started to wonder... what if God gets pi$$ed off when people choose belief in Him ONLY because it's the best hand in a crap shoot as opposed to genuinely believing?

Now I'm taking the chance that (if God exists) He will more value my being honest with Him and with myself by admitting "I don't know" and not trying to force myself into "believing" something about which I have nothing to go on, out of a selfish idea that I want to 'up my odds'."

This chat room member and I have debated the existence of God before. It is for members like him and the lurkers who visit the chat room but rarely post that I continue to play/ post in the sandbox, an interesting mission field.

As for what I think about Pascal’s famous dilemma regarding God, it's a good tool to get someone's attention. Even if one equates belief in God to buying fire insurance, there is an admission of the likelihood of there being a God. In my humble opinion, once you profess even a halfhearted belief in God the Holy Spirit will start its work.