Faith, exactly. The same sort of faith that underlies all religions. You are a Christian of some sort because you have faith that it is correct and has value. That’s fine, believe what you like.
However, trying to wrap your faith in logic (ie, Pascal’s Wager) is doomed to fail, as they are not compatible. There’s no place for unprovable assumptions in any syllogism I ever saw, at least.
Pascal was speaking of faith entirely from a Christian framework and as such would have rejected any other theological viewpoint prior to the construct.
Perhaps you may want to examine Christianity more deeply. Christianity is technically not considered a religion by some lines of thinking. Religions mostly try and tell people what THEY must do to please God and earn salvation. Christianity conveys the message that there isn’t anything you can do and it is a gift from God if you can get beyond your own ego and honor his existance. Seems to be about the easiest and most generous freebie imaginable.
Never said this or implied this.
We are not going to redefine “religion” just so you can feel special.
Never heard that one before. :rolleyes:
Of course not. Look it up yourself. Apparently you are not aware of this??
Here is just one source referencing the topic:
Right, because Pascal was a Christian, not because he had some special insights into the nature of God and salvation. If Pascal were a Muslim, he’d have framed the wager as believing in Allah or not.
Those lines of thinking are absurd. You can dither over what kind of religion Christianity is, but it is a religion under any definition of the word that’s every been in common use.
Er, no, Protestant Christianity does, it’s called sola fide. Roman and Orthodox Catholics would differ with you here, quite strongly.
From your cite:
The supposed root of a word is not the word itself.
Say it ain’t so, Joe! Please note rolling eyes in my previous post. 
One of its postulates was to take an unbeliever’s stance though, and the consequences for that. One still has to consider the other gods into the equation, and this is when the mathematical odds go up considerably. Not doing so, leaves the equation incomplete.
Even if you stayed in the framework of your bible, there are too many contrasting differences to assume the OT god is the same as the NT god, and Christians are probably breaking the 1st commandment when Jehovah said not to have any other gods before him. Christians are making a huge assumption that Jesus was also a part of this god. You better hope that Jehovah doesn’t beat the Jesus out of ya.
Another huge assumption is thinking a God really has this need to be believed, and that he would punish you if you didn’t. I know it plays well with some Christians though, but quite a few Christians have gotten away from taking hell seriously anymore.
You can’t force someone to believe in something, any more than I could convince you or myself that 2+3=7.
If you define ignorance as that which you don’t believe. I think you will be fighting ignorance for at least another ten billions years, maybe more.
Your post indicates your poor understanding of Christianity. Other preceding posts from different writers profess they have never heard that Christianity is not a religion.
Tell you what, please take the time and read the link I posted in its entirety. It could be an eye-opener.
Using the definition of religion found in most(if not all) secular dictionaries, Christianity is a religion. We have no reason to accept your special definition.
Well I have heard it plenty of times here and elsewhere, and sorry you don’t understand sarcasm. And I’ll just stick to the standard dictionary definition of religion, despite how many long-winded conservative Christian apologetics like to think their brand of Christianity is something special when it’s just more horseshit that gets stacked on the pile.
The notion that Christianity is not a religion is so silly it isn’t worth the energy it would take to click on your link.
The essay defines religion as those aspects of religion that the author does not like: “a set of rules and regulations, to rituals of devotion, to a creedal belief-system, or to a cause, ideology, or routine.” Then, posits that true Christianity is not a religion, since it is exclusive of those things.
Here’s the problem: Religion actually means:
Yep, Christianity is a religion. Sorry to have to break it to you.
Is that the “royal we”
Catch ya’s later, off to something else. It’s been fun. No offense intended on any snappy answers. I love all people regardless of their convictions. Seriously. I just think that sometimes especially when we are intelligent, our egos can blind us into trusting in intellect alone. Some smart folks have figured out a way around that. Some of you unbelievers here are pretty hard core militant. Funny how the boards in the International High IQ Society the luminaries there are even more tolerant of people of faith, and more open-minded than some people here. Not sure what that implies, if anything at all.
Peace out
Is that an endictment of science or the resilience of ignorance?
Protestations to the contrary, it wasn’t hard to get what you are implying-subtle, you’re not.