Pascalā€™s Wager

You’re probably familiar with this. Pascal, mathematician and philosopher, believed that it is best to behave as if there is a God, since if you do not believe, you stand to lose everything should you not believe in God, and you gain everything if you believe. The favorable odds, for Pascal, was to believe.

Richard Dawkins, in “The God Delusion” makes interesting arguments against Pascal’s conclusions.

1.Can you decide to believe something as a matter of policy? Hey, it “makes sense”?
If you happen to be Ayn Rand, or Ex-Android, it makes perfect sense not to believe in God. Any behavior on Ms Rand’s part, therefore, could not be based on actual belief, but on a statistical probability that it is best in the long run to believe there is a God and behave accordingly.

2.If God is all knowing(omniscient), he’s going to know whether or not you truly believe, or whether you’re “covering your ass”. He might not be happy if you truly do not believe.

3. What if you believe in the wrong God? After all, if we DO make a decision to believe in God, we’re assuming that the God we choose is THE God, the one that counts, but what if we’re wrong? Then we stand to lose everything by believing.

If we follow Pascal’s reasoning, therefore, we must conclude that we are choosing the correct God to believe in, and that God is not concerned with the reasons for our believing, and that we can arrive at correct conclusions as to how we should organize socially in obedience to God.

Think about it. Every choice we make must be based on assumptions that we cannot prove, and since the whole process is based on a statistical probability, we would tend to conclude that “God” is represented by the largest number of people who organize according to a certain process.

Basically, by following Pascal’s wager, we have based our entire faith on what is essentially a house of mirrors. “All these people can’t be wrong”.

But what if they are wrong? By believing, we still cover our bets. So what if there’s over 38,000 versions of Christianity? The important thing is to BELIEVE!

See what Eric Hoffer says about this in “The True Believer”:

“He who, like Pascal, finds precise reasons for the effectiveness of Christian doctrine has also found the reasons for the effectiveness of Communist, Nazi, and nationalist doctrine. However different the holy causes people die for, they perhaps die basically for the same thing”.

In other words, if belief is the only requirement and truth has no value, then it becomes possible to act in any fashion toward our neighbors, as long as we find justification in the rules that make us “special”.

And what makes us “special”? Those who believe as we do. What we have done is to multiply ignorance based on statistical probability.

Hoffer refers to this as “estrangement from the self” or renouncing the self. We find our truth in the number of those who behave and believe as we do, and we find our truth from our ability to “convert” others. As Hoffer writes:

“When we lose our individual independence in the corporateness of a mass movement, we find a new freedom–freedom to hate, bully lie, torture, murder and betray without shame and remorse….The hatred and cruelty which have their source in selfishness are ineffectual things compared with the venom and ruthlessness born of selflessness.
“When we see the bloodshed, terror, and destruction born of such generous enthusiasms as the love of God, love of Christ, love of a nation, compassion for the oppressed and so on, we usually blame this shameful perversion on a cynical, power-hungry leadership. Actually, it is the unification set in motion by these enthusiasms, rather than the manipulations of a scheming leadership, that transmutes noble impulses into a reality of hatred and violence. The deindividualization which is a prerequisite for thorough integration and selfless dedication is also, to a considerable extent, a process of dehumanization. The torture chamber is a corporate institution”.

Pascal’s wager, by reducing everything to “covering your bets”, places emphasis on group survival and even the necessity to sacrifice oneself for the “greater good”, and with no proof that our sacrifice served any purpose other than a majority assumption based on ignorance.

The natural human tendency, when we believe in anything greater than ourselves, is to assume that that “greater” something must somehow be know by a process of organization, a process of thought that transcends us as individuals. If we believe our “salvation” lies in collective belief in Christianity, we will see it as our duty to either covert, condemn, or destroy those who believe otherwise. The same would follow for Naziism, Communism, or any form of nationalism.

The belief in truth actually demands what seems to be a contradiction to the normal process of reason. The belief in truth CANNOT be equivalent to “estrangement from self”, but actually the acceptance of the self, as an individual, as a moral agent, as a person with the right to challenge the majority.

