Patrician wrote:
Ahhh I see. So all I have to do in any debate is pick a hypothetical situation where I am right, and therefore I am right. Good to know. Who can argue against that logic?
Go buy a dictionary, then READ it. The entire POINT of a hypothetical situation is to consider something that is not logical or proven for the purpose of debate. You took a hypothetical situation and decided that I was arguing the situation not as a hypothetical but as a true statement. You JUMPED TO A FALSE CONCLUSION.
Patrician wrote:
So you have picked an infinitesimally small possibility, and made a hypothetical conjecture that it is correct, in order to argue about the relative odds of believing in the Christianity heaven and hell model compared with atheism. Well that is nice. I see your point.
This IS the point of using a hypothetical situation.
Patrician wrote:
My point is that your hypothetical situation is AN INFINITESIMALLY SMALL POSSIBILITY.
You're exactly right, that's why I wasn't stupid enough to put forth a situation like that as a true statement, but rather as a hypothetical situation.
Patrician wrote:
I think it has already been argued that that is unlikely to be the attitude that God will reward at the pearly gates. If you are going to believe, at least do it right for ***** sake. I have less respect for you than I do for those with blind faith, which was not exactly at high levels to begin with.
Please tell me you're Arabic, French, German, something besides a native english speaking person. As intelligent as you appear to be most of the time, I find it hard to believe that you're this clueless about the meaning of words contained in your own native language.
What I was referring to was one's MOTIVATION for believing in God, not the attitude one has towards those beliefs. Motivation....attitude, two completely different words, with completely different meanings, signifying completely different things. For the most part your motivation for doing something is completely independent of your attitude while doing it. If God really existed, do you think he would REALLY care what brought you to him if you were a good christian and really believed in him?
What do you think the motivation for all those people who go forward to get saved is??? They mostly do it so they can avoid getting tossed in that mythical lake of fire, or to enjoy the perks of heaven once they get to the afterlife. How is what I said ANY different from that? I just happened to put into words what most people just think about.
Patrician wrote:
Well now you are making up your own religion. Your chances just went to infinitely small minus one.
Try reading books from the major religions and tell me how much they really differ between each other as far as the way they tell you to act.
Even if I were making up my own religion, I believe that I would have just as much a chance of being right as any of the others, so that still puts my odds just at infinitely small.
If you were trying to insult me by calling me an atheist, let me assure you it's no insult at all. I believe in what has been proven, faith has little or no meaning to me, so obviously I don't believe in a religion that expouses faith as a major tenant.