Disclaimer; I’m not using this as an analogy for any actual religion. This isn’t a trick, or anything like that, but a genuine question. Please don’t say “i’d pick this, but of course God exists/doesn’t exist” - I don’t care what you actually believe in this instance.
Ok, you’re walking along and suddenly, Zog the Holy Frog appears before you, and makes you realise it’s the ultimate god-type-thing. It makes you an offer; you can choose to either agree or disagree to it’s proposal.
If you agree, upon your death Zog tosses the Magical Coin of Decision (+5). If it lands heads up, you get eternal happiness in an afterlife (with your definition of happines). If it lands tails, you get eternal unhappiness (again, your definition).
If you disagree, Zog leaves and you will not hear from it again; when you die, you do not get the coin toss, but just cease to be - no afterlife one way or the other.
So, Zog’s waiting for your decision. Would you choose a 50/50 chance for eternal happiness, or choose the second option to avoid the risk of eternal unhappiness?
Is this a variation of Pascal’s Wager? That he could change the odds on the coin flip to something like 99/1, just by leading the moral life he would’ve led anyway?
I figure I’ll gamble on the coin toss. Worst case, tails…even if I can’t raise or join a rebellion of the unfair damned in Hell, I’ll just follow Capaneus’ example, as a show of defiance to Zog.
Hmmm. Either I’d choose annihilation, or if I get to define “unhappiness, by my definition” then and there I say “Unhappiness of course including my good buddy Zog the Frog suffering ten times as much as I am. Do be careful how that coin toss comes out, won’t you Zog old boy ?”
I wouldn’t be interested in an afterlife set up by such a bastard as this hypothetical Froggod, so I’d choose to end my existence. The actual odds of a 50/50 deal are of less interest to me than the worth of a diety that would propose or enforce such a “bargain.”
Seems like I’m bucking a trend here… I’m curious enough about the possibility of an afterlife and squicked enough by the idea of non-consciousness that I’d probably take the frog up on the offer. (Also, the fact that I haven’t really experienced much hardship in my life might have to do with it.)
All the people talking about leading an anti-frog revolt reminds me of the story (probably Asimov) about a powerful immortal energy being who starts granting afterlives to the most intelligent living creatures it finds, duplicating them in energy when they die. Turns out that it wants to die but isn’t sure how, so it’s trying to make its immortal souls come to hate their ‘god’ (if they don’t start out that way,) so they’ll spend eternity thinking of ways to off him.
