Isn’t Atheism Risky? (Pascal's Wager Debunked)

In the 1600s, mathematician Blaise Pascal declared that belief in God is a safe bet because a lack of belief possibly results in hell. But is Pascal's Wager a good reason to believe in God, or is it a bad argument? Is a belief in God good insurance against hell? There are so many things wrong with Pascal’s Wager, and this video will break some of them down.

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[ze]

I have one thing to add: I hear "how do you know your God is the right one when humankind has created thousands" often but I always think: "but you're also forgetting all the gods we haven't invented yet. There's literally an endless possibility of gods that may exist. Your chance to pick the right one isn't one in a thousand, it's one in infini."
But yeah great video

[uncleanunicorn]

In the words of the immortal Sage Homer Simpson, "what if we picked the wrong religion? Every time we go to church we're just making God madder and madder?"

[karsten]

I always apply Pascal's extended wager. "You should believe in the most demonic and violent god there is, because a kinder god would forgive you." and suddenly the religious don't care for Pascal's wager anymore.

[Kornknealious]

"you'll see on judgement day..." is the only argument they have left. It got old 30 years ago
good job!

[CharlesMoss]

Thanks for the video. When i came out to my dad, he used the exact same argument. When i tried to explain why its a bad argument, he hand-waved it and told me to "turn my brain off."

Go figure.

[donaldhobson]

The reason people keep using such a poor argument for the existence of god is simple. Lack of good arguments.

[nosuchthing]

No different than walking into a casino and betting it all on one number. Too many gods to be right by chance.

[mackjonsey]

_Isn’t Atheism Risky?_
That has to be one of funniest *_and most ridiculous_* questions ever.

[conorshea]

That awkward moment when your friend Danny is actually an xbox controller...

[violentdelightsjames]

I hate this argument, it's just like when some theists asks you the 'were you there?' argument. And regardless, what if your wrong? Just like Richard Dawkins said, "An atheist is just somebody who feels about Yahweh the way any decent Christian feels about Thor or Baal or the golden calf. As been said before, WE ARE ALL atheists about most of the gods humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one God further."

[allanfloyd]

I love when Richard Dawkins answers this in a Q&A session after a lecture at a university...
"What if *you're* wrong about the Great Juju Under the Sea?"

[mckaylapaddock]

I used to think Pascal's wager made a lot of sense, but looking back it's clear I was 1) afraid of hell, and 2) I really wanted a reason to stave off my doubts and questions bc I really wanted to believe. I loved the idea of the loving Father, the God that was presented to me. And yes, I used to believe that there was nothing to lose, as long as I was happy believing in God, it gave comfort and hope that there was an entity that loved me and thought i was precious, and hope that I'd see lost loved ones again. But now I've seen the harm caused by hate and bigotry and how faith in God is used to justify and perpetuate it. And i personally did lose something. The chance of loving relationships with people religion and the church you me I couldn't be with. Whether they were non believers, part of a different religion, or LGBTQ+. And i had to deny and feel guilt over a party of who i was. I prayed for God cleanse me and take away the confusing feelings, spending years wracked with guilt, shame, and great that my family, church community, and Heavenly Father I adored, would reject me because there were other girls that i liked and would have liked to date. Those desires weren't enough for me to reject God, instead I studied and dug into apologists and theology. But now I've learned so much that God and the Bible just don't make sense. There's too much inconsistency, too many problematic verses, and too much division, corruption, and manipulation in the Bible/church to believe that there really is an all knowing and loving Father guiding it all. It's all too imperfectly human.

So I'm not going to live in guilt and shame and fear of hell for myself and my loved ones, or support policies that hurt innocent people because the church or an ancient, vague and self-contradicting text supposedly says they are sinners and I'll go to hell for supporting them or being one of them.

[timpieper]

Hey Holy Koolaid! I just found your channel.

You've got a new subscriber. I hope you continue to make videos. I like your content so far :)

[loki]

You will roux the day you rejected the Great Crawfish!!!

[illoney]

3:02 "Everything points to a universe from nothing." Actually, the "big bang theory" doesn't say anything about where the universe comes from, it simply describes and explains the expansion in the earliest stages of the universe we know of, it says nothing about where it all came from. So stating that the universe came from nothing is an assertion which we have no evidence for, it's definitely a possibility and we do not have any evidence for anything else either, but I though this clarification was worth making.

[WhoTheLoL]

The quote in the beginning about an honest agnostic and a calculating hypocrite is something I realized a long time ago by myself. It was the final thing that allowed me to separate from the church, because I never believed in all of the ridiculous stories, but I had doubts about acting as a believer. This realization was what set me free.

[roryokane]

Liking the Marcus Aurelius-style argument at the end “if there is a God and they are just, they’ll care more that you lived well and improved the life of others than the way you practiced your devotions.”

[HideousConformity]

I simply can't believe that a supposedly omnipotent and omniscient entity would be so needy and insecure that they required us to worship them, or that they'd be so petty that they'd punish anyone for eternity - simply for not believing in them or worshiping them. Such a god would be anything but "perfect". I'd even argue that they're evil, especially if they are anything like the bible suggests: a genocidal psychotic who condones slavery, considers women to be property and promotes the death penalty for the silliest of things. Either way, I certainly wouldn't consider them worthy of worship.

The Abrahamic god is comparable to a psychotic child with an ant farm and a magnifying glass. He keeps saying how much he loves his ants, but it's a sunny day and he's just itching to use that magnifying glass...

[colonelkilling]

My favorite Futurama episode is when Bender meets God in the center of the universe and says "If I pray to you will you send me back to Earth"?
God responds "Earth, which way is that"?

[KingAries]

Saying you should worship Jesus just in case he does exist is like me saying you shouldn’t go to sleep just in case Freddy Kruger exists