|
Post by samsara15 on Dec 22, 2014 15:27:22 GMT -6
Pascal's Wager is an argument in apologetic philosophy[citation needed] devised by the seventeenth-century French philosopher, mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal (1623–62). It posits that humans all bet with their lives either that God exists or not. Given the possibility that God actually does exist and assuming an infinite gain or loss associated with belief or unbelief in said God (as represented by an eternity in heaven or hell), a rational person should live as though God exists and seek to believe in God. If God does not actually exist, such a person will have only a finite loss (some pleasures, luxury, etc.).[1] Pascal formulated the wager within a Christian framework. The wager was set out in section 233 of Pascal's posthumously published Pensées ("Thoughts"). These previously unpublished notes were assembled to form an incomplete treatise on Christian apologetics. Historically, Pascal's Wager was groundbreaking because it charted new territory in probability theory, marked the first formal use of decision theory and anticipated future philosophies such as existentialism, pragmatism and voluntarism.[2] Many Christians are like this I know some. They are Christians just in case it's true. It's wrong thinking. Pascal's wager is not the answer. Once again the Bible says seek and you will find. I know of Pascal's Wager. I simply do not believe, much like your uncles. If this is the only life we have, then I think we it is still not a good bet. Pretending to believe what you do not is a lie. Living a lie is not real faith, and I will have nothing to do with it. I would not want to live in a heaven with the kind of God who accepted people who had lived a lie. Back in the Middle Ages, the Muslims, and Christians, too, converted many people at the point of sword, as a result of wars. Many Jewish people were forced to become Christians, in Spain, for example. If all one wants from others is the outwards appearance of belief, and never to express disbelief, that makes some (weak) degree of sense, I suppose, to some, but not to me. On the other hand, if someone desperately wants to believe, but does not, and cannot, that's a very different case. I have no such desire to believe.
|
|
|
Post by samsara15 on Dec 22, 2014 15:30:05 GMT -6
Pascal's Wager is an argument in apologetic philosophy[citation needed] devised by the seventeenth-century French philosopher, mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal (1623–62). It posits that humans all bet with their lives either that God exists or not. Given the possibility that God actually does exist and assuming an infinite gain or loss associated with belief or unbelief in said God (as represented by an eternity in heaven or hell), a rational person should live as though God exists and seek to believe in God. If God does not actually exist, such a person will have only a finite loss (some pleasures, luxury, etc.).[1] Pascal formulated the wager within a Christian framework. The wager was set out in section 233 of Pascal's posthumously published Pensées ("Thoughts"). These previously unpublished notes were assembled to form an incomplete treatise on Christian apologetics. Historically, Pascal's Wager was groundbreaking because it charted new territory in probability theory, marked the first formal use of decision theory and anticipated future philosophies such as existentialism, pragmatism and voluntarism.[2] Many Christians are like this I know some. They are Christians just in case it's true. It's wrong thinking. Pascal's wager is not the answer. Once again the Bible says seek and you will find. I know of Pascal's Wager. I simply do not believe, much like your uncles. If this is the only life we have, then I think we it is still not a good bet. Pretending to believe what you do not is a lie. Living a lie is not real faith, and I will have nothing to do with it. I would not want to live in a heaven with the kind of God who accepted people who had lived a lie. Back in the Middle Ages, the Muslims, and Christians, too, converted many people at the point of sword, as a result of wars. Many Jewish people were forced to become Christians, in Spain, for example. If all one wants from others is the outwards appearance of belief, and never to express disbelief, that makes some (weak) degree of sense, I suppose, to some, but not to me. On the other hand, if someone desperately wants to believe, but does not, and cannot, that's a very different case. I have no such desire to believe. What I do have is a desire to increase my understanding of the universe.
|
|
|
Post by samsara15 on Dec 22, 2014 15:48:43 GMT -6
I think the term 'belief' seems to have a widely varying meaning for people. This also makes it hard to understand what people are saying to each other, when the same word has such varying interpretations.
|
|
|
Post by samsara15 on Dec 23, 2014 19:48:02 GMT -6
What many of us have discovered is a internal sense, a group of mysteries and/or "hidden manna" contained within the Biblical narrative of literal, historical and symbolic allegorical events. Many, many questions that man has looked into can and does get explained as to our spirituality and existence in this realm. Spiritually speaking, one can have the desires of one's heart and those desires are of those things we can take with us into eternity. The material things of this realm are only useful to this realm and have no use in the other realm. This is the "order" of the universal laws, their purpose is to express physically the spiritual laws that they have been created from and not the other way around. Again what many of us have discovered is the unassailable truth of personal experiences of the supernatural in our lives. As I begin my fortieth year of acknowledging and expressing these experiences to others, I am quite excited to discover others and their testimonies of the same. Shared "Gnosis". I have also recognized the fact, that my earlier twenty years of life the inescapable knowledge of the countless times the Spirit has tried to communicate these things to me. Well into my sixties and if I have any regrets it would be that I did not receive them with the whole heart that I do now. I know of Whom gave me my conscience. Did you have a NDE? When I was 12-20, I had a long-lasting period of very unpleasant experiences of feeling that I was being watched, by a hostile presence, when in bed at night, feelings that I now attribute to OBEs. Once I thought it even grabbed my foot. A failure of the Left hemisphere and the Right hemisphere of the brain to connect properly, or a temporary disconnection of the two. From what I have read, quite common among people who are alone. Lindbergh, for example, when first crossing the Atlantic, thought he was sharing the cockpit with another presence.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2014 4:41:45 GMT -6
Sam you said I simply do not believe. I respect that but I am the opposite, I cannot help but believe.
We're going to have 15 people over today plus us, it should be interesting and this is not the biggest house in town. My dog loves it when we have company....he likes people and he should be happy today.
|
|
|
Post by samsara15 on Dec 25, 2014 10:07:34 GMT -6
My cat likes people, but not children. It's terrified of children, so it hides whenever anyone less than nine comes over.
|
|
|
Post by rdlb on Dec 27, 2014 11:41:45 GMT -6
What many of us have discovered is a internal sense, a group of mysteries and/or "hidden manna" contained within the Biblical narrative of literal, historical and symbolic allegorical events. Many, many questions that man has looked into can and does get explained as to our spirituality and existence in this realm. Spiritually speaking, one can have the desires of one's heart and those desires are of those things we can take with us into eternity. The material things of this realm are only useful to this realm and have no use in the other realm. This is the "order" of the universal laws, their purpose is to express physically the spiritual laws that they have been created from and not the other way around. Again what many of us have discovered is the unassailable truth of personal experiences of the supernatural in our lives. As I begin my fortieth year of acknowledging and expressing these experiences to others, I am quite excited to discover others and their testimonies of the same. Shared "Gnosis". I have also recognized the fact, that my earlier twenty years of life the inescapable knowledge of the countless times the Spirit has tried to communicate these things to me. Well into my sixties and if I have any regrets it would be that I did not receive them with the whole heart that I do now. I know of Whom gave me my conscience. You might enjoy reading some of the books by Philip K Dick, the sci fi writer. I will look into the author, thanks.
|
|