Re: Pascal's Wager

Zenarchy (jr@shasta.com)
Mon, 7 Dec 1998 19:12:22 -0800

Pascal's Wager makes at least five assumptions:
>>1) God rewards virtuous behavior.
>>2) Faith is virtuous.

3. Only one god exists (or does not exist).

4. God accepts, recognizes, or acknowledges Pascal's Wager (i.e., "to choose to believe") as true belief rather than as blasphemous cunning deserving of punishment.

5. (a) The spiritual gambler prefers a surprise heaven to an anticipated oblivion.
(b) The gambler dreads a surprise hell more than an anticipated oblivion.

Moses, Jesus Christ, and Mohammed seem somewhat cheap, only providing one god among them. Krishna, in contrast, provided many gods, take your pick. A Super Intelligence (or a Lao Tzu, or a Siddhartha Gautama) wins Pascal's Wager by becoming a god.

-zen