I pointed out earlier that if you can perfectly define “God”, then that very definition can ultimately be programmed into a computer, so that there is no humanly definable difference between “God” and the computer we have programmed.

You might instantly object, “Of course there is a difference between God and a computer”. Here’s the problem: once you can define that difference, the difference itself can be programmed into the computer! But it is impossible to ever define all the differences between “God” and a computer, therefore, no computer can ever be the same as “God”.

If that is true, then we must conclude the same thing for any religion, government, or any concept of humankind that attempts to represent God! The more you attempt to define God within any human concept, the more differences you will discover among your own selves!

You will logically end up with over 38,000 versions of Christianity, and the number increases every day!

Here is the point: whether you believe in God or don;t believe in God, you are merely choosing a concept in which to believe, and whatever concept you believe, however sharp or accurate, will STILL end up in an even greater number of ideas.

Even Ayn Rand was not invulnerable. her philosophy has branched into similar but disagreeing philosophies, with the Murray Rothbard branch, the “beltway libertarian” branch, the anarchist branch, the Christian libertarian branch, etc..

We are left, therefore, with the same conclusions as in Romans 8:7, Matthew 10:34-38, and 2 Peter 2:19, and of course Matthew 24:23.

In the search for truth, or for God, assuming God is truth(and why would you choose a God who is not truth?), there is one, AND ONLY ONE, co

rrect choice you can ever make: be free from men. Follow no man, choose to accept all others as equal to you, and yourself as equal to all others.

Whether you believe in “God” or not, you have that one correct choice. All others are false.

Comments

Okay, Freedom and Law?

In my “Freedom” essay below, Byker Bob makes a thoughtful comment:
“…all we really know is that God is looking out for the long term spiritual good of all his children”.

Ex-Android, responds, and with sound logic(I’m not “picking” on either person, just trying to make a point):

Hah! And you don’t even ‘really know’ that. You believe–you don;t know. This is a common error among many theists”.

When I read Byker Bob’s statement, I think of Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God…”

Do we actually “know” that? If we do, it will not be according to any humanly devised system of thought or decisions, because that very statement leads into the very idea that in fact we CANNOT make such decisions for ourselves!

Even if we look at this statement from the viewpoint of Godel’s theorem, it is certainly possible to know something yourself, to actually understand that it is so, BUT once you attempt to define it within any process of organization or decisions leading to absolute truth or to God, it simple falls apart. It is certainly possible to know something for a fact, but not be able to prove it.

And because it is not subject to such proofs, it cannot be subject to the power and control of men. Do I know that there is a God? No, I don’t, but even if i did, if God was directly revealed to me, it would still give me no power over the lives and decisions of other human beings, and that is exactly what Paul tells us, following into the rest of chapter 8 and 9.

That was the basic logical flaw of John Calvin, who took Romans 8:29-30 and then decided that he himself, with no proof whatever, was God’s chosen, to establish rules over others. he had no such proof, and no man can claim such proof, as we know from our experience with HWA.

So, if “all things work together for the good”, then that “good” will not be the result of my attempts to rule or control others in God’s name, since as Paul points out, God already knows who will work in “His” name.

So, Ex-Android makes a valid point. We CANNOT know by any process of human “computation”, by any process of human reason, that there is a God, and that all things work together for good. If such things WERE subject to the power of human reason, we could cancel the rest of Romans chapter 8 and 9, and Ex-Android would, in fact, be wrong! But he’s not. In fact, he has just agreed with the conclusions of Paul in that regard.

Okay, if we can’t know these things, and if we can’t organize according to these things, what’s the purpose for it all, if there is a purpose?

If no human can claim to represent “absolute truth” either in the form of religion or government(and even Ayn Rand would agree on that point), then the “sacrifice of Christ” can only have one purpose: that because he died innocently, his example is one to us that we should not condemn others under human laws and human concepts!

Under U.S. Constitutional law, Fifth Amendment, no person is to be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law. That is a protection from federal government. We see the same clause repeated as a protection from state governments in the Fourteenth Amendment.

