Thursday, October 27, 2022

A Christian Friend Posits The Crucial Importance Of "Pascal's Wager" /// Homer Simpson And I Reply

 

Thought: Pascal's Wager

Inbox

Elaine Kolodziej

7:33 AM (6 hours ago)
to Elaine

"If there is a God and you believe, you gain everything; if you don’t, you lose everything; if there is no God and you still believe, you lose nothing." -- Blaise Pascal

Alan Archibald alanarchibaldo@gmail.com

1:51 PM (11 minutes ago)

Dear Elaine

Thanks for reminding me of Pascal's wager.

I think all three "corners" of  this wager are questionable.

Do we gain "everything" just by believing? 

Personally I think there is - at least - an equally high percentage of the overall population that will gain everything, not by "believing," but by being charitable, kind and loving. 

Even agnostics or atheists. 

At bottom, I believe that "actions count," and that actions count more than formulaic beliefs.

Considerably more.

Consider these confounding data concerning divorce rates across the spectrum of American demographics: 

Born Again Christians

The last actual research done on this group was by the Barna group in 2008. It showed the divorce rate for those born again was 33 percent. (Alan: By and large this is the same population that put twice-divorced Donald Trump, whoremonger, in the White House.) https://divorce.lovetoknow.com/Divorce_Statistics_by_Religion

Atheist Divorce Rates

Atheists have some of the lowest divorce rates listed at 2 percent, the lowest divorce rate -- by far -- of any U.S. demographic. https://divorce.lovetoknow.com/Divorce_Statistics_by_Religion

Alan:  Keep in mind that the earliest gospel -- the Gospel of Mark -- makes this pronouncement concerning divorce: 

Mark 10

1
Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them.
2
Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"
3
"What did Moses command you?" he replied.
4
They said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away."
5
"It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law," Jesus replied.
6
"But at the beginning of creation God `made them male and female.' [1]
7
`For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, [2]
8
and the two will become one flesh.' [3] So they are no longer two, but one.
9
Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."
10
When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this.
11
He answered, "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her.
12
And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery."
13
People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them.

Alan: By this measure -- which is the first recorded pronouncement of Jesus on divorce -- how many people do you know who live in adultery, and seem destined to die in adultery. Either we are "cafeteria Catholics" -- choosing from a "menu" -- or your not. Jesus' first pronouncement on divorce is iron-clad clearcut. Your call, Elaine.

American Divorce: Mainstream Christians Divorce More Often Than Mainstream Atheists

                                                                                                            

"Sola Fide" Or "Justification By Faith Alone": "Casting Sones" - It Is Not Enough To Do What Is Right, But To Do What Is Right, Rightly"

                                                                image.png
                                               https://fullyaliveblogdotnet1.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/thomas-merton.jpg?w=740

James Martin S.J. on the singularity of Love
"The proof is in the pudding."

I do not believe "we lose everything if we fail to believe," especially when belief itself is a "gift," not a "magic formula" that can be invoked by moving one's lips.

Finally, I don't think it is a general rule that "we lose nothing" if we choose to believe.

In my view there are many potential losses if we choose to believe, but it is certainly true that we lose our personal integrity when we pretend to believe something we do not truly believe. (Again, I draw your attention to Jesus' ironclad proscription of divorce. Where do you stand on that?)

Here is how such mendacity plays out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVx8gCAF3D8&fbclid=IwAR0d1IP5bW-mah58yrYvDkkimyOIUumNw1uW9zbLJTUpjpP3SrtiidJA4XE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNIJH5gufaQ&t=109s&fbclid=IwAR0-UGY88-90QaZUvVvRHHy2sQ5CGA08dMmaxJpZdqBxgQVn17__0Fus6-Y

But most importantly, I draw your attention to another of Blaise Pascal's quotations:

Bad Religion: "Men Never Do Evil So Completely And Cheerfully As When They Do It From Religious Conviction" (Devout Christian Blaise Pascal)


"Men Never Do Evil So Completely And Cheerfully As When They Do It From Religious Conviction." Blaise Pascal, Devout Christian | made w/ Imgflip meme maker

Elaine, make no mistake.

Belief can be a very dangerous, very destructive, very explosive thing.

In the 1930s, Hitler instilled the belief that "the dirty Jews, kikes, gypsies and (to a lesser extent) Catholics" were responsible for all of Germany's "ills." 

Adolf even coined the phrase "Make Germany great again" to urge his all-white, fellow Germans to get rid of Jews - not unlike the growing right-wing exhortation that America rid itself of latinos and blacks - either by deportation or imprisonment, when - already - a greater percentage of Americans are behind bars than ANY other nation on earth. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_United_States_incarceration_rate_with_other_countries

I will close by mentioning the plain vanilla fact that I am a scholar with three college degrees and nine years of university under my belt.

I realize that "you" can reply on the fly by saying I've been fooled by "The Deep State" and/or "Fake News."

But consider this.

If I were to discard the contents of your Wilson newspaper as Fake News, you would be pissed off. 

And rightly so.

Why?

Because once we discard the rules of honorable epistemology, all that remains is the chaos of mostly un-informed (or erroneously informed) people asserting that their opinions, rooted in personal subjectivity, is the proper measure of Truth.

Here's what happens... (If you're short on time, just click the first link below.)

Jordan Klepper's Top 10 Moments With Trump Supporters / The Daily Show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OeeHz0uNdM

The Night Show's Jordan Klepper Probes The Likelihood Of Civil War

The Death Of Epistemology: Update

A Former Conservative Blogger On The Failures Of Right-Wing Media - A Brilliant Matthew Sheffield Interview With "On The Media" (Likely To Be The Best Broadcast You'll Hear This Month)


In 2020 Obama Identified "An Epistemological Crisis" As America's Central Toxin. Here's How I Identified This Toxin In 2012 (This Post Has Been Updated)

"Here Is Where Contemporary 'Conservatism' Ran Off The Rails: America's Cultural Crisis Distills To The Ascertainment Of Social, Political And Historical Truth. The Linchpin Question Is This... Will Absolutism/Authoritarianism Rule Our Epistemological Mindscape? Or Will Intellectual Rigor And Multifaceted Contextualization Prevail?"
https://newsfrombarbaria.blogspot.com/2021/06/here-is-where-american-conservatives.html


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