Pascal's Wager (BW L1)

[@axelcyril4635]

Enjoying your videos 😊

[@brianw.5230]

1.) The Bible says God wants us to come to him regardless of our motivation. 2.) Belief can be developed by going to Church, prayer, hanging out with other Christians, etc 3.) The Wager is only for people that think Christianity could be true. Agnostics and skeptics. 4.) The God and religion that is most likely to be true. 5.) There is something to lose but overall religious believers are happier than atheists are.

[@brianw.5230]

@Veeral Patel sure. 1.) I determined it because Jesus said it. Why trust Jesus? Because He was the messiah that was prophesied and He proved his divinity by resurrecting from the dead. Hundreds of people saw Him after He resurrected. We also know His tomb was empty and His body has never been found. 2.) I could not become a flater Earth believer because we KNOW the Earth is not flat. We have satellite images that prove it. 3.) Because the wager is for agnostics. That was Pascal's audience. He was appealing to deists and skeptics who thought Christianity COULD be true, but weren't 100% sure. 4.) See post #1 about Jesus :) 5.) A believer would lose some sins. Happiness isn't the only thing that matters, virtue is important, too. And helping others. Let me know if you have any other questions.

[@brianw.5230]

@Veeral Patel You're welcome. As a ex-atheist, I'm glad to answer common questions from atheists and agnostics: 1.) The belief in Jesus's resurrection is the key element of Christianity. If Jesus didn't actually rise fom the dead, Christianity is based on a myth. It would have been impossible for Jesus to survive crucifixion. First, there is no evidence of someone that survived Roman crucifixion in history. Second, the Roman soldiers that crucified Jesus would have themselves been put to death if Jesus somehow survived. Keep in mind that Jesus was brutally scourged (whipped) before He was crucified. Even if He somehow managed to survive 6 hours on the cross, He would have died in the tomb or been maimed and unable to walk. That's hardly enough to convince His disciples to die for Him. Jesus's dead body was never found because He was resurrected. If He died and never came back to life, His body would have been found in Jerusalem. Easily. 2.) Anything is possible, but I'd say science is basically certain the Earth is not flat. There's other evidence besides satellite images that show this. 3.) Sure, but overall, theists are still happier than atheists, all things considered. www.google.com/amp/s/www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/01/31/are-religious-people-happier-healthier-our-new-global-study-explores-this-question/%3famp=1 Please let me know if you have any other questions.

[@brianw.5230]

@Veeral Patel 1.) OK. I believe Jesus is God and that He proved it by resurrecting from the dead. I think the historical evidence shows it. (The empty tomb, the missing body, the eyewitnesses.) 2.) OK. 3.) That has more to do with the countries being 1st world and rich rather than atheist. A better comparison is in the U.S. IMO, and Christians are happier, give more to charity, volunteer more, live longer and have lower suicide rates than atheists do in the U.S.

[@brianw.5230]

@Veeral Patel thanks for your response. 1.) Roman soldiers were placed at the tomb so Jesus's body could not have been stolen. Further, 10 of His 12 Apostles were murdered for spreading the belief in the resurrection. It's hard to find a reason why they would die for a lie. They simply had no incentive to lie. 3.) America is an atheist country now. 70% of Americans do not attend Church on a weekly basis. Christians are routinely mocked in TV and movies. I don't think atheists are oppressed. They have the weight of the culture behind them.

[@brianw.5230]

@Veeral Patel 1.) The "stolen body theory" has been debunked, IMO. If Jesus's body was stolen, the Apostles would have known it. They wouldn't have died for a lie. They had no reason to steal the body, lie, then get murdered. 3.) Atheism is the dominant cultural religion in America, IMO. Christianity has declined.

[@jordan9444]

"If we do believe, and God doesn't exist, we lose nothing" isn't necessarily true. What about societies that might engage in extreme persecution? If someone believed their whole life, was imprisoned for it or worse, then it turned out God wasn't real, he lost his opportunity to live a good & free life and is rewarded no afterlife for it. There's much more to weigh there because then neither is really the safe option, you have a choice of either believing & risking punishment in life, or not believing & risking punishment in the afterlife. However we can only know for certain that this life exists, not the afterlife. You could then argue that the safer option is to not believe. It really depends on the society somebody were to live in but there is no universal "safe bet"