Notice that the “due process” package deals with “persons”, not ‘the people” in regard to passing laws, but with protections of persons, individuals who are accused of breaking the law.

These protections are extended under the Fifth Amendment and include not only the right to re main silent and not to give evidence against himself, but protection from double jeopardy and the right to have just compensation for property taken.

Also, we see protections for persons under the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Amendments.

But notice that these examples of due process protection of persons is included in Old Testament law!

Isaiah 54:17: No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgement thou shalt condemn.
“This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord”.

This is the presumption of innocence, long established as part of “due process” protection.
It is part of the right of the individual not to incriminate himself before his accusers.
In other words, because there is no power of man to represent “absolute truth” or an absolute God, it is necessary for ALL collective powers of men to presume the innocence of the accused with God’s protection!

Further protection, under OT law, is given in Isaiah 50:8:

“He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? Let us stand together. Who is mine adversary? Let him come near to me.
“Behold, the Lord God will help me; who is he that shall condemn me?”

Sound familiar? How about the Sixth Amendment?

“In ALL criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state….”

First, you can’t be forced to incriminate yourself. Why? Because God stands on the side of the accused, not the accuser! Look at every state Constitution of the U.S. Every single one of them recognize the sovereignty of God in some form! That’s due process of law!

The Bible is not about any person’s right to rule in the name of God, but about EVERY person’s right to live freely outside the condemnation of law!

Think about this: every attempt of every human has resulted in more and more confusion and uncertainty regarding the existence of God. But that is merely the logical result of Romans 8:7.

So what does that tell you about law? About all law, church or state? It tells you that no power, either church or state, has the right to convict or condemn you, without recognizing your right to face a legitimate accuser who can claim harm for your actions!

Since there exists no human power that can organize in God’s name, or in the power of the state to represent truth, there can be no person who can say truthfully to you, “Here is Christ. Come follow me”. And because all fifty US states recognize the sovereignty of God, they must bow to that same individual freedom which you possess!

In other words, the courts are bound by oath or affirmation, since all states recognize the sovereignty of God, to see to it that “all things work together for the good to those that love God”, whether they like it or not!

If you choose, as an individual, to live according to principles of truth and goodness, you have the right to expect the state to protect that choice!

Who is the example? Jesus. he died innocently, prosecuted and put to death, even
though he remained silent, even though there were no witnesses against him, even though he had harmed no one.

As Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas said: “But it(the state) has no right to compel the sovereign individual to surrender or impair his right of self defense….Mea culpa belongs to a man and his God. It is a plea that cannot be extracted from free men by human authority. To require it is to insist that the state is the superior of the individuals who compose it, instead of their instrument”.

THAT is the essence of Old and New testament law, as derived from the Bible itself! Why?
Because “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son….”

Was there a God? Did it happen? I can’t prove it did, and the law can’t prove it didn’t, and as long as the law recognizes the sovereignty of God, I have the right to declare myself free as long as I harm no other.

Comments

Paradise Recovered

James here. I received a letter some time back from a Andie Becker. I wish to share an excerpt of this letter here on this blog…..

12/03/2009

Hello.

My name is Andie Redwine, and I am the writer and producer for a new film coming out in 2010 called Paradise Recovered. I was born and raised in the Worldwide Church of God and left at the age of 18. This website was amazingly helpful at assisting me in understanding what had happened to me in the group. Ed Mentell was incredibly helpful as I have spent ten years gathering research, doing some personal healing, and writing a script that I think can be universally helpful to people who have been abused by religious groups.

I am not sure what cast of characters exist on this site these days, as I have not honestly had the time to check the site in over a year, and I am not sure if there are still listservs that people are in. We are starting to assemble some test audiences, and I thought that it might be interesting to have a few of the contributors of this board look over our film and give some feedback.

This isn’t an anti-faith film, but it is a pro-freedom film. That is, some choose faith in the film and some do not, and no one is condemned for either choice. But we’d like your opinions on it, and honestly, I made the film to pay back the incredible debt that I owe to people like Ed Mentell and the late John Trechek.

See the trailer here: www.paradiserecovered.com