An Atheist's View

Pascal's Wager

Today I'll do something very original - I shall comment on the ever so witty Pascal's Wager. For those of you that don't know, this is an argument used by practically all religions and it kind of goes like this :  "it is in one's own best interest to behave as if God exists, since the possibility of eternal punishment in hell outweighs any advantage in believing otherwise".

Okay. First off, there are literally thousandths of religions and deities out there. What are the odds I'll choose the right one? What if I turn back to Christianity, but when I die it turns out some voodoo god worshiped by an unknown African tribe of 30 people is actually the only real god? I'm going to be punished either way.

Or what if it's a god that doesn't care, and just sends everyone to paradise? Or everyone to hell? This is one heck of a Russian roulette we're playing here.

And you know, there's a damn good reason I choose Atheism. It's because if I go along with a religion and choose to obey all its laws (silly as they may be, and then when I die it turns out it was all useless, then that will mean that I wasted my earthly life - the only life I have. I realize that to believers it seems ridiculous to use my life on earth freely and then pay for it for eternity. But, you know what seems ridiculous to me? 

Devoting yourself to a deity/deities for whom you've no evidence. I have a limited time here, and I'm planning to use it well, and have fun with it. Besides, if hell's real, then I should be alright. I mean, I spend my whole life committing acts of 'blasphemy' etc., so Luci and I should be best pals. There's probably a throne reserved down there for me anyway.

And one more thing to you Wager preachers ; do you really think it's easy, or even possible, to just decide to believe something? It is not - I can worship and obey as much as I want to, but I can't fully control what my brain conceives as real or made up.