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Post by code on Dec 10, 2021 4:45:26 GMT
Does mathematical probability suggest, with a sufficiently large enough number, anything is possible if all probabilities exist? Can quantum probability propose God both exists and doesn't, so that not believing is fine because God doesn't exist? I don't believe in God, but I"m sure some of you do, and I assume most of you who profess in a God are Christian because this is America.
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Post by missouriboy on Dec 10, 2021 6:19:54 GMT
As a practical principle, I stand with Pascal's Wager.
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Post by flearider on Dec 10, 2021 6:25:01 GMT
i'm with the oldest text out there .. we are slaves we were made to do a job .. now forgotten
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Post by ratty on Dec 10, 2021 7:56:00 GMT
As a practical principle, I stand with Pascal's Wager. Yep. I try to be good .... just in case.  |
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Post by missouriboy on Dec 10, 2021 9:27:24 GMT
As a practical principle, I stand with Pascal's Wager. Yep. I try to be good .... just in case. Before I ever read Pascal, I heard it told thusly. A believer and an atheist arguing at a bar. The believer says ... Look at it this way. When I die, if I'm wrong, I won't know anything about it. However Sir. If you are wrong, you are in very deep trouble.  |
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Post by glennkoks on Dec 10, 2021 11:35:09 GMT
  I used to be an agnostic. But on May 7th 2018 I got a call no dad should ever get. My wife had taken our ailing eleven year old son to the doctor for the fifth time in a couple of weeks and what we thought was a virus or mononucleosis turned out to be stage IV kidney cancer. The tumor extended from his kidney, through his inferior vena cava and into his heart. I hit my knees and started praying and have not stopped since. The prognosis was not good as we needed chemo to shrink the tumor far enough away from his tricuspid valves to have a chance at a long shot open heart surgery to remove it. I guess the old saying about an absence of atheists in foxholes is true after all. I was in need of not one but at least two miracles. Long story short after a grueling couple of years of chemo, radiation and a 15 hour open heart surgery my 11 year old boy is now 14 and cancer free. This does not prove the existence of a God but it certainly made a believer out of me. I also find that taking a few minutes a day to pray keeps me grounded and focused on the things in life that really matter. So to answer your question I am firmly in the "yes" camp. The first picture is from the recovery room after the surgery the second is from a couple months ago. |
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Post by walnut on Dec 10, 2021 13:55:16 GMT
As a practical principle, I stand with Pascal's Wager. By that reasoning, I assume that you would not have violated the mummy's curse either? Better safe than sorry!
The problem with Pascal's wager is that the bookie did not structure they payoff money correctly. It compels you to bet yes.
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Post by gridley on Dec 10, 2021 13:57:51 GMT
As a practical principle, I stand with Pascal's Wager. By that reasoning, I assume that you would not have violated the mummy's curse either? Better safe than sorry! Remind me of the difference between grave robbing and archaeology again? ;-) |
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Post by glennkoks on Dec 10, 2021 14:39:06 GMT
Physics is not one of my strengths. I just can't wrap my head around an infinitely hot and dense single point suddenly exploding and creating everything in the universe in a Big Bang.
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Post by missouriboy on Dec 10, 2021 16:39:38 GMT
By that reasoning, I assume that you would not have violated the mummy's curse either? Better safe than sorry! Remind me of the difference between grave robbing and archaeology again? ;-) . Archaeologists just claim that they are doing it for science. Robbers are more honest. Scientific snobishness will only get you so far if the descendants show up with an intention to defend their dead. Christians largely claim that the dead body is just the cast off shell. As far as I can tell, Muslims largely feel the same ... as do Hindus. who cremate their dead. In Western Europe, the Urnfield Culture, from at least 1300 BC, was hard on modern archaeologists, as ashes cannot be be genetically tested. At UF, there was a table reserved at a local pub on Fridays for archaeologists and geographers to exchange ideas, news, theses and insults. |
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Post by pbfoot on Dec 10, 2021 16:49:04 GMT
A man without faith is truly alone.
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Post by missouriboy on Dec 10, 2021 17:33:35 GMT
I used to be an agnostic. But on May 7th 2018 I got a call no dad should ever get. My wife had taken our ailing eleven year old son to the doctor for the fifth time in a couple of weeks and what we thought was a virus or mononucleosis turned out to be stage IV kidney cancer. The tumor extended from his kidney, through his inferior vena cava and into his heart. I hit my knees and started praying and have not stopped since. The prognosis was not good as we needed chemo to shrink the tumor far enough away from his tricuspid valves to have a chance at a long shot open heart surgery to remove it. I guess the old saying about an absence of atheists in foxholes is true after all. I was in need of not one but at least two miracles. Long story short after a grueling couple of years of chemo, radiation and a 15 hour open heart surgery my 11 year old boy is now 14 and cancer free. This does not prove the existence of a God but it certainly made a believer out of me. I also find that taking a few minutes a day to pray keeps me grounded and focused on the things in life that really matter. So to answer your question I am firmly in the "yes" camp. The first picture is from the recovery room after the surgery the second is from a couple months ago. That is a very moving account, and not a singular event. God is not falsifiable. Neither are miracles. Every day is a miracle from the proper perspective. The ultimate pragmatist would conclude that "miracles" are statistical outliers and that God is a crutch for the weak and ignorant. But after careful observation, I conclude that there is "good" and "evil" in the World. And their manifestation is a collective result of individual actions and intent. There is a story I like from the Battle of Gettysburg, where an individual Union soldier(s) reached out to the survivors of Pickett's (and Pettigrew's) charge and pulled them over the stone wall to safety (and confinement) with the words "Come on over to this side of the Lord". The World would be a better place if everyone adhered to the "Ten Commandments". People scoff if one invokes evil and Satan in any context. But give them whatever name you will. All you have to do is look around. As for me, I cast my lot with Christianity and Christians. |
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Post by missouriboy on Dec 10, 2021 18:43:16 GMT
As a practical principle, I stand with Pascal's Wager. By that reasoning, I assume that you would not have violated the mummy's curse either? Better safe than sorry!
The problem with Pascal's wager is that the bookie did not structure they payoff money correctly. It compels you to bet yes.
Depends on if you believe in the curse. Payoff money is for the living ... or, with the "proper" lawyer, for their surviving kin. What would be the proper structure? I liked this one from Wiki. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_wager"It is not certain that everything is uncertain." Not so much this one ... if you believe in free will. "We understand nothing of the works of God unless we take it as a principle that He wishes to blind some and to enlighten others." |
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Post by birder on Dec 10, 2021 21:45:48 GMT
I believe in the Sun of God.
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Post by ratty on Dec 10, 2021 22:06:18 GMT
Physics is not one of my strengths. I just can't wrap my head around an infinitely hot and dense single point suddenly exploding and creating everything in the universe in a Big Bang. |
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