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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!!
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To: nihil who wrote (27431)12/30/1998 12:43:00 AM
From: Dayuhan  Read Replies (2) of 108807
 
Pascal's wager is perhaps most interesting for its implicit assumption that God will only bestow salvation on those who believe in Him as He is defined by Christians. Since Pascal came from a Christian tradition, this is natural. But given that the multitude of Christian sects cannot even agree among themselves on what the requisite beliefs are, I see no reason to assume that any of them hold the magic key to God's affections.

We all have a conscience; its dictates appear (along with a lot of other stuff) in every religion in the world. Whether those rules were engraved there by a creator or by evolution is irrelevant to me. They are obviously good rules, for both the individual and society, and the more people follow them, the better off we will be. It is interesting to note that organized religions have devoted as much effort to rationalizing violations of the rules of conscience as they have to upholding them.

My own policy is to ignore the debates of the spiritual ideologues and follow the dictates of conscience. If I were a better logician then I am, I might be tempted to create a later version of Pascal's wager out of that. But I don't see how I can lose. Of course, if Emile is right, I will go to hell. But if Emile is right, then he will be going to heaven, and if he's in heaven, I'd rather be elsewhere.

Steve
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