Originally posted by caissad4Really? What if it turns out that the Vikings had the right idea, and the Christian goes to Hel for not dying in battle? Pascal's wager relies on the false dichotomy: "Either Christianity is the true religion, or there is no God or afterlife."
If a Christian is wrong about the next life, nothing happens.
Originally posted by AcolyteI'm getting my longboat sorted out now - best cover all the bases.
Really? What if it turns out that the Vikings had the right idea, and the Christian goes to Hel for not dying in battle? Pascal's wager relies on the false dichotomy: "Either Christianity is the true religion, or there is no God or afterlife."
Originally posted by RBHILLI'm afraid I actually have to agree with this monosylabic response, though normally I wouldn't just on principle--well, agree in part, anyway. Darwin claimed to be Christian, and never understood why his ideas had to cause such a ruckus.
Wrong
In other words, the ideas of evolution do not say there is no God, merely that his plan is a great deal more complicated than the metaphor in the book of Genisis that so many people insist on taking as the literal truth.
So, Darwin is no Athiest Prophet.
Marilyn Manson couldn't prophet his way out of a paper bag.
And as for Terry Pratchet, he is a great author and has excellent vision, but Prophet? I think the Pratchet fan club would be glad to have you.
Originally posted by caissad4I don't believe this is a fair evaluation of the situation. I take your statements to mean that if Atheists are wrong (i.e., the God of the Bible is in fact real) then they will burn in hell, while if the Christians are wrong (i.e., the God of the Bible is not in fact real) then they will not burn.
If a Christian is wrong about the next life, nothing happens.
But this is a very short-sighted evaluation. It could very well be the case that if Christians are wrong, there will be serious hell to pay. Suppose Christians are wrong -- the God of the Bible does not exist. Suppose that instead there exists a God, different from the one of the Bible, who has his own First Commandment and his own Heaven and Hell. Suppose further that he has only reavealed himself to his special chosen people on some remote South Pacific island.
Now, in such a scenario, Christians are indeed wrong and will burn in this God's hell, right along with the Atheists. So your above claim cannot be true in general; it is only true when you presuppose the existence of the Biblical God, in which case, it's really nothing more than an empty claim since the condition of the hypothetical is false.
Kribz