Ramblings about Religion

I’ve never really agreed with Pascal’s Wager. According to wikipedia, Pascal argues that a rational person should live as though God exists and seek to believe in God. If God does not actually exist, such a person will have only a finite loss (some pleasures, luxury, etc.), whereas [if they follow God] they stand to receive infinite gains (as represented by eternity in Heaven) and avoid infinite losses (eternity in Hell).

	God exists (G)	God does not exist (¬G)
Belief (B)	+∞ (infinite gain)	−1 (finite loss)
Disbelief (¬B)	−∞ (infinite loss)	+1 (finite gain)

In my opinion, you can use a decision hierarchy like the one above to decide what to do, but not what to believe. I don’t think you can hedge your bets on this. You actually believe in God, or you don’t. Do you think if you pretend to believe in God, he’ll be fooled? I always thought that if there was a God, he could see into my heart and know what I was really thinking.

But maybe I’m the only one who thought you were supposed to be truly honest with God. Look at Catholics getting their annulments. I don’t believe that you should lie to God and try to convince him that you were never married before, when you were married in a church by a guy who invoked God’s name, and you lived together for a dozen years and had 2 kids together. I think God knows that you were really married and I don’t see the point of lying to him about it.

Maybe some believers think God is dumb. You ever notice that when the minister prays, he doesn’t just say “We’re grateful for what we have. We’d kind of like this, if you don’t mind. Thanks, bye.” No, he talks for weeks about how “You say in your gospel that if we do X, you’ll do Y. Lord Jesus, I command you to stretch out your hand to us now. Lord, we are doing X, and now it’s your turn to do Y. Yes, Lord Jesus, yes. Do Y!” Ok, maybe that was just at the Holy Roller churches we went to, but the minister does usually seem to try to prove to God that he’s supposed to grant these wishes, as indicated in this or that verse in the Bible.

Why do people pray for such a long time when they’re praying with a group? Are they trying to convince God or their peers? God already knows what’s in their hearts and sees their desire. So they don’t need to tell him. And if the person praying is not voicing the desires that are in their peers’ hearts already, they shouldn’t be acting like they represent the congregation to God. So they’re supposedly saying what the whole group feels, in which case they shouldn’t have to belabor the point. God knows, and the congregation knows. If the Holy Rollers are talking so much to whip their followers into a Pentecostal frenzy, that seems like something they can do amongst themselves without getting God on the phone and shutting their eyes and pretending they’re talking to him. Have your little pep rally with your friends, and when you’re all riled up, THEN start your prayer. “Hi God! We are SO grateful for what we have! You’re the best! Would you mind doing this thing for us? Thanks again! Say hi to Jesus for us! We love you, bye!”

You don’t need to preach the sermon in the prayer. Have some respect. Yes, sometimes when you’re in agony, you will spend hours talking to God because he’s the only one who will listen. More power to you. But don’t rehearse a prayer, get God on the phone, and waste his time, your time and the congregation’s time by reading the whole thing. Don’t pretend you’re talking to God when you’re really preaching to your friends.

Why do I have more respect for your God than you